Staff Reports
New reporting this week claims Danny Valdez — a friend and adviser to Mayor Zohran Mamdani — met with Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz‑Canel during a Democratic Socialists of America delegation trip to Havana in October 2023. The account is drawn from an allegedly now‑deleted blog post called “The Cuba Diaries,” and the New York Post says Valdez confirmed the trip and the meeting.
What the report actually says
The Post’s version describes a delegation that traveled to Havana Oct. 22–26, 2023. The diary, according to the report, included a group photo and notes that Valdez and other DSA participants met with President Díaz‑Canel. The diary reportedly quotes Valdez celebrating the meeting as “a big accomplishment” and quotes Díaz‑Canel criticizing the U.S. embargo. The same reporting notes Valdez later founded an advocacy group called Cuban Americans for Cuba and that he has advised Mayor Zohran Mamdani and even hosted a campaign fundraiser.
Why this should make taxpayers and voters nervous
Here’s the part that matters: an informal adviser to the mayor of the nation’s largest city allegedly met privately with the head of a repressive regime. That regime’s leader has been the target of U.S. sanctions actions this year. Even if the meeting was benign, the optics are terrible. New Yorkers deserve to know whether a close Mamdani associate who pushes to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba helped shape city policy or strategy while cozying up to Havana’s top official.
Conflict of interest and national security questions
It’s reasonable to ask whether that relationship influenced public policy or gave foreign actors access to an American city’s inner circle. The DSA’s longstanding push to lift sanctions is public. What’s not public is the full record of meetings, photos, or who said what. If a mayoral adviser meets a sanctioned or controversial foreign leader, officials should lay out who authorized the trip, what was discussed, and whether any city business was touched. That’s transparency, not partisan theater.
Missing pieces and what should happen next
At the moment the story rests on the New York Post and the now‑deleted diary it cites. Major outlets have not independently verified the meeting details. That makes it even more important for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Danny Valdez, the DSA, and Cuban Americans for Cuba to answer simple questions: confirm the meeting, release any photos or records, and explain Valdez’s advisory role to the mayor. If there’s nothing to hide, release the receipts. If there is, voters should brace for answers.
In short: when an adviser to a city mayor is linked to private talks with an authoritarian leader, citizens must demand clarity. We are not interested in diaries or ideological tourism — we want plain facts, plain accountability, and plain honesty from people who claim to be shaping public policy.
