Cuban member of group that organized Hasan Piker, Code Pink trip to communist nation arrested after Rubio terminates legal status

The Department of State announced on Wednesday that three Cuban nationals were taken into federal custody after Secretary Marco Rubio terminated their legal status in the US. One of those arrested was a man the department said has "spent more than a decade working as a foreign subversive for the Communist Cuban regime’s premier influence and intelligence front group in the United States." 

Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, as well as his wife and son, was taken into custody by federal agents. Lloga Dominguez was employed by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People (ICAP) for over a decade, the department said, and has continued to maintain ties to the network during his time in the US.

Rubio designated ICAP for sanctions in early June. The group "is the central node in a sprawling Cuban intelligence and influence operation, claiming to span more than 2,000 organizations across more than 150 countries," the department said. The current head of ICAP, Fernando González Llort, previously served 15 years in US prison for his role in the Wasp Network, a Cuban spy ring discovered in Florida in the late 90s.

The department said, "Working in close coordination with the Cuban communist regime, ICAP maintains an outsized footprint across the United States, trafficking in vile anti-American propaganda, cultivating pro-Havana regime activists and politicians, and lobbying federal, state and local politicians on behalf of the Cuban dictatorship. The organization facilitates close working relationships between Havana and radical U.S. groups, using America’s far left milieu as a vehicle to export Cuba’s Communist revolution to the United States."

An investigation by Fox News Digital found that ICAP officials have been closely coordinating with American nonprofits over the last decade to support Cuba’s Communist Party. The nonprofits include People’s Forum, Breakthrough News, Tricontinental, CodePink, the ANSWER Coalition, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, many of which are funded by far-left businessman Neville Roy Singham. 

In May, the Trump administration's Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control subpoenaed socialist political YouTuber Hasan Piker, as well as CodePink’s Susan Medea Benjamin, over a trip taken to Cuba. One such trip took place in March, with activists being seen partying while much of the island faced a blackout. ICAP worked with US nonprofits to organize this trip.

The March trip was under the banner of the "Nuestra America Convoy," wth organizers claiming the trip aimed to deliver humanitarian aid and protest US sanctions. They also painted murals.

The federal inquiry is over whether activists who went on the March trip violated US sanctions laws through the financing, coordination or delivery of goods to Cuba, including potential contacts with Cuban government personnel or entities on the island. 

Amid news of the subpoena, it was revealed that Piker had admitted in 2025 that the Cuban government had reached out to a contact of his in an attempt to get him to come to the country. "The Cuban government actually hit my contact from the embassy and told them that if the only thing stopping Hasan from coming to Cuba was the consistent internet access, we can make it happen," he said.