Trump Expands Crackdown on Cuba Solidarity Activists

The Trump administration is continuing its campaign against groups that have organized solidarity trips with Cuba. This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that federal authorities arrested Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, a Cuban national with legal U.S. status, for his alleged past involvement with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). He was detained with his wife and child — all three had their legal statuses revoked. 

Despite acknowledging that Lloga Dominguez was a lawful resident, the State Department’s press statement warned that “any foreign aliens” linked to ICAP “should expect to soon find themselves on an ICE deportation flight.”

Last month, Rubio sanctioned ICAP under Trump’s May 1 executive order, accusing the organization of exporting “radical left-wing violence through its malign influence network," while neglecting to present any evidence to substantiate this claim. Created in 1960, ICAP has coordinated exchanges to Cuba for solidarity activists and other visitors from around the world.

The arrest follows the persecution of participants who delivered lifesaving aid to Cuba as part of March’s Nuestra América Convoy.

See Liz Oliva Fernández’s interview with one of the convoy's participants, Medea Benjamin, HERE.