On the third day of a trip to Havana, a delegation that included one of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's closest advisors sat down with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Danny Valdez, the self-described friend and adviser who hosted a fundraiser for Mamdani's 2025 mayoral campaign, wrote about the meeting in a blog post he later deleted. "It was a sign that the Cuban government took our organization seriously," Valdez wrote.

The organization is the Democratic Socialists of America's International Committee. The goal was ending the U.S. embargo on Cuba. The diary is the receipt.

Valdez traveled alongside Ashik Siddique, the DSA's national co-chair, and other DSA members. They weren't roughing it for the cause. The delegation stayed at the Grand Aston Havana — a privately owned, five-star, 600-room hotel with a rooftop pool, spa, bars, and restaurants. One dinner was at La Torre, a high-end restaurant on the 33rd floor of the Focsa building.

Ninety-four percent of Cubans live in extreme poverty. The DSA delegation was living on the 33rd floor.

Diaz-Canel told the group that "no other country has to operate under such conditions" — referring to the U.S. embargo that has been in place since 1962. This is the president of a communist government that has imprisoned dissidents for decades, blaming America for the poverty his regime created, and Valdez's delegation nodded along. Valdez himself acknowledged in the diary that Cuba's Committee for the Defense of the Revolution — the CDR, the regime's neighborhood surveillance apparatus — caused his own grandfather's six-year imprisonment.

He went anyway. He took notes. He called it progress.

By April 2026, Valdez had founded "Cuban Americans for Cuba," a nonprofit that advocates for ending the U.S. embargo. He also advised Mamdani on Cuba policy during Mamdani's mayoral campaign. The same Mamdani now running New York City. The same Mamdani whose administration has been at war with ICE over immigration enforcement. The same Mamdani whose political allies are currently under the microscope after a federal agent was forced to shoot a gang-affiliated criminal suspect in the Bronx.

Valdez works as an IT lead for BioBus, a nonprofit. He lived in Chelsea until 2025. He is not a diplomat. He is not a foreign policy official. He is a campaign fundraiser and self-appointed advisor who flew to a communist country, dined at five-star hotels, met with the head of state, and came home to build an advocacy organization around the relationship.

The trip also included a meeting with Mariela Castro — niece of Fidel Castro. The DSA delegation wasn't meeting with Cuban dissidents or democracy advocates. They were meeting with the ruling family.

Mamdani's office has not addressed Valdez's Cuba activities. The diary was published, then deleted. The nonprofit was formed. The policy advice was given. The mayor who benefited from all of it is the same one currently telling federal immigration agents they aren't welcome in his city.