Last week, the United States Treasury Department launched a federal investigation into foreign influence and issued subpoenas to influencers, including controversial online streamer Hasan Piker, who describes himself as a Marxist, and Susan Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of CodePink, amid a broad investigation.
Both Piker and Medea Benjamin recently traveled to Cuba with several progressive activists, including the Democratic Socialists of America, “to bring awareness to what my government, the United States of America, has done to the Cuban population,” Piker said in a post on X.
Roy Singham, a wealthy American businessman who lives in China and is married to CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, has reportedly “pushed pro-China, pro-Cuba, anti-U.S. narratives and street protests for almost a decade. ... CodePink received $1.33 million from Singham after he married Evans,” per Fox News.
In his livestream on Monday, Piker acknowledged the subpoena and said the federal government is likely targeting Singham. (WARNING: Graphic language in link).
“Ultimately, the target is probably Singham and his operation,” Piker said. “He’s been a funding vehicle for a lot of political movements in the country, like a lot of activism ... . So they’re trying to jam him up, you know, they’re trying to hit him on anything and everything they possibly can. That’s it. That’s the, that’s the goal here. That’s the broader goal I think.”
Americans supporting the communist cause in Cuba attended a meeting in California over the weekend, where David Ramírez Álvarez, second secretary at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., described the current U.S. Congress as being among the “most active moments” in nearly a decade for Cuban-related legislation.
The discussion, reported by Fox News, framed advocacy for Cuba as gaining renewed momentum in Congress despite limited broader political attention.
Ramírez Álvarez cited bills in state legislatures in Massachusetts, Oregon and Virginia that aim to end U.S. embargoes against Cuba. Trade between the two countries has been limited for more than six decades.
A White House Fact Sheet published earlier this year said restrictions were necessary due to Cuba’s “support of hostile actors, terrorism, and regional instability that endanger American security and foreign policy.”
The meeting over the weekend was moderated by Mwezi Odom, a leader from the African People’s Socialist Party, and a video published by Fox News shows Ramírez Álvarez stressing the continued grassroots pressure on lawmakers and portraying current U.S. policy toward Cuba as morally and legally indefensible.
Ramírez Álvarez called America’s embargo/blockade as an “act of war,” “crimes against humanity,” “collective punishment” and potentially “genocidal.”
Ramírez Álvarez continues to be a person of interest in the United States’ federal investigation into a foreign influence campaign in the country, per the outlet.
A spokesperson for the Embassy of Cuba in D.C. told Fox News that Ramírez Álvarez was in compliance with the Vienna Convention, which says that diplomats must “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State,” and that “They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.”