While this is a story from 2022, it is more relevant than ever. Some ask why I call Karen Bass the Marxist Mayor of Los Angeles—this is why it is true.
“The story is no secret, although Bass tried to obfuscate just how deep her Havana links went. The official story is that she was an organizer for the Venceremos (“We Will Win”) Brigade in the 1970s. Bass took eight trips to Cuba, in violation of the U.S. travel ban, to support the VB. Established in 1969, the VB is a Cuban regime organization that aims to embellish Havana’s image abroad, especially in the U.S. For more than a half-century, the VB has brought groups of Americans, mostly pro-Castro leftists, to the island to meet with regime officials and assist Havana with propaganda. These annual trips continue, and the VB is sponsoring another junket to Cuba this December.
While Bass has downplayed her involvement, in 1975, the Communist Daily World newspaper described her as the “leader of the Venceremos Brigade in southern California,” while a 1996 academic dissertation depicted Bass in the 1970s like so: “As a ‘brigadista’ and then organizer for the Venceremos Brigades, Karen visited Cuba every 6 months.” A 1975 LA Police Department intelligence report described the then-22-year-old Bass as a “leader” in the VB, which was alleged to “train revolutionary-prone Americans in terrorist tactics and guerrilla warfare while claiming to harvest sugar cane.”
You read that right. She worked for and promoted Fidel Castro. Bass worked to recruit other Americans to support the vicious Communist Cuba regime. She is a Marxist. I do believe Los Angeles is not the first American city run by a Marxist—but few are willing to point this out.
Will the next mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, be an agent of Communist Cuba?
By John Schindler, Washington Examiner, 10/21/22 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2882061/will-the-next-mayor-of-los-angeles-karen-bass-be-an-agent-of-communist-cuba/
One of the stranger aspects of politics since the 2016 election of Donald Trump is the intense interest of Democrats in counterintelligence, at least if it involves Russia and Republicans.
Prominent Democrats regularly accuse political opponents of being agents of the Kremlin, often without a shred of evidence. It’s reminiscent of the infamous Sen. Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. But such amateur spy-hunting is never applied by Democrats to themselves. Hence, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a protege of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), managed to keep his seat on the sensitive House Intelligence Committee despite his undefined multiyear relationship with a known Chinese spy.
This results in strange spectacles like the current Los Angeles mayoral race, which pits businessman Rick Caruso against Democratic Party stalwart Karen Bass. Since LA is a very blue city, Bass is favored to win. She has major endorsements, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, plus the usual raft of celebrities. The 69-year-old Bass served in the California State Assembly, including two years as speaker, then spent a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives, with two years as the chairwoman of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus. Bass was a shortlister for Joe Biden’s vice presidential choice in 2020.
She didn’t get selected due to what some in the media tactfully termed “Cuba baggage,” which would not attract voters in key states like Florida. As is their wont, much of the media obscured the fact that, in her younger days, Bass was cozy with the Communist regime of Fidel Castro. This is euphemistically referred to by Democrats as her “activist” past. But it hides what was really going on.
The story is no secret, although Bass tried to obfuscate just how deep her Havana links went. The official story is that she was an organizer for the Venceremos (“We Will Win”) Brigade in the 1970s. Bass took eight trips to Cuba, in violation of the U.S. travel ban, to support the VB. Established in 1969, the VB is a Cuban regime organization that aims to embellish Havana’s image abroad, especially in the U.S. For more than a half-century, the VB has brought groups of Americans, mostly pro-Castro leftists, to the island to meet with regime officials and assist Havana with propaganda. These annual trips continue, and the VB is sponsoring another junket to Cuba this December.
While Bass has downplayed her involvement, in 1975, the Communist Daily World newspaper described her as the “leader of the Venceremos Brigade in southern California,” while a 1996 academic dissertation depicted Bass in the 1970s like so: “As a ‘brigadista’ and then organizer for the Venceremos Brigades, Karen visited Cuba every 6 months.” A 1975 LA Police Department intelligence report described the then-22-year-old Bass as a “leader” in the VB, which was alleged to “train revolutionary-prone Americans in terrorist tactics and guerrilla warfare while claiming to harvest sugar cane.”
Moreover, the VB, since its inception, has been known by U.S. counterintelligence to be a front for Cuban intelligence (the DGI, presently DI), which employs the group to spot and assess Americans for recruitment into propaganda work and espionage. In 1982, Gerardo Peraza, a DGI senior officer who defected to the U.S., testified before the Senate regarding his personal experience with the VB and how his service used it as a front to recruit Americans to spy for Havana. Peraza described how “brigadistas” were employed by Havana to spy on American targets, ironically including Congress. A year later, another DGI defector informed the FBI that the VB was fully controlled by Cuban intelligence.
Put simply, all Americans who were permitted to occupy leadership roles in the VB were vetted by Cuban intelligence and were considered their agents. This doesn’t necessarily make them spies in a formal sense; the proper counterintelligence term would be “agent of influence.” Regardless, Bass should, at a minimum, be asked what her relationship with the VB and Havana actually was — and when it ended.
Shockingly, the media have shown no such curiosity. The LA Times, which endorsed Bass for mayor, in 2016 ran a piece about her participation in then-President Barack Obama’s groundbreaking trip to Cuba. This cited her 1970s trips to the island as a volunteer but made no mention of the VB. The LA mayor’s race has skirted Bass’s Cuba issue entirely.
It is tempting to dismiss Bass’s work for Havana as a youthful indiscretion, something long in the past, as forgettable as a bad 1970s haircut. However, when Fidel Castro died in 2016, Bass placed a formal message on her congressional website mourning “the passing of the Comandante en Jefe” as “a great loss to the people of Cuba.” She seemingly remains a sympathizer of the Communist regime in Havana, while in her youth, she appears to have been more than that.
Democrats who are tempted to dismiss this story should be advised that not only does Cuban intelligence represent a major counterintelligence threat to this nation, Havana’s DI ranks among the closest partners of Russian intelligence. American secrets purloined by Cuban spies tend to wind up in Moscow.
Not only am I confident Bass will LOSE her bid for reelection, who defeats her will be EVERYTHING she is not.