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The feminist/anti-war advocates at CodePink issued a stern response Wednesday to Miami-Dade County Commissioners after they passed a resolution condemning the organization’s recent humanitarian trip to Cuba and blasting it as “communism tourism.”
The women-founded organization has been making humanitarian-focused trips to war-torn nations since its inception in 2002, right before the Iraq War. But it was after a highly publicized trip to Cuba in March, called the Nuestra América Convoy, that CodePink officials drew the ire of Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez (himself an immigrant from Guatemala). CodePink was among the groups that sent delegations on the trip. Attendees included CodePink co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, popular streamer Hasan Piker, and Isra Hirsi (daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar) to deliver more than 6,000 pounds of aid to the island, including medicine and hospital materials. Piker and Hirsi didn’t respond to New Times‘ requests for comment.
Gonzalez at Tuesday’s meeting brought forth the (unanimous) vote to condemn CodePink and its “communism tourism” trip. The resolution condemns the group specifically for being sympathetic to the Castro regime.
He bragged about the victory in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Today, I sponsored an item, which the board of county commissioners passed unanimously, condemning CodePink and others recently engaging in distasteful ‘communism tourism’ in Cuba. Many Miami-Dade residents — whether fleeing Cuba, Venezuela, or elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere — have become proud Americans, cherishing freedom while hardening their hearts against repressive systems,” Gonzalez wrote.
“We stand united against such leftist oppression, but we also feel obligated to call out the terrible whitewashing and the deeply offensive spectacle of luxury tourism, even dining on steak and toasting champagne with murderers, while Cuban people go without the most basic of necessities,” Gonzalez wrote. “It’s bad enough that the Cuban regime presides over such backward conditions, but to have activists — ostensibly representing the free world — go down there and participate in the extreme class divide communism creates is all the more offensive.”
Gonzalez didn’t respond to New Times‘ request for comment.
CodePink was quick to defend its position, issuing a response questioning the “attack” on the organization.
“This resolution is nothing but an attempt to criminalize solidarity and intimidate anyone who challenges decades of failed U.S. policy toward Cuba,” a spokeswoman said in a news release. “CodePink did not travel to Cuba to ‘prop up a regime.’ We traveled to bring humanitarian aid, meet with communities, witness the impact of the U.S. blockade and build people-to-people connections. We brought medicinal supplies to hospitals, met with families, and saw firsthand how ordinary Cubans are suffering from U.S. economic terrorism.
“The real issue is not that U.S. citizens visited Cuba to bring food and medicines. The real issue is that elected officials are attacking this humanitarian mission for political gain instead of addressing the urgent needs of their own communities. We reject the smear campaign against independent journalists, streamers and activists who dare to show a side of Cuba that does not fit the political narrative of exile hardliners. No county commission should police political expression or target those who challenge failed policies.”
CodePink argued the resolution is a tired regurgitation of Cold War rhetoric and ignores the reality that “the U.S. embargo has been condemned by the overwhelming majority of the world year after year at the United Nations,” according to the organization.
