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U.S. Gov’t Attacks Free Speech, Right to Protest in Minnesota

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Justice Department Uses ‘Conspiracy’ Charges to Curtail Dissent. In one of the latest attacks on free speech and the right to protest, a federal grand jury in Minneapolis has indicted 15 people on felony charges related to protests against Operation Metro Surge last winter. The June 16, 2026, indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize its opponents. The case tests how far prosecutors can go to manufacture a criminal conspiracy based on group chats, social media posts, discussions of protest tactics, and efforts to protect privacy using anti-surveillance precautions.

Standing Together Leaders Launch New Jewish-Palestinian Party in Israel

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In mid-June 2026, top leaders of Standing Together announced the launching of “A Place for Us All,” a new Jewish-Palestinian political party in Israel. Standing Together is made up of Jews, Palestinians, and others. It is one of the most prominent organizations in Israel that have campaigned against Israel’s war in Gaza and for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Cuba: ‘There Is No Sovereignty with Empty Plates’

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Cuban President Explains Critical Need for Economic Reforms: On June 17, 2026, the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party approved a series of economic reforms to be considered by the National Assembly of People’s Power.The reforms come as Washington’s decades-long economic war on Cuba has devastated the island’s economy, threatening the social gains of the Cuban Revolution. In the speech published here, Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel stated, “When life for the people becomes so difficult, the primary duty of the Communist Party and the revolutionary government is not to explain the crisis better, but to change whatever needs to be changed to overcome it. The transformations we are proposing are intended to advance the defense of socialism.”

Cuba Adopts Major Economic Reforms

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On June 18, 2026, Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power — the country’s highest legislative body — adopted an extensive series of economic reforms after extensive debate. The Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party had approved the same measures a day earlier. The Cuban government made these decisions as the Cuban people face a dire humanitarian crisis caused largely by Washington’s relentless economic war for nearly seven decades, exacerbated this year by a blockade of oil imports into the island and new draconian U.S. sanctions. The reforms seem to signal an organized retreat with substantial openings to the capitalist market. They are “conceived as a sovereign exercise to preserve the conquests of the Revolution without renouncing socialism,” said Cuba’s prime minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.

‘Out Now!’ – Lessons from the Movement Against the U.S. War in Vietnam

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‘Out Now!’ – A Participant’s Account of the Movement in the U.S. Against the Vietnam War by Fred Halstead should be in the library of everyone seeking social justice. It is a handbook for political organizing. It is a vivid and accurate narrative by one of the central leaders of the debates, street protests, and skirmishes of a movement that changed the U.S. political landscape in ways that reverberate today, a movement that helped the Vietnamese people hand U.S. imperialism its first major military defeat. The book was published in 1978. But the lessons of that era clearly outlined in its pages are invaluable in the current struggles to oppose Washington’s escalating wars and the march toward authoritarianism and one-man rule.

UN: ‘U.S. Sanctions Against Cuba Endanger Lives, Must Be Lifted’

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On June 8, 2026, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a declaration condemning Washington’s unrelenting economic war against Cuba, escalated this year with an oil blockade. He called for the immediate lifting of all U.S. sanctions, which are creating dire consequences for the Cuban people. “Such severe sanctions packages that target entire sectors of an economy and produce broad, indiscriminate, and harsh effects on populations are incompatible with basic principles of international human rights law,” Türk said. The declaration published below accurately presents the devastating effects of the blockade of fuel, Trump’s May 1 executive order, and all the other U.S. sanctions designed to suffocate the Cuban economy.

Solidarity with Cuba Expands at Labor Notes Conference

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CHICAGO – An audience of over 100 workers, union activists, and organizers from more than a dozen unions attended a reception here for representatives of the Cuban Embassy in Washington. The event – sponsored by Building Relations with Cuban Labor (BRWCL) with the support of the Chicago Cuba Coalition – was part of the annual Labor Notes conference from June 12-14, 2026, that brought together 4,700 union activists and organizers from across the country, and several delegations from other nations. Tanieris Diéguez, deputy head of the Cuban mission to the United Nations, spoke of the impact of the U.S. blockade on the lives of the Cuban people. She emphasized that Cuba is a “country of peace” and is open to talk about cooperation with the United States, but only on the basis of respect for Cuba’s national sovereignty. However, she added, we will “fight to defend our honor” against all acts of U.S. aggression.

Trump’s Whites-Only Refugee Policy Built on Lies, Prejudice

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On the first day of his second term, U.S. president Donald Trump suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, citing public safety and national security. Less than four months later, he relaxed the ban and welcomed a charter plane filled with white South Africans. Effective October 1, 2025, the Trump administration capped refugee admissions at 7,500 for the 2025-26 fiscal year, a precipitous drop from 125,000, the level established for the previous year. As of May 31, 2026, 6,668 “refugees” have been admitted, all but three of them Afrikaners.

In Victory for Free Speech, Court Dismisses Conspiracy Claims Against Pro-Palestine Activists

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In an important victory for free speech, a federal court has dismissed with prejudice all civil rights conspiracy claims brought against The People’s Forum and other individual defendants arising from the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall — Hind’s Hall — at Columbia University. As political activists face more attempts by federal authorities — and the institutions that they have cowed — to curtail fundamental democratic rights, precedents like these will be a valuable part of the fightback. It is also important to note this example of the danger of the use of “conspiracy” charges by the government to criminalize free speech.

Stadium Workers Sport ‘Kick ICE Out’ Union Buttons at U.S.-Paraguay Match

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This article reports that UNITE HERE Local 11 shop stewards distributed ‘Kick ICE Out’ union buttons to stadium workers to wear at the Los Angeles venue that hosted the World Cup match between the U.S. and Paraguay teams on June 12. This action is a sign of the widespread opposition within the working class to the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign of mass deportations. It also sets an example for the labor movement that should be emulated and championed by all unions. And, at the launching of the world’s largest sports event, it stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s shameful actions, which have included airport detentions, deportations, and visa denials to World Cup players, officials, and staff, as well as fans.

Palestine/Israel: Edward Said on ‘The One-State Solution’

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For nearly three years, Israel has been waging war against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, with no end in sight. It is a war that has engulfed other parts of the Middle East, with repeated invasions and massive bombings of Lebanon — including the current one launched at the end of February as part of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Palestinians face abysmal conditions of massacres and colonization, particularly in Gaza, and land grabs, home demolitions, and growing dispossession in the West Bank. The Palestinian national movement is facing its “darkest day” since the 1948 Nakba, as Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi has put it. In this context World-Outlook is re-publishing an essay by another Palestinian leader, Edward Said, who in 1999 described the “two-state” perspective as a dead end and argued that sustainable peace can only be achieved through a binational, democratic, secular state in Palestine/Israel with equal rights for all its citizens. At a minimum Said’s assessment deserves re-examination and discussion today.

Trump’s Former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Featured in World Fascist Summit

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This article highlights the participation of Greg Bovino in the ultra-rightist “Remigration Summit 2026” held near Porto, Portugal, on May 30, 2026. The gathering brought together well-known fascists from around the world. Bovino is the former head of the U.S. Border Patrol who until