Secretary of State Marco Rubio put U.S. organizations on notice: they can no longer do business with a key Cuban organization that has spent over six decades since the launch of Fidel Castro’s communist revolution in 1959, cultivating relationships with U.S. activists and groups, many of them now funded by communist American tycoon Neville Roy Singham.

The sanctions target the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, known by its Spanish acronym ICAP, an organization founded by Castro in 1960 to spread Marxist ideology and support for Cuba. Long ago, U.S. officials and intelligence assessments concluded ICAP is a key component of Cuba’s intelligence apparatus.

«For decades, Cuba has been the world capital for radical left-wing terrorism,» Rubio said. «The regime in Havana has recruited, trained and backed violent Marxist and third-worldist movements across our hemisphere and beyond.»

REVOLUTIONARY TOURISM: INSIDE THE $600M MARRIAGE OF DARK MONEY AND FAR-LEFT AGITPROP

Earlier this year, ICAP worked with U.S. nonprofits, including the People’s Forum, Progressive International and CodePink — to organize a March «convoy» that included controversial Marxist streamer Hasan Piker landing in Cuba to support Cuba’s communist party.

The trip has since attracted federal scrutiny, with CodePink cofounder Medea Benjamin confirming she received questions from federal officials about the trip, investigating whether she violated sanctions.

Late last month, Fox News Digital published a three-part series, reporting that federal investigators are examining Cuba’s alleged malign foreign influence operation in the U.S., investigating a network of 145 groups with collective revenues of about $1 billion, promoting Cuba’s agenda and communist ideology.

«Today, we are targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba’s subversive and radical operations,» Rubio said.

The groups working closely with ICAP include the People’s Forum, CodePink, BreakThrough News and Tricontinental, funded by Singham, a Marxist tech tycoon living in Shanghai. As reported, Singham has pumped $285 million into nonprofits since 2017 in these nonprofits that have built very close relationships with ICAP and the communist government of Cuba.

Singham is married to CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans.

INSIDE CUBA’S FOREIGN INFLUENCE CAMPAIGN: FROM THE VENCEREMOS BRIGADE OF THE 1960S TO SATURDAY IN A UNION HALL

ICAP is today led by Fernando González Llort, one of five former Cuban intelligence officers, known as the «Cuban Five,» convicted in the U.S. years ago on espionage-related charges and released after spending time in jail. Critics say ICAP acts as aa gateway for revolutionaries from around the world to get embedded in the propaganda, organizing tactics and strategic goals of the Communist Party of Cuba. ICAP has denied wrongdoing and says it’s a civil society organization.

ICAP was one of five entities that Rubio designated as off-limits under sanctions authorities established by President Donald Trump’s Cuba executive order. The sanctions also target Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), Minera La Victoria S.A. and the state-run tourism company Amistur Cuba S.A., which has arranged trips to Cuba with U.S. nonprofits in the Singham network.

Experts said the move signals that the Trump administration is focused not only on the Cuban government but also on U.S. institutions that U.S. officials believe help project Cuban influence internationally.

A declassified CIA report from the Cold War era, «Cuba: Castro’s Propaganda Apparatus and Foreign Policy,» described Cuba’s international propaganda and influence activities as a central component of Castro’s foreign policy strategy. The report named ICAP among organizations that act as important instruments for cultivating sympathetic political movements abroad and extending Cuban influence beyond the island.

DOJ, TREASURY INVESTIGATE NONPROFITS AND LEADERS ALLEGEDLY COORDINATING WITH CUBA IN INFLUENCE CAMPAIGN

One of the most notable examples was the Venceremos Brigade, a Cuba solidarity program established in 1969 that brought generations of American activists to the island through exchanges organized with Cuban authorities and institutions including ICAP.

The program became one of the most visible pipelines connecting American activists to the Cuban revolutionary government.

Today, the Venceremos Brigade operates as a fiscally-sponsored project of People’s Forum.

Lawmakers and federal authorities are examining whether organizations funded by Singham have acted on behalf of foreign interests without properly registering and have helped amplify messaging favorable to the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of Cuba.

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel (C) listens to Progressive International’s general coordinator, David Adler, during an event at the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in Havana, on March 21, 2026. A former Cuban intelligence officer who is now president of ICAP, sits to the right of Cuba’s president. (Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa / POOL / AFP via Getty Images) (Ernesto Mastrascusa/AFP via Getty Images)

HOW A RHODES SCHOLAR WITH TIES TO CUBA’S PRESIDENT ORGANIZED THE CONVOY THAT BROUGHT HASAN PIKER TO HAVANA

During the recent convoy in March, Progressive International co-founder David Adler appeared alongside Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and ICAP President González at an official event hosted by ICAP.

