Fifty young people and other political activists joined the 2026 Labor and Youth Activists Delegation to Cuba, sponsored by the Los Angeles U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee. They traveled to Havana to participate in activities organized by the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), join the Cuban people in celebrating the international working-class holiday on May Day, and learn about Cuba firsthand.
During their trip, they were interviewed by the CTC newspaper Trabajadores, which published an article on April 26 on the delegation’s work. World-Outlook is publishing it for the information of our readers. The headline, subheadings, photos, and text that follow are from the original. Translation is by World-Outlook.
— World-Outlook editors
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From the Working-Class Heart of the United States: Voices in Search of Truth and Solidarity
Posted on April 26, 2026
The presence of the U.S. delegation at the Trade Union Internship organized every year by the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) takes on a special significance [this year] in the context of the May Day celebrations. Coordinated by activist Mark Friedman, founder of the [Los Angeles] Hands Off Cuba Committee, 50 visitors have arrived with a clear purpose: to understand the Cuban reality, exchange with [the Cuban] people, and bring back a vision most certainly different from the one that predominates in their country.
In a nation preparing for one of the largest mobilizations of the year — the International Workers’ Day march — the members of the delegation not only participate in academic forums and other exchanges but also immerse themselves in a program that combines training, solidarity, and direct contact with Cubans.
After the culmination of the Internship on April 28, the group will engage in an intense program in Havana that includes participation in the May Day mobilization in the Plaza of the Revolution, as well as the Solidarity Meeting that will take place at the Convention Center. In addition, they will visit the University of Havana and the Calixto García Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital — where they will deliver donations of medicines and supplies, and meet with directors of the CTC and the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). They will also tour the National Aquarium, with which they maintain environmental research projects, and hold exchanges in the newsrooms of Granma and Trabajadores.
Trade union struggle from within
Among the visitors are young people and a group of union leaders (Teamsters) who stand out and are linked to the e-commerce giant Amazon. They work mostly in the logistics sector, and their testimonies reveal the complex U.S. labor landscape.
Amber Longo, a worker in California, sums up the spirit that brings her to the island: understanding the strength of a social process that has endured for decades. “I want to understand how Cubans organize, where that resistance comes from, and then explain it to my colleagues,” she says.
From Atlanta, Hunter Richau, a member of Teamsters Local 728, goes beyond the gesture of solidarity: “We’re not just here to support; we want to learn so that we can make our own revolution in the United States.”
In the same vein, Avi Tacha Fram, a trade unionist in New York, insists on the need for new narratives: to get to know how Cuba has resisted more than six decades of blockade and to disseminate that reality in his country. “Millions of Americans could benefit from a system like Cuba’s,” he says, while stressing the importance of pressing his government to change policy toward the island.
Perhaps one of the sharpest visions is that of Luke Badger, who describes working conditions within Amazon as part of a global problem. He denounces the lack of contracts for more than one and a half million workers in the United States, the outsourcing of employment, and the lack of accountability by the company. “The struggle within Amazon is the struggle of the global working class,” he says, noting how that exploitative model has spread to other large corporations.
Youth who question and seek answers
As part of the group, several young university students and recent graduates have arrived from New York, their interest in Cuba intertwined with other international causes.
Maya Napthali stresses the need to know first-hand the effects of the blockade and share that information in her country. She also links the Cuban cause with other global struggles: “The imperialism that oppresses Palestine is the same that blockades Cuba, that is why we say that the struggle is one.”
Trinity Pereira, for her part, recognizes that her visit responds to the need to counter the information circulating in the United States. An activist in left-wing organizations, she is not afraid of the campaigns against socialism that, in her case, have served to reaffirm her political commitment.
For Kristen Leopold, a recent graduate in international relations, the trip also has an emotional component: “I have come to fill myself with hope.” She denounces the unjust demonization of socialist ideas and shared some of her experiences in defense of immigrants in the face of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), practices that violate the rule of law.
From military experience to peace activism
After 12 years of service in the U.S. military, Heather Carlos is now active in peace organizations such as About Face and Veterans for Peace. She explains that a growing part of the American people oppose the war because they lived it from within.
Her experience in conflicts such as Afghanistan led her to question her country’s role worldwide. “I wanted to understand why we were being sent to impose certain policies by force,” she explains. She is currently dedicated to educating about the human and economic costs of wars and warns about the repetition of patterns of imperial violence in current conflicts.
“Last year we went to Washington D.C. to protest imperialism, the use of the army for repressive purposes within the United States, and the blockade of Cuba,” she said. On that occasion, about 60 veterans were arrested. The action has been repeated recently and this time 130 people were arrested. “We know that coming to Cuba can cause legal problems, but we are ready, we know what we have to do and say.”
Building bridges
In the middle of the activities for May Day, these voices find room for learning, reflection, and expression in Cuba. Beyond political differences and national contexts, their testimonies coincide on an essential point: the need to build bridges between peoples.
The Trade Union Internship, conceived as a space for academic and practical exchange, reaffirms its role as a platform for international dialogue between workers, students, and activists.
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Categories: Cuba/Cuba Solidarity