Trump administration’s Cuba report lifts passages from scholar’s Tricontinental study
A State Department report on Cuba heavily mirrors a University of Virginia professor’s book on the Tricontinental movement, but reshapes its conclusions to support the administration’s claim of a Cuban-backed leftist threat.
In a July 20, 2026 State Department briefing called “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” officials cite the history of the Tricontinental movement to argue that the U.S. left is collaborating with Cuba to undermine America. The briefing reproduces extensive passages from a University of Virginia professor’s book, the first scholarly account of the 1966 OSPAAAL alliance, yet omits citation and reframes the movement’s goals.
The scholar explains that the Tricontinental, rooted in Afro-Cuban activism and comprising delegates from 82 nations, produced cultural materials that fostered solidarity with the U.S. civil-rights struggle and anti-apartheid campaigns. He stresses that the organization critiqued U.S. imperialism broadly, not Cuba itself, and included members who later criticized Cuban policies. The report’s portrayal of Cuba as backing “an unprecedented wave of left-wing terrorism” contradicts this nuanced history. A request for comment from the State Department went unanswered.
Why it matters
It shows how government reports can repurpose academic work to justify foreign policy narratives.
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