Cuba Committee Reaches Out to Sports Fans to Broaden Opposition to U.S. Blockade of Cuba

The following was circulated by the Los Angeles Hands Off Cuba Committee (LAHOC) as a newsletter on June 12, 2026. World-Outlook is publishing it with light editing for the information of our readers.

*

By Mark Friedman

LOS ANGELES — About 150 community residents, activists, and members of UNITE HERE Local 11 joined a June 7 protest here ahead of the opening World Cup games in this city to demand that no ICE agents be present.

The Boycott Home Depot coalition has been protesting Home Depot’s permission to allow ICE agents on their property to detain suspected undocumented day laborers.

Home Depot has been one of the sites statewide where ICE officials have targeted immigrant workers, arresting hundreds throughout California and violating their liberties and legal rights.

The Boycott Home Depot Coalition says it’s standing in solidarity with the 2,000 Unite Here Local 11 union members who work as support staff at SoFi Stadium near L.A. The union is fighting for higher wages and won the right to strike if ICE enters union-organized workplaces.

The action included members of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), Union del Barrio, unionists from the Roofers and Waterproofers local, the International Association of Machinists, and high school and college students.

Los Angeles Cuba activists at World Cup game: US v. Paraguay

LAHOC members were joined by others, especially from Mexico, in a distribution of flyers outside the first World Cup game played here on June 12. They received a mixed response, most favorably from Latinos/Latinas and youth.

The games have been totally commercialized by FIFA and the corporations sponsoring the matches. The competition has become a global spectacle to make billions. The cost of the tickets ranged from $1,000 to 3,000, which precluded most working people from participating.

In response, there were scores of watch parties in every part of the city; in parks, bars, and other sites that are free or ask a minimal cover charge. LAHOC members felt that participating in these, rather than standing outside stadiums, would be even more productive in reaching out to sports fans with educational materials trying to win people to actively oppose the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

According to the Miami Herald, Washington has sanctioned 75 countries with bans against entry to the U.S. In the buildup to the World Cup, more than 120 U.S. civil rights groups issued a joint travel advisory warning soccer fans, even those with visas, about the risk of facing immigration detention or removal during travels to the U.S.

“We are now watching the World Cup begin while the very concerns communities have been raising remain unanswered,” said in a statement Yareliz Mendez Zamora, a Miami-based immigration advocate and policy coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee of Florida.

Hundreds of soccer fans have been denied visas to enter the country. Omar Artar, making history as Somalia’s first World Cup referee, was turned away upon arrival at Miami International Airport. The tickets for Iranian fans, revoked. The travel permits of Scottish spectators, withdrawn. The visas of Moroccan supporters, denied. Homeland Security interrogated the Iraqi soccer star Aymen Hussein at the Chicago airport for seven hours. The entire Iranian team has been denied the right to overnight in the U.S. and has had to stay in Mexico and commute to LA for games.

These are some of the visa woes, refused entries and travel headaches that are unfolding in President Donald Trump’s era of mass deportations, visa suspensions, travel restrictions and heightened scrutiny.

The U.S. government has also denied visas to many Cuban athletes to enter the country for qualifying games and competitions for the 2028 summer Olympics itself. An international campaign is underway to demand the International Olympic Committee abide by its own regulations and pressure Washington to let Cuban athletes compete.

More information can be found at LetCubaPlay.com.

If you appreciate this article, share it with friends and subscribe to World-Outlook (for free) by clicking on the link below.

Type your email in the box below and click on “SUBSCRIBE.” You will receive a notification in your in-box on which you will have to click to confirm your subscription.