Years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass participated in Venceremos Brigade trips, a connection that her mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt resurfaced during her campaign. Bass has denied any wrongdoing.

Supporters of such exchanges describe them as educational and humanitarian programs intended to foster international understanding. Critics argue they function as political influence operations designed to build support for the Cuban regime and its ideological objectives.

The Cuban government condemned Rubio’s sanctions shortly after the announcement.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the United States of escalating economic pressure against Cuba and attempting to intensify tensions between the two countries.

Hasan Piker, a Democratic Socialists of America member, and CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans meet in Havana, Cuba, as part of a «United Front» supporting the communist regime. (CodePink via Storyful)

«The Treasury Department has added new names of Cuban leaders, organizations and companies to an illegitimate sanctions list,» Díaz-Canel wrote on social media. «They are aimed at reinforcing the blockade measures and the scenario of conflict between Cuba and the United States.»

Rubio’s warning extended beyond the sanctioned entities.

The action signals that the administration is increasingly focused on the networks, partnerships and influence channels that U.S. officials believe have helped advance Cuban interests abroad long after the Cold War officially ended.

«Anyone providing services to these sanctioned actors is at risk of sanctions themselves,» he said. «Foreign banks and other companies that provide services to these entities should freeze those activities.»

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Fox News Digital’s Reagan Schroeder contributed to this report.

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Several Democratic senators repeatedly declined to say whether they still support Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner when pressed about leaked explicit sexual messages tied to the candidate.

Platner’s latest controversy in the public eye involves sexually explicit text exchanges with multiple women that surfaced publicly while he was married to his wife, Amy Gertner.

The Maine candidate also has an active profile on Kik — private messaging app associated with casual sex and anonymous encounters. The app lacks proper identification methods that have led it to enable child predators to share inappropriate material.

His profile, Phustle0331, has been active since 2016, but Platner’s campaign previously acknowledged that the Kik account, which was created in 2016, belonged to him, stating that he had deleted the app from his phone but did not deactivate the account, according to The Wall Street Journal.

WATCH: SHAHEEN DODGES REPORTER’S PLATNER QUESTIONS AS AIDE CREATES DONUT DISTRACTION

While most Democrats were hesitant to vocalize their support for Platner, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., made it clear that he supports Platner in securing the Senate spot in Maine because of his opposition to President Donald Trump.

«We have in Maine, a candidate, that is Platner, who wants to stop Trump’s authoritarian destruction of our democracy,» Markey told Fox News Digital. «And we have another candidate, an incumbent, who hasn’t stood up to Trump. And so if you care about our Constitution, there’s really only one choice.»

Many Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have continued to back Platner despite the growing scandal, arguing that flipping Maine’s now Republican-held Senate seat remains a top political priority.

WATCH: CHUCK SCHUMER SIDESTEPS PLATNER SCANDALS, CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR CONTROVERSIAL DEM 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., confirmed his support for Maine Democratic candidate Graham Platner on Tuesday amid mounting controversy. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Not all Democrats offered an outright endorsement. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said the decision ultimately belongs to Maine voters.

«I think that’s up to the voters of Maine to decide,» Shaheen said. «I don’t think inappropriate sexual behavior should be approved by anybody who does it, but the voters of Maine will have to decide that.»

Some Democrats declined to weigh in on the controversy or say whether they still support Platner as the countdown to Maine’s primary election enters its final days.

«I haven’t met him, I haven’t engaged with him, and I’m not going to answer that,» Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said.

THE GROWING LIST OF CONTROVERSIES THREATENING DEMOCRAT GRAHAM PLATNER’S MAINE SENATE BID

Sen. Chris Coons was among several Democratic senators pressed on support for Graham Platner amid the Maine Democrat’s growing scandals. (Nicholas Ballasy/Fox News Digital)

«I don’t do campaign stuff in the Capitol,» Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said when asked both if he was still supporting Platner and if he attended the meeting between some Democratic senators and Platner on Tuesday.

Platner invited the entire Senate Democratic caucus to a meeting Tuesday, though only about half a dozen senators were seen attending. Those in attendance included Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

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The primary election is set for Tuesday, leaving Maine voters just days to decide whether the controversy changes the trajectory of one of Democrats’ most closely watched Senate races.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.