Washington's "Captive Nations Summit" Focuses on Authoritarian Threats

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation held the Captive Nations Summit in Washington. Former U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen attended and delivered a special speech. Ros-Lehtinen fled to the U.S. with her family at the age of eight due to the establishment of the Castro regime in Cuba, later becoming the first Cuban-American member of the U.S. Congress. Ros-Lehtinen emphasized that the free society won the Cold War back then, but today's world must face new generations of communism in various forms, resisting communists in all forms from traditional fields to Asian Americans, to China's new society, to the most brutal fields in North Korea.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of State released a 100-page report accusing the Cuban communist government of launching espionage and subversive activities against the United States over the past nearly 70 years. U.S. State Department officials stated that for decades, the Cuban Communist Party has widely targeted the United States, attempting to undermine U.S. policies and advance its interests using social media and personnel sometimes attempting to recruit individuals to work for their cause. All these regimes have extensive propaganda networks, sometimes targeting Americans, while also attempting to distort international thinking and U.S. policies.

Invited guests Daniel Twining, President of the International Republican Institute, and Michael J. Abramowitz, CEO of the human rights organization Freedom House (Note: referenced as Jamie Fly in translation context), spoke to Voice of America about the State Department's report on the Cuban threat. In interviews, they pointed out that Cuba is a stark example where the government controls the economy, society, and political life, becoming very complex and undermining democracy and interests, which is why the United States has historically strongly opposed communism and dictatorship.