The following items were first published by Belly of the Beast, a “U.S.-based media outlet that tells Cuba’s untold stories through hard-hitting journalism and stunning cinematography,” according to the group’s website.

The first item below reports on a rousing bicycle rally that took place along the Malecón, the famous seaside promenade of Havana, Cuba’s capital, on April 2, 2026. The rallygoers denounced Washington’s economic war — which the Trump administration escalated in January by blockading virtually all fuel oil from entering the island nation — and vowed to defend Cuba’s sovereignty.

Belly of the Beast also reports on the first Russian oil tanker that broke the U.S. blockade on March 31 — delivering “more than 700,000 barrels of oil, the first shipment in three months to reach the island” — and on the increasingly devastating effects of the ongoing U.S. siege on the Cuban people.

We publish these materials for the information of our readers and to encourage participation in the ongoing solidarity campaigns with Cuba around the world.

The headlines, text, photo, and videos that follow are from the originals.

— World-Outlook editors

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Anti-Imperialist Bicycle Rally Takes Over Malecón

Amid a U.S.-imposed oil blockade on Cuba that has caused widespread fuel shortages, yesterday [Thursday, April 2, 2026] thousands of students and workers took over Havana’s Malecón in a pro-government rally on bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards and electric vehicles to denounce the U.S. blockade.

“This march is an act of showing the world that we are standing firm,” said Marcelo Pereira, a student at the Higher Institute of International Relations.

The U.S. Embassy in Havana warned its citizens to avoid the peaceful, green-energy rally.

The gathering celebrated the anniversaries of two Cuban youth organizations [the José Martí Pioneer Organization and the Union of Young Communists].

“This march is a demonstration that we are standing firm,” said one student.

Watch a video of the rally HERE.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Thousands of students and workers took over Havana’s Malecón on bicycles and electric vehicles to denounce the U.S. blockade.

“Down with the blockade!” chant participants gathered along the waterfront.

“We are commemorating the 65th anniversary of the José Martí Pioneer Organization and the 64th anniversary of the Union of Young Communists,” said Johansen Reyes, vice president of the Martí Youth Movement in Havana.

“There is a group of young people from different sectors of the capital, including education and health, who are here in defense of anti-imperialist ideas and our sovereignty,” Reyes added.

The rally comes amid a U.S. oil blockade causing severe fuel shortages.

“Participating in this march is an act of showing the world that we are standing firm,” said Marcelo Pereira, a student at the Higher Institute of International Relations.

“It is also to demonstrate, above all, the anti-imperialism that characterizes us,” Pereira emphasized.

“I’m here supporting this anti-imperialist march,” said Milen Muñoz, a Cuban inline speed skater.

“We do it with determination, especially so that this blockade finally ends once and for all,” Muñoz added.

“Youth is something you carry within. Some of us already have gray hair, but we are here reaffirming the revolution,” said another participant.

“If you had the chance to say something to President Donald Trump, what would you say?” the journalist asked.

“He’s an asshole. He’s a bad person. He wants to harm such a beautiful country,” one attendee responded.

“I’d say he is a fascist. Enough is enough with his ideas. He is truly out of control,” the participant added.

“The blockade policy, now taken to unprecedented levels, seeks to strangle our country and suffocate our people,” said Anayansi Rodríguez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“But our people are unstoppable. They are heroic, and they have proven it many times,” Rodríguez concluded.

“If into tiny pieces my flag is one day torn, our dead will raise their arms and defend it once again,” echoes a voice among the crowd.

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Russian Oil Arrives, But Blockade Continues

The U.S. oil blockade on Cuba was broken this week when Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin reached the island Tuesday [March 31, 2026] with more than 700,000 barrels of oil, the first shipment in three months to reach the island.

“We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need…they have to survive,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilyov said Thursday [April 2, 2026] that Russia is preparing to send a second tanker.

While the blockade may have loosened, the U.S. government’s economic war on Cuba shows no sign of relenting.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday [March 30, 2026] that the U.S. would handle Cuba fuel deliveries “on a case-by-case basis.” She also made it clear that the Russian tanker’s arrival did not represent a “firm change in our sanctions policy.”

Politico reported that Cuba is being given a “a longer lifeline” because the Trump administration’s resources and attention are being consumed by the war against Iran. Politico’s source was “a person familiar with the administration’s conversations on Cuba.”

Boost Private Businesses, Starve the Public Sector

It will take weeks for Cuba to refine all the Russian oil.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday [March 30, 2026] that her country may renew oil exports to Cuba but suggested they could be limited to the private sector. Last year, Mexico sent more oil to Cuba than any other country. Deliveries abruptly ceased in January due to U.S. pressure.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been allowing fuel exports to private businesses — not to the state.

While Cuba’s growing private sector plays an increasingly important role in the economy, the public sector continues to provide the majority of essential services.

It is the public sector that mobilizes evacuations and provides shelter during hurricanes, runs mass transportation, collects garbage, carries out burials and operates mosquito-control campaigns. It subsidizes access to sports and cultural events, as well as housing, electricity, gas and food. It also develops and produces medications and vaccines — provided free or at highly subsidized prices — and maintains a system of universal, free public healthcare.

As the Trump administration seeks to bolster the private sector while it starves the Cuban government of resources, the results can be seen most devastatingly in the country’s hospitals.

Belly of the Beast’s Liz Oliva Fernández and Drop Site’s Ryan Grim recently visited the William Soler Pediatric Hospital in Havana where they spoke with the chief anesthesiologist, Alioth Fernández Valle, and the parents of some of his patients. Watch a video of their visit HERE.

Alioth Fernández and other doctors at William Soler spoke about how the nurses have to rush to hand-pump the ventilators when the power goes out and before the generator turns on.

“It’s agonizing because you don’t know when it’s coming back,” said Fernández. “When you have multiple ventilated patients, it becomes even more desperate because…the staff sometimes can’t keep up with the number of patients who need attention.”

Daily Triage

The power outages are just the latest crisis. Fernández and his colleagues have been contending with chronic shortages of medicine and medical equipment since Cuba emerged from Covid-19, when U.S. government “maximum pressure” sanctions began to bite.

These sanctions have locked Cuba out of most of the international banking system. They have made U.S. and European pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies take fright, so that often, even when Cuba has the money to pay for items sick children need, it’s almost impossible to buy them. Most importantly, they cost Cuba billions of dollars a year, which has forced the state to slash its budget for imports and domestic production of medicine, medical equipment and supplies.

When every dollar has to be stretched paper thin across an entire population, children like nine-year-old Carlos Rodríguez Cueto pay the price. Carlos has cystic fibrosis, but the medication he needs — Trikafta — costs upwards of $300,000 per patient per year.

“It’s not that the doctors don’t want to help,” his mother says. “It’s that they can’t.”

Historically, Cuba’s Health Ministry has devoted significant resources to saving individual lives — providing intensive care, complex surgeries, long-term treatment and expensive medications free of charge.

The government spends about 20% of its budget on health, about twice the global average. But after eight years of intensified economic warfare waged by the first Trump administration, Biden and now Trump again, the Cuban government’s coffers have been drained, and the health system is buckling.

Increasingly, Cuban doctors and nurses are forced to practice triage.

“When you have $100, you have to think about how many people those $100 can help,” said Fernández. “And so sometimes, children with very specific conditions get left behind.”

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