The totalitarian Cuban government and left-wing protesters in Arizona over the weekend had the same end in mind - to shut down speech of which they didn't approve.
The difference is that speech is protected in the United States, and it's not in the communist island nation 90 miles south of Florida.
But, as protests over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have risen, the goals of both groups never seemed closer.
Silencing free speech in Cuba is nothing new. In the United States, though, the protesters appear to be following the same "Rules for Radicals" playbook written by Saul Alinsky, who inspired a young Barack Obama and with whom a young Hillary Clinton studied.
The playbook suggests protesters, in so many words, create chaos, blame the victim, stop free speech and advance progressivism.
Earlier this month, Muslim and Latino activists helped stop a Trump rally in Chicago. Over the weekend, demonstrators blocked a road leading to a Trump rally.
The New York businessman, to be truthful, has said things about women, Mexicans, Muslims and others that would incite the most timid of individuals.
Peaceful dissent can be effective and empowering, but violence in the name of protest only drives home the candidate's points about the problems in tour country.
On one side Saturday, a black Tucson policeman attending the rally as a neutral observer said, were supporters of the candidate, who were told in an announcement before the event not to become involved with the unruly protesters.
On the other side, Brandon Tatum said, were the protesters, who were "the most hateful, evil people I've ever seen. I could not believe what I saw I thought at some point it was going to be a full-fledged riot because these people were acting so outrageous."
The protesters, he said, were "verbally violent," swearing and yelling at people, saying things that caused parents to cover their children's ears and "spitting and yelling people's faces."
Not surprisingly, a Trump supporter reacted to the ugliness by punching a protester in the face, thereby joining his opponents in the gutter.
Unfortunately, the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better. Protesters have vowed to be active at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in August, and they're likely to follow the GOP front-runner until he gets there.
Silencing free speech in Cuba is nothing new. But, in the end, curbing free speech in the U.S. is not likely to have a positive effect, either, on the radical left perpetrating it or the political left condoning it.