In the midst of Cuba’s third power outage this month, a group of socialists from the United States and Europe organized a concert on the island. This event unfolded on Saturday, coinciding with the latest blackout affecting the nation.
The delegation, which included streamer Hasan Piker, the daughter of Representative Ilhan Omar, members of the activist organization Code Pink, and the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, aimed to express solidarity with Cuba’s communist leadership. However, their visit sparked controversy.
Critics pointed out that Piker and his companions chose to stay at a luxurious 5-star hotel in Havana. Meanwhile, Kneecap performed in the capital, even as much of the country’s population of 11 million dealt with ongoing electricity issues.
Kneecap, which has previously faced allegations of supporting Hamas, performed to a sparse audience. During the concert, the group was recorded chanting slogans such as “Free Cuba, f–k Trump, f–k Netanyahu.”
The concert was organized by Code Pink, a leftist activist group that arranged for protesters to travel to Havana on Friday.
Jodi Evans, the founder of Code Pink, was photographed on Saturday wearing a pink keffiyeh and smiling alongside Hasan Piker during their stay in Cuba.
“This is like the Fyre Festival for humanities majors with trust funds,” one X user wrote, referencing 2017’s infamous fraudulent music festival.
“‘Free Palestine’ while in Cuba… This is performative and embarrassing,” another X user wrote.
Meanwhile, in a viral video, a furious Cuban filmed himself going to a hotel in Havana where the Code Pink leftists are purportedly staying, enjoying electricity thanks to a generator, amid the nationwide blackout.
The “Nuestra America Convoy” sent in socialists from North America and Europe to Cuba, under the guise of handing out 20 tons of humanitarian aid to protest the US oil blockade on the island.
Cuba has seen its third national blackout this month, and its economy is on the brink of collapse.
Left-wing influencer Piker, 34, brazenly claimed that he was forced to stay in a luxury hotel in the communist nation, as he arrived in Cuba this week during an international aid convoy to the island.
“The American government makes it illegal for Americans to stay wherever they want in Cuba,” Piker, an ally of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, said on a recent streaming video from Cuba.
While the US government prohibits Americans from staying in accommodation owned by the Cuban government or senior regime figures, there are no stipulations regarding the quality of lodgings.
Also along for the ride is 23-year-old Isra Hirsi, the unemployed activist daughter of embattled “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn), as well as a delegation of Mamdani’s Democratic Socialists of America comrades.
Mike Gonzalez, a Cuban exile forced to leave his homeland at the age of 12, accused Code Pink of treating the dictatorship like an “ideological theme park” while locals face energy shortages.
“They’re staying at a five-star hotel while the island’s electrical grid has collapsed for the second time in a week,” Gonzales, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News.
“Meanwhile, these hundreds of communists from around the world are feasting on lobster tail and treating Cuba as an ideological theme park,” he said.
Some delegates were reportedly staying at the 5-star Gran Hotel Bristol Meliá Collection, where a room costs between $130 and $520 a night.
