Check into the connection of Karen Bass and the Venceremos Brigade
Nothing shocks me anymore, these politicians are Marxists.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing criticism over the timing of her recent overseas trip to Ghana, and budget cuts that hampered the city's fire department from doing its job amid the ongoing citywide blaze. The mayor’s poorly timed foreign travel has raised questions about her priorities and similar past trips.
One of the most interesting chapters of Bass’ political career and international travel involves her past excursions to communist Cuba. The former U.S. congresswoman turned metropolitan mayor played a
significant role with the
Venceremos Brigade —a group linked to Cuba's communist regime.
History of the Venceremos Brigade
The Venceremos Brigade,
founded in 1969, is a U.S.-based organization that has facilitated trips for Americans to Cuba in defiance of U.S. travel restrictions. The group was formed by young activists in solidarity with the Marxist-Leninst Cuban Revolution, aiming to challenge U.S. policies toward Cuba, including economic sanctions—referred to as the “blockade” in alignment with Fidel Castro’s rhetoric—and travel bans.
During the past 56 years, the Venceremos Brigade has helped coordinate the travel of
nearly 10,000 Americans to the communist island, according to reports from
Cuban state media.
On its official website, the Venceremos Brigade lists five “points of unity”:
- Belief in Cuba’s sovereignty and right to self-determination.
- Support for the constitutional right of U.S. citizens to travel freely.
- Commitment to international solidarity and struggle.
- Advocacy for equity and justice against capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and colonialism.
- Recognition that “people are not disposable.”
The Brigade started their missions by volunteering U.S. students to help Cuban laborers work in sugarcane fields. However, reports published by U.S. government agencies and Congress say the missions have been used by the Cuban regime as a gateway to collect data on Americans and U.S. public officials.
A
Feb. 26, 1982 report published by the U.S. Senate confirms that shortly after its formation, “the DGI [Cuban intelligence] quickly began tasking VB members to collect public information on prominent Americans. This was done to conserve Cuban resources, maximize Havana’s collection of open-source material, and to test a VB member’s degree of support.
The DGI found telephone books to be an especially useful item, as the books could identify and verify the identity of high-interest personnel. VB members also provided considerable details on U.S. Congressional members, staff, and their relatives.”
While it has collected data on members of Congress, the aforementioned
1976 FBI report cited by the New York Times says the DGI’s real interest in the Brigade, “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.”
In Spanish, “Venceremos” means “we shall overcome,” a popular Marxist revolutionary slogan that has been used by radical leftist organizations throughout Latin America since the late 1960s. It has also been incorporated into the most (in)famous Castro “revolution” slogan, which was/is “Patria o muerte! Venceremos!”
Since its inception in 1969, the Venceremos Brigade took aim at influencing Americans interested in politics, particularly those with a sympathetic ear. In 1977, the
New York Times revealed details from an August 1976 FBI report that found Cuban intelligence agents “arranged for American youths to be inculcated with revolutionary fervor and, occasionally, to be trained in practical weaponry by Cuban military officers through the so‐called Venceremos Brigade.”