It actively welcomes those working against United States interests, and I'm not just talking about China, Russian, and Iran. 

If you'll remember, in March, a group of far-leftist folks from the U.S. and Europe — including members of Code Pink, commie activist Hasan Piker, and Ilhan Omar's daughter — flew into the crumblingly communist country and stayed in five-star hotels, enjoyed fancy meals, held concerts, and recorded podcasts, all while the Cuban people starve and live without electricity or water much of the time. They took photos with "president" Miguel Díaz-Canel and came back declaring that all was well on the island. 

This crew spent some of their time riding around the city and viewing the Cubans as if they were on some sort of poverty safari, and Piker said the people just had an "island mindset" and that's why they just hung around in the streets all day. They came back reporting that things were just groovy down there and would be even better if Trump and Rubio would stop bullying them. 

Well, independent journalist Nick Shirley recently visited Cuba and attempted to do the same thing... but he wanted to tell the real story of what's happening after decades of failed and corrupt communist rule.

As you can imagine, he didn't get quite the welcome the others did. Not only that, but according to him, his equipment was seized, "spies" followed him around, and he barely escaped without being "kidnapped." 

"Under communism there is no free speech, and those who show the reality or speak up are imprisoned," he posted on X on Monday evening.

"Me going without a planned Cuban government guide nearly got me and my security taken hostage or imprisoned. The situation in Cuba is much worse than anyone knows."  

Shirley has put himself in some precarious situations in the past, but this one may have been the most dangerous. Thankfully, he did make it out alive, but here's exactly what happened, according to him.  

"Depending on when this comes out — or if it does — we are currently being held by by Cuban intelligence here in Havana, Cuba," begins the 13-minute video Shirley released on Monday.

It was recorded from his iPhone in a hotel room in Cuba — that and a tiny microphone are the only pieces of equipment he says the regime didn't seize.   

Shirley goes on to explain that he's wanted to make a video about how people live under communism for a long time, but one thing he didn't consider was that under communism, there is no freedom of speech or freedom of the press. With that in mind, the moment he arrived at the airport, despite doing everything right, including documentation, he said they took his cameras, his Meta Glasses, his GoPros, and even his microphones.