By David Spector
Published Oct. 11, 2026, 5:13 a.m. ET
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 hosted a fundraiser for Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in 2025, traveled to Cuba with a delegation from the DSA International Committee from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26, 2023, according to the Nov. 9, 2023 blog post, entitled “The Cuba Diaries.”
The delegation met with President Miguel Diaz-Canel on the third day of the trip with the purpose of partnering to end the US embargo, in place since 1962, three years after Fidel Castro imposed a communist dictatorship on the island, he recalled.
DSA national co-chair Ashik Siddique and Valdez are seen posing in a group photo with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.Obtained by the NY Post
“It was genuinely a big accomplishment for our delegation that this meeting took place. It was a sign that the Cuban government took our organization seriously and saw us as potential partners in the work of ending the US blockade,” Valdez wrote.
During the meeting, the Cuban president whined about the US-imposed blockade.
“No other country has to operate under such conditions. Vietnam and China are not under blockade, and are able to develop their approach to socialism,” Diaz-Canel said, according to Valdez.
“It was genuinely a big accomplishment for our delegation that this meeting took place. It was a sign that the Cuban government took our organization seriously and saw us as potential partners in the work of ending the US blockade,” Valdez wrote.
During the meeting, the Cuban president whined about the US-imposed blockade.
“No other country has to operate under such conditions. Vietnam and China are not under blockade, and are able to develop their approach to socialism,” Diaz-Canel said, according to Valdez.
