A raft of Democrats — including 23 members of the 51-seat New York City Council, multiple state lawmakers and four candidates for Congress — have joined forces with a Beijing-aligned tech tycoon to bail out the fuel-starved dictatorship in Cuba.

The officials in question lent their names to the “Let Cuba Live” campaign, which denounces President Donald Trump’s oil embargo on the island nation and seeks to triage solar panels and generators to defray the crippling impact on its energy production. 

All donations for the effort run through the People’s Forum, a Manhattan-based nonprofit established and financed by Shanghai-based magnate Neville “Roy” Singham, part of his sprawling web of organizations promoting the interests of China and its allies Russia and Iran. 

The People’s Forum and Singham, a devout Maoist who reaped a fortune from the sale of his software firm Thoughtworks, were at the center of a House hearing last week on foreign influence operations and overseas funding of activist groups.

Let Cuba Live’s website reveals the involvement of other Singham-linked groups, including CODEPINK — co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans — and the ANSWER Coalition, both of which spearheaded anti-Israel protests beginning the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace and the Democratic Socialists of America are also signatories, along with well-known left-wing celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Roger Waters who have long been vocally hostile to Israel.

But unlike Singham’s other attempts to influence U.S. policy and promote its geopolitical foes, this effort has attracted backing from dozens of leading Democrats, the vast majority of them representing parts of New York City. 

Several of the elected officials who have joined the crusade are DSA members: Councilmembers Alexa Aviles, Tiffany Caban, Chi Ossé, Shahana Hanif, state Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblymembers Diana Moreno and Claire Valdez. 

Moreno was Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s handpicked successor to his old seat in the New York  Legislature, while Mamdani has endorsed Valdez to replace Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) in Congress. 

However, the bulk of the New York co-signers are not card-carrying DSA members, but simply members of the Council’s long-standing left-of-center Progressive Caucus. These include Councilmembers Harvey Epstein, Gale Brewer, Althea Stevens, Amanda Farias, Crystal Hudson, Christopher Marte, Elsie Encarnacion, Farah Louis, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Kayla Santosuosso, Pierina Sanchez, Sandy Nurse, Rita Joseph, Shanel Thomas-Henry, Shekar Krishnan, Shirley Aldebol, Julie Won — also a candidate for Velazquez’s soon-to-be-vacant seat — and Deputy Council Speaker Nantasha Williams.

Other prominent Democrats who have joined the Singham campaign include congressional hopefuls Jake Levine and Byron Sigcho-Lopez, seeking the seats of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL), respectively. Levine did not respond to a request for comment. Sigcho-Lopez, a Chicago city alderman, told Jewish Insider that he had signed on at the request of DSA, of which he is a member. 

He said he was aware of CODEPINK’s participation in the campaign, but not of the larger Singham network’s involvement, though he expressed no regrets joining.

“Outside of the geopolitical struggle, it is important that we protect the well-being and lives of anyone,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “I think they’re fighting for the same things we’re fighting for in Chicago: we want to protect people’s humanity.”

None of the elected officials responded to JI questions, although two New York City Council sources — who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardizing their positions — said that the Progressive Caucus had urged members to sign on.

Several of the other names attached to “Let Cuba Live” are leading members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a small but prominent fringe party that has spearheaded anti-Israel protests, promotes the interests of Tehran, Moscow and Beijing, and provides staff and support to Singham’s network. The Justice Department has identified the PSL as a key force in organizing the wave of protests that have targeted synagogues in recent months.

As of Wednesday evening, the campaign was about $60,000 away from hitting its $200,000 fundraising goal, funds it has vowed to expend. “We are rushing solar generators and panels to our neighbors 90 miles away so that hospitals can keep their doors open and their lights on.”