The National Lawyers Guild Reaffirms its Solidarity with Cuba in the Face of Increasing McCarthyite Repression

On July 20, 2026, the State Department released a 100-page McCarthyite propaganda report bearing the name of Secretary of State Marco Rubio-a document that endeavours to serve as the ideological justification for an escalating assault on Cuba, the Cuba solidarity movement, and all political dissent on the left. The report casts a wide net of unfounded accusations, maliciously painting over 40 left-leaning social movement organizations as purported Cuban "front groups" while employing guilt-by-association tactics to smear even elected officials like Zohran Mamdani. It goes so far as to cite reports from the long discredited House Un-American Activities Committee, reviving Cold War conspiracy theories from the 1950s and repackaging them for the present.

As an organization that has stood in solidarity with the Cuban revolution from the outset and one that has been long targeted by the state for its principled positions, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is proud to be named and written about extensively in this report. We wear this political targeting like a badge of honor, a sign that our work opposing US military and economic domination of other sovereign states has been effective.

Through this report, the State Department attempts to demonize and criminalize decades of broad-based organizing in solidarity with the Cuban revolution, its people, and what they have achieved. This movement has advocated to end the more than 60-year old U.S. economic and financial blockade against Cuba that has amounted to a crime against humanity and a slow genocide of the Cuban people. For many years, a Global Majority of states has voted to end this illegal and inhumane blockade through the U.N. General Assembly. Yet not only has the U.S. consistently ignored these votes, in the last several months it has intensified the blockade, denying Cuba vital fuel shipments, while increasing threats of regime change. In the face of this ongoing imperialist aggression, Cuba stands as a beacon of global solidarity and a living example that another world is possible.

This report is one of the latest actions taken by the Trump administration to criminalize and persecute groups that oppose the inhumane and illegal actions of U.S. fascism and imperialism,U.S. at home and around the world. Only days prior to issuing the report, Secretary Rubio and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller hosted an international red-baiting conference at the State Department with representatives from dozens of states, focused on alleged "resurgence of far-left political terrorism" referring to left movements as "enemies of civilization".

The Trump administration is clearly consolidating its legal architecture of fascist repression, as seen in the recent Prairieland convictions and the ongoing trial against anti-ICE organizers in Minnesota, but also through a broader assault that includes the weaponization of OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), which on June 4, 2026, designated Cuban President Díaz-Canel, ICAP, and the Amistur Travel Agency as SDNs (Specially Designated Nationals). The Trump administration has also begun issuing "Requests for Information" letters to organizers in order to chill travel and humanitarian work through threatened financial and criminal penalties, alongside the threatened deployment of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), historically used to target left-wing organizations. The combined effect of these tactics represents a coordinated campaign to silence all forms of dissent. These efforts are designed to chill solidarity speech, weaken collective organizing, fragment alliances, and coerce organizations and individuals into retreat.

Recently, we helped publish this memo detailing this legal architecture and its potential impact on the Cuba Solidarity movement. We will continue to update this guide as things progress.

We will not be silenced in the face of resurgent fascism. We will not be divided. We will not retreat. The more they attack our movement, the more determined we become.

As members of the NLG, we pledge to continue to use our legal expertise and platform to expose the crimes of the U.S. empire, support the Cuba solidarity movement, and defend those targeted by the State in the face of this McCarthyite assault. We pledge to continue organizing as the NLG and together with our comrades in other organizations to end the genocidal U.S. blockade of Cuba and all forms of imperialist aggression towards Cuba. We pledge to continue sending delegations to support and learn from the incredible successes of the Cuban Revolution, delivering humanitarian aid, and amplifying the voices of the Cuban people. We pledge to defend our First Amendment rights against every attempt to criminalize anti-imperialist solidarity.

It is our right and responsibility as lawyers, legal workers, civil society organizations, and individuals in the Belly of the Beast to challenge this illegal and inhumane policy and uphold domestic and international law in furtherance of justice and people-centered human rights.

Resources:

NLG Federal Defense Hotline - 212-679-2811