How Cuban intelligence exploited sister cities partnerships in an attempt to influence public officials

The Cuban regime could be trying to exploit sister city partnerships to influence U.S. policy throughout the United States and advance its agenda, an ADN investigation cross-referencing documents and public records shows. Sister Cities International is registered as a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 and serves as the national membership organization for individual sister cities, counties, and states across the United States.

The organization facilitates agreements based on cultural, educational, information, and trade exchanges between two geographically and politically distinct localities, but the concept of sister cities has been used by other organizations as well, and has long been scrutinized by Congress due to concerns about how China might exploit sister-city partnerships in the U.S. for espionage or to gain influence.

This has prompted U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee to introduce the Sister City Transparency Act (SCTA), which was also backed by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, among others. The SCTA bill focuses mainly on China’s influence, which currently has 158 sister cities partnerships with the U.S, and will require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study of sister cities partnerships between U.S. communities and foreign communities in those countries that score below 45 on a public sector corruption perception index.

If passed, however, the bill might still leave partnerships with Cuba outside of GAO’s scope.

According to an Index that gathers data provided by individual countries, the Cuban regime scored 47 in 2019, potentially exempting the communist regime from scrutiny despite its long history of espionage and influence campaigns in the United States.

Chris Simmons, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer who played a key role in the interrogation and capture of Cuba’s spy Ana Belén Montes, first raised concerns about Cuban intelligence's exploitation of sister cities concept in 2009, noting that defense intelligence officers had a hand in establishing or sustaining programs in six of the initial eight U.S. cities to form sister-city relationships.

The exploitation of sister cities partnerships, according to Simmons, involves the active participation of Cuban intelligence officers in the formation and sustainment of these partnerships, with a notable increase in partnerships over time. Despite being on the State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT) list, Cuba has had many Sister Cities partnerships in the U.S. for 31 years. The first U.S.-Cuba sister city partnership was initiated between Mobile, Alabama, and Havana, Cuba, in 1993.

From nine sister cities that Mr. Simmons documented in 2009, the Cuban regime built partnerships in at least 17 U.S. cities today, with approximately 30 more in progress, according to documents from the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association and reviewed by ADN.

These partnerships primarily exist in small cities with minimal Cuban-American populations, making it less likely to surface on the radar of Cuban-American human rights activists.

A review and cross-reference of data by ADN further revealed that as of today, in those U.S. Sister Cities with Cuba, the city has passed some form of resolution and issued a declaration advocating for the lifting of the U.S. embargo against the Cuban dictatorship or its removal from the list of state terrorism sponsors.

In some areas, the resolutions have also been proposed or passed at the state legislature level. Some of those sister cities include Mobile, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, and Tacoma–all cities that Simmons says have been targeted by Cuba in the past.

Prior to passing Cuba's regime-favorable city council resolutions, some government officials in the U.S. have taken trips to the communist island. 

Such was the case of former Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, who traveled to Cuba years before the City Council passed a resolution in 2018 to lift Cuba sanctions. Mr. Peduto was mayor of the Steel City from 2014 until 2022. 

William Sandy Stimpson, who has served Mobile’s mayor since 2013 has traveled to Cuba to support business with Cuba , and has requested the lifting of sanctions in the past. The area is a major provider of frozen chicken for Cuba and the U.S region where some  Republican lawmakers in Congress have historically supported the lifting of the embargo.

In February 2024, Stimpson gave an interview to th Cuba regime sponsored Prensa Latina news agency and said he “realized that there are tremendous economic opportunities that are probably slipping through our hands.” 

According to Prensa Latina, the Cuban regime is seeking to develop exchanges with Alabama in mining and scientific research. Earlier this year, Michael C. Casey, Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), gave a speech at The Economic Development Association of Alabama (EDAA) highlighting the counterintelligence risks of economic development projects with U.S. foreign adversaries. 

In his remarks, he spoke about “influence operations in the U.S” conducted by “Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, and other nations.” 

“Many of us think about foreign influence in the context of foreign land purchases, elections, or wedge issues -- but it goes beyond that,” he explained.  “Some of the foreign influence that we see at the U.S. state and local level can be much more subtle and hard to detect, but just as problematic.” 

Casey also mentioned concerns about how these influence operations might be “collecting personal data on state & local leaders (and those close to them) to find suitable influence targets.”    

• Recruiting officials early in their careers to exploit when they reach higher office;  
• Exploiting friendship partnerships, like sister city programs, with U.S. communities;  
• Creating economic dependencies in communities that they can use for leverage and  
• Targeting local business leaders as a vector to pressure policymakers

Another example is Chicago, where the Illinois General Assembly has been passing resolutions seeking to end the embargo since 1998. 

