BINGO: Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart’s Campaigns Bankrolled by Crowley, DoD Contractor In Business with Cuban Regime

Federal Election Committee records reveal that Rep. Díaz-Balart has, in fact, received various campaign contributions from Crowley Maritime PAC over the years.

Earlier this week, I released an exclusive report that shocked Miami’s Cuban diaspora, exposing Florida Congressman Carlos Giménez’s deliberate silence regarding Crowley Maritime Corporation — a Florida-based Department of Defense contractor conducting cargo and freight operations at Cuba’s Mariel Port under the direct supervision of the Cuban military.

Crowley Maritime, a DoD contractor holding $2.3 billion in Defense Freight Transportation Services (DFTS) contracts and $343 million in Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) contracts, has operated in Cuba since 2001 under authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Its operations in Cuba, where the Castro regime military collaborates with China, Russia, and Iran, risk espionage, especially given Chinese intelligence facilities near Havana.

I also drew attention to a photograph and video showing Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez participating in a Crowley Maritime Co. event in Havana—starkly underscoring the blatant and alarming Cuba–Crowley–DoD nexus.

Cuba’s Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) sites—Bejucal, Wajay, Calabazar, and El Salado—have been active since 1992, with major upgrades in 2019 and 2025. These facilities intercept U.S. military communications, track rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, and spy on Guantánamo Bay. Bejucal now hosts a new Circularly Disposed Antenna Array (CDAA), while Wajay’s expanded 12-antenna complex greatly enhances Cuba’s surveillance reach.

Cuba’s role as a proxy for U.S. adversaries—hosting Russian naval visits, Iranian diplomatic ties, and Chinese SIGINT sites—makes Crowley’s dealings a geopolitical liability. By operating in Cuba, Crowley risks enabling a regime that supports anti-U.S. regimes like Venezuela’s and facilitates asymmetric warfare, undermining American interests in the Western Hemisphere.

It is both disappointing and troubling that Congressman Giménez—co-sponsor of the Security Act of 2023—has failed to use his chairmanship of the House Homeland Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security to, at the very least, criticize and expose Crowley’s role in propping up and doing business with the regime.

These revelations have drawn overwhelming support from figures within the MAGA movement, including General Michael Flynn, Colonel Rob Maness, and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who have joined me in denouncing the severity of Rep. Giménez’s refusal to take action on—or even address—Crowley’s alarming operations with the communist Cuban military.

Rep. Giménez had multiple opportunities to scrutinize Crowley’s activities in Cuba—most notably during the Joint Field Hearing on Port Safety, Security, and Infrastructure Investment on April 5, 2024, where James C. Fowler, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crowley Shipping, appeared as a panelist. That Rep. Giménez chose not to raise a single question there was disconcerting enough.

Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida, a longtime pal and political ally of Rep. Giménez, was also in attendance at the April 2024 hearing. Despite the presence of the Crowley executive, Díaz-Balart, too, declined to raise any questions concerning the company’s operations in Cuba or the potential security risks associated with its subcontracting work for the Department of Defense.

Coincidental?

Federal Election Committee records reveal that Rep. Díaz-Balart has, in fact, received various campaign contributions from Crowley Maritime PAC over the years. Far from being unfamiliar with the company, the financial ties between his political career and the defense contractor suggest a well-established relationship—one that raises serious questions about his reluctance to scrutinize Crowley’s dealings with the Cuban regime. Silence is the most powerful scream.

Remind me—in what way, other than rhetoric, do Rep. Giménez and his wingman, Rep. Díaz-Balart, really “represent” the Cuban-American electorate?

Giménez, as Chairman of the House Homeland Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, has turned a blind eye while Crowley Maritime profits from and maintains direct dealings with the communist Cuban regime. His silence is echoed by his political ally, Rep. Díaz-Balart—unsurprising, perhaps, given his own financial ties to Crowley.

Their willful blindness and complicity—especially in light of their deep ties to the Cuban-American community—constitute a grave failure to confront not only a clear national security threat but also a profound moral issue.

In politics, silence is rarely free. In this case, Crowley has been footing the bill.