By Roger Stone
August 13, 2025
The principal investigator of Florida International University’s (FIU) Cuba Poll, Professor Guillermo Grenier, has maintained consistent contact with senior Cuban intelligence-linked figures from Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Bruno Rodríguez, Johana Tablada, and Lianys Torres, as well as José Ramón Cabañas of Cuba’s Center for International Politics Research (CIPI). These interactions reportedly take place during Grenier’s regular visits to Cuba.
Grenier’s history dates back to 1979, when he joined the Maceo Brigades—Cuban government–linked programs modeled after the pro-Castro Venceremos Brigades. Since then, Grenier appears to have evolved into a channel for DGI influence inside Florida International University and its Cuban Research Institute.
Under Grenier’s leadership, the FIU Cuba Poll functions as a political instrument, advancing strategies designed to shape voting behavior and sway public opinion within South Florida’s Cuban-American community—an issue that raises serious national security concerns.
Cuba remains designated by the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism, yet this collaboration continues without meaningful scrutiny. Grenier’s longstanding relationships with highranking Cuban officials suggest the possibility of Cuban intelligence infiltration—something Cuban exiles have warned about for decades.
Miami’s Cuban exile community is demanding answers from Congressman Carlos Giménez, the elected representative for Florida’s 28th Congressional District, which includes Florida International University and its Cuban Research Institute.
Rep. Giménez has secured millions in federal funding for FIU—$3 million in 2023 for the PET-Cyclotron Center, $2 million in 2024 for the Center for Incubation, and $1 million in 2025 for the Medina Aquarius Program—yet no decisive measures appear to have been taken to address the risks posed by this potential infiltration.
The fact that individuals aligned with the intelligence services of a hostile foreign power are operating within a premier educational institution in Rep. Giménez’s own district should be deeply concerning—you would think.
This reality is an insult to the Cuban-American community, many of whom fled the very same regime with which Professor Grenier openly engages. Cuba’s documented history of espionage and repression against both the United States and the exile community underscores the severity of the threat.
Why has Rep. Giménez neither condemned these activities nor acted to safeguard his constituents, his district, and our national security?
The Cuban-American community has long demanded transparency and firm action to prevent an American academic institution from being exploited as a platform for foreign influence operations.
Those calls have been met with silence—raising troubling questions about accountability and whether inaction signals complicity.
I call on the Trump Administration to launch a thorough investigation into FIU’s Cuban Research Institute’s relationship with the Cuban regime, reevaluate the university’s federal funding, and take a definitive stand against this infiltration. The integrity of our national security—and the trust of Florida’s Cuban-American community— depend on it.
Roger Stone is a veteran political strategist widely credited with orchestrating the presidential campaign victories of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. Stone is a New York Times Best-Selling Author of The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, Stone’s Rules, The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution, The Myth of Russian Collusion, The Bush Crime Family, Nixon’s Secrets, and The Clintons’ War on Women.