Such a resolution was passed in the 2021-2022 General Assembly, ​​claiming that “The State of Illinois would greatly benefit by the restoration of trade with the Republic of Cuba, which would permit the export of industrial and agricultural products to the neighboring nation of 11 million people and the importation of Cuban products useful to Illinois, such as such as the life-saving medicines Herberprot-p and CIMAvax.” 

Who is behind these resolutions? 

Many of these resolutions and Sister City groups have ties to the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), a group with a history of advocating positions benefitting the Cuban regime. The NNOC has a long history of advocating for Havana, including organizing campaigns to free members of the Wasp Network.

According to its website, the NNOC’s “Resolutions Task Force” is tasked with producing draft resolutions, letters, and other resources to advocate for lifting sanctions, aiming to get resolutions passed in councils, labor bodies, and other venues. 

Understanding the Extent of the Problem

Maria Werlau, a Miami-based academic researcher and the founder of Cuba Archive, has written extensively about the Cuban regime’s disproportionate presence around the world. According to the South Florida-based academic, the NNOC has acted as an umbrella organization of “at least 72 organizations in the U.S,” including the International U.S.-Cuba Normalization Committee Coalition, which is part of Cuba’s worldwide propaganda machine.  

“In 2023, Cuba’s official media reported that 109 ‘Parliamentary Friendship Groups’ that were created to influence foreign policy in favor of the Cuban Revolution within parliaments worldwide: 34 in Europe, 21 in the Americas and the Caribbean 21, 28 in Africa and the Middle East, and 26 in Asia. This huge worldwide army of influencers demands the end of the U.S. ‘blockade,’ promotes a positive image of Cuba and Venezuela, raises donations for Cuba, and helps spread pro-regime propaganda,” Cuba Archive explains. 

Today the NNOC webpage is organized by Calla Walsh, a former Disney actress turned anti-war activist associated with radical anti-Israel groups, including the BDS Movement against Israel. 

Ms. Walsh, who has a history of traveling to Cuba on several occasions with the decades-old Venceremos Brigade, was recently being arrested and charged with vandalizing an Israeli corporation.  She has also been photographed with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, and separately, in Havana with individuals linked to Cuban intelligence. 

As ADN has previously reported, many activist groups connected with anti-Israel activity in the U.S and with ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist group, have been traveling to Cuba for years as part of  “solidarity groups.” 

The Venceremos Brigade, a group established with the assistance of the Cuban government's intelligence agency is known for  advocating for policies in “solidarity with the Cuban Revolution” and known for recruiting U.S citizens that could have access to U.S officials. 

“In 1969, Cuba’s intelligence apparatus helped create the U.S.-based Venceremos Brigade,” whose aim, according to a 1976 FBI report, “is the recruitment of individuals who are politically oriented and who someday may obtain a position, elective or appointive, somewhere in the U.S. government, which would provide the Cuban government with access to political, economic and military intelligence.” 

Simmons has previously highlighted the Directorate of Intelligence's (DI) view of the Sister Cities program as a valuable tool for engaging with sympathizers and agents, disseminating disinformation, and identifying potential recruits for future espionage. 

In fact, in 2023 ADN reported that Somah Haaland, the daughter of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland was working for a Santa Fe based climate alliance with ties to the Venceremos Brigade Committee also with reported links to the NNOC.  

Santa Fe, (as shown on the map included in this story) has a standing Sister City with the Cuban regime. In March,  Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber declared March 20-22 of 2024 ”Days of Holguín [Cuba] and Santa Fe,” based on the historical and cultural ties between both sister cities, and  was subsequently praised by the Cuban ambassador to the U.S on the X social media platform.

In Cuba, sister cities visits are coordinated by the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, more commonly known by its Spanish acronym, ICAP. ICAP’s current director, Fernando González Llort, was previously convicted in the U.S. for espionage and formerly served as a former Cuban intelligence officer. 

Roughly 90 percent of ICAP personnel are believed  to be affiliated with Cuban intelligence operations, according to testimony given by former DGI agent Juan Reyes-Alonso. Meanwhile, in the United States, several Sister City programs have included members affiliated with Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence (DI), according to Chris Simmons.  

For instance, DI officer Felix Wilson Hernandez is a case on point. Enjoying the protection of diplomatic immunity at the Cuban Interests Section, Hernandez served as part of a three-man delegation to the national formation meeting of the U.S.-Cuba Sister City Association in Pittsburgh, Simmons said. 

Other DI officers, expelled from the U.S were also involved in the formation of Sister City partnerships in the United States.

In April 2000, DI Officer Oscar Redondo Toledo reportedly arrived to run the Sister City program with Mobile. In June 2002, he was the keynote speaker at an event in Philadelphia, where another Sister City partnership exists. Five months later,  Redondo Toledo was expelled for espionage in connection with Ana Belen Montes case. 

According to Simmons, a little known DI officer supporting Sister Cities in the past was Alejandro Pila Alonso, who worked with the Havana-D.C. Sister City Committee. 

Co-sponsored by the Howard University Students Association, Mr. Pila’s experience against academic targets. Mr. Simmons believed  “certainly played a role in his coverage of the Havana-D.C. initiative.” 

Mr. Alejandro Pila Alonso is currently the Minister Counselor of the Embassy of Cuba in the U.S. 

During the Obama-sponsored Cuban Thaw, Sister Cities International received an influx of inquiries from U.S. cities seeking Cuban sister cities angling to be the “first” with a Cuban partner. However, what surprised many at the time is that even before the engagement, there were already nine Cuban partnerships in place, some of which have spanned decades.

For example, the Pittsburgh-Matanzas Sister Cities Partnership is not shy about its lobbying efforts to influence U.S Cuba policy. On its website, the organization states that membership fees “strengthened [their] relationship with Congressman Mike Doyle who signed every legislative effort in opposition to the blockade, met with the Cuban Ambassador, worked to re-constitute the Cuba Caucus at the Capitol.” 

The group also “Maintained  communication in joint planning and advocacy with the National Network on Cuba,” a group created by Fidel Castro as part of its efforts to advance his agenda internationally. According to Simmons, the Sister City effort, orchestrated from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, also provides the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) with a credible pretext for traveling throughout the U.S. 

This was deemed necessary due to the 25-mile travel restriction imposed by Havana and Washington on each other's diplomatic missions. Historically, about half of the 26 Cuban diplomats assigned to the Interests Section have been identified as spies. Utilizing  this diplomatic front, the DI continues its operations as a long-term intelligence endeavor targeting “rich” sites across the U.S., Simmons explains.

In fact, public records show that Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s ambassador to the United States, has visited several areas with Sister Cities partnerships since January 2024 . In January 2024. One city she traveled to was Mobile, where the regime has another partnership in place to open an Art Exhibit, according to MINREX. 

In February, Torres Rivera  visited Maine where Cuba has another Sister City partnership, according to the Democratic Socialist of America. 

“Delegations from Maine Democratic Socialists of America, the Communist Party of Maine, Veterans for Peace, and Let Cuba Live were all present,” their DSA website Pine and Roses published.  At that meeting, Torres Rivera express her grievances about the U.S refusal to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and to “end the economic blockade,” as Cuban officials refer to the U.S Sanctions despite not existing a “blockade” since the Kennedy era. 

“Torres Rivera implored activists to continue this work, to make sure that your town, your union, your state, your representatives, and your senators adopt or support similar resolutions,” according to the DSA accounts which ended their summary of the meeting,  stating, “We must continue our international solidarity work, including our efforts to turn the tide on genocide in Palestine and supporting our comrades in Cuba by fostering economic, cultural, and social connections.” 

Cuban regime work to support anti-Israel sentiments in the U.S. and around Latin America has been documented by ADN in other reports. The Cuban Ambassador also met with San Francisco Bay Area artists, activists, journalists and cultural leaders in a rare community meeting at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts on March 13 in San Francisco, California. 

The meeting was joined by artists, journalists from Radio Bilingüe and KPPO and activists Rita Barouch and Estelle Schneider. Barouch, who lives in Richmond, spoke about the fact that Richmond has a very active “Sister City” relationship with the city of Regla, in Cuba, according to far-left El Tecolote, a bilingual newspaper in San Francisco. 

Online reports also demonstrate that Barouch was also scheduled to travel to Seattle on February 21-22 to meet with a “Cuba [regime] friendship” group that has been teaching activists how to recruit others and lobby members of Congress to change Cuba policy. The same Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee also met with Congressional Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Feb. 27 at her Seattle office. 

Meeting with Representative Pramila Jayapal and Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee | Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee

Rep. Jayapal had just come back from visiting Cuba with Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Barbara Lee's staff, and staffers from other offices. She is a strong advocate of lifting the U.S. blockade against Cuba and of removing Cuba from the U.S. government State Sponsors of Terrorism List.

In 2022, the leader of that organization, Joe Callahan, of the MN Cuba Committee, referred to convicted Cuba spy Ana Belen Montes as a “true heroine.”