A friend of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who says he advised him on Cuba wrote a now-deleted diary about a five-star Havana trip where his socialist group met Cuba’s president to work against the U.S. embargo.
Story Snapshot
- On Sunday, October 11, reports revealed “The Cuba Diaries,” a since-deleted 2023 blog post by Danny Valdez, a Mamdani friend who hosted a fundraiser for his mayoral campaign.
- Valdez traveled to Havana on Oct. 22-26, 2023, with a delegation from the Democratic Socialists of America and met Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
- He wrote that the meeting showed the Cuban government “saw us as potential partners in the work of ending the US blockade.”
- The group stayed at the 600-room Grand Aston Havana, a five-star hotel with a rooftop pool, which Valdez called “abnormally luxurious.”
Why This Trip Matters
The trip had one stated goal: to “challenge the blockade,” Valdez wrote. The blockade is what Cuba’s government calls the U.S. embargo, the American ban on most trade with communist Cuba that has stood since 1962. Valdez wrote that the group went to Havana to help end it.
That matters because of who Valdez is. He is a friend of Mamdani, New York City’s mayor. In a 2025 Democratic Socialists of America candidate questionnaire, Valdez said he had advised Mamdani on Cuba policy, and he later confirmed giving that advice during the campaign, according to reports. In 2025 he also hosted what he called “a small fundraiser in our living room” for Mamdani’s mayoral run. Valdez also made a short-lived bid for New York City Council.
A friend and advisor to socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with the president of Cuba during a luxe trip to the communist nation — where they conspired to subvert US foreign policy, according to a since-deleted travel diary obtained by The Post.
Danny Valdez, who…— Larry Stoudt (@Live462) October 11, 2026
Valdez did not answer a first request for comment but later confirmed the trip and the meeting with Díaz-Canel, according to reports. No comment from Mamdani’s office was reported. Neither Valdez nor anyone in the delegation has been accused of any crime.
Inside the Meeting With Cuba’s President
The Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, is a left-wing political group that backs socialist candidates, including Mamdani. Its International Committee, the arm that handles foreign affairs, organized the trip. Ashik Siddique, a DSA national co-chair, led the delegation and appears in a group photo with Díaz-Canel. Siddique did not respond to a request for comment, according to reports.
The meeting with Díaz-Canel came on the third day of the trip. “It was genuinely a big accomplishment for our delegation that this meeting took place,” Valdez wrote. He added that it was “a sign that the Cuban government took our organization seriously and saw us as potential partners” in ending the embargo. Valdez wrote that Díaz-Canel told the group, “No other country has to operate under such conditions.”
Five Stars in a Hungry Country
The delegation stayed at the Grand Aston Havana, a privately owned five-star hotel with 600 rooms, a rooftop pool, a spa, bars and restaurants. “We undoubtedly had an abnormally luxurious experience of Cuba,” Valdez wrote. The trip ended with a meal at La Torre, a restaurant on the 33rd floor of Havana’s Focsa building.
Ordinary Cubans live very differently. A study by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, a human rights group, found that 94% of Cubans live in extreme poverty and that eight in 10 people on the island skip meals every day.
A Family History That Cuts the Other Way
Valdez’s own family fled Cuba after the communist takeover, and his grandfather was jailed for six years. Valdez wrote, “Of course I wish that the Cuban government did not resort to the type of political repression that led to my grandfather being jailed for six years.” Then he added, “But wishes do not make political reality.”
In the diary, Valdez also praised Cuba’s Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, or CDR, neighborhood watch groups set up by the communist government to keep an eye on residents. He credited them with a “thriving community,” even though he acknowledged the CDR was responsible for his grandfather’s arrest.
What Valdez Is Doing Now
In April 2026, Valdez founded Cuban Americans for Cuba, a nonprofit that pushes to end the embargo. Its website says, “We are Cuban Americans united by a common goal: to end the US embargo on Cuba.” According to reports, the group has made repeated visits to Capitol Hill since April to press members of Congress for softer ties with Havana.
So the man who called Cuba’s government a potential partner, and who says he advised New York’s mayor on Cuba, now runs a group lobbying Washington to drop the embargo. The diary is gone from the web, but his words are now on the record.
Sources:
nypost.com, washingtonexaminer.com
