Leader of Bridges of Love denies Rubio’s accusations that the group works for Cuba

The leader of the anti-embargo group Bridges of Love denied the organization has ties to the Cuban government, following accusations made by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio that its members are acting as unregistered foreign agents of Cuba.

In a letter Monday, Rubio asked the FBI to open an investigation into the organization’s activities.

In a phone call from Havana, Carlos Lazo, the high school teacher who founded the group, said he was not aware of any work he or other members have carried out that would be considered a breach of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people and entities working as “agents” acting under the direction of foreign governments or organizations to register with the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We do not believe that we are in violation of any law,” Lazo said. Puentes de Amor, as the organization is known in Spanish, “does not receive funding from any government or anyone.”

Puentes de Amor, registered in the state of Washington as a nonprofit in November 2020, advocates for lifting U.S. sanctions and for the Biden administration to fulfill campaign promises to expand remittances and travel to Cuba and fully reopen the U.S. Embassy in Havana.

Lazo said that Puentes de Amor is a humanitarian organization that carries powdered milk and medicines to Cuba. The organization is raising funds to deliver more powdered milk to the island through the website of the far-left organization Code Pink.

But following a rally in Coral Gables on Sunday, where members of the group flew flags of Fidel Castro’s July 26th movement, Rubio, a Cuban American Republican, urged the FBI to look into the group’s “well-known associations with the Cuban regime.”

In his letter to the FBI, Rubio called members of the group “malign actors” working in coordination with the Cuban government “to sow division, incite conflict, and influence the foreign policy of the United States.”

Lazo has met twice with Cuba’s handpicked president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, at the Palace of the Revolution, the government headquarters in Havana, an honor usually reserved for heads of state and other high-level officials.

Lazo said he met at the request of the Cuban authorities and that he didn’t have a problem with meeting the Cuban leader.

“I met in Cuba with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, first because they told me they wanted to invite me to talk about the existing problems and Cuba’s position,” he said. “I meet with whomever I have to meet to ask for improvements and to create bridges of love between the peoples of Cuba and the United States.”

The first meeting in August last year happened amid a crackdown on anti-government protesters who took to the streets on July 11, which drew international condemnation. But Lazo said he didn’t raise the issue because his organization has a narrow, “non-political” agenda.

“Our organization is a humanitarian one,” he said. “There are many humanitarian organizations that have an agenda that is not political. We are asking for the sanctions to be lifted, and we have nothing else on our agenda.”

But he said he has also made other petitions to Cuban authorities, including lifting an eight-year ban on entering the country for Cubans who have abandoned official posts abroad, such as doctors on government medical missions.

Lazo also denied involvement in the Cuban government’s use of the group for propaganda efforts. The activities of Bridges of Love are usually covered by state media, and Díaz-Canel turned the group’s name into a hashtag he and his followers have adopted on social media.

“Let Díaz-Canel publish it, let Cuba publish it, let Spain publish it,” Lazo said. “Look, that has nothing to do with us. We fight for the lifting of the sanctions, and we fight so that the agenda that Biden promised is fulfilled.”