Statement: U.S. Gov’t Subpoenas Activists Over Cuba Trip

Defending Rights & Dissent Policy Director Chip Gibbons has issued the following comment in response to this weekend’s reports that the U.S. government has issued subpoenas to CodePink founder Medea Benjamin and political commentator Hasan Piker over their recent trip to Cuba:

Once again the Trump administration is using the U.S.’s abusive sanctions regime to attack humanitarians and retaliate against critics of U.S. foreign policy.

We stand against this outrageous attempt to intimidate Medea Benjamin and Hasan Piker for standing up against the U.S.’s blockade of Cuba, an illegal act of collective punishment which has brought misery and devastation to ordinary Cubans.

Defending Rights & Dissent is a national civil liberties organization that defends the American people’s right to know and freedom to act through grassroots mobilization, public education, policy expertise, and advocacy journalism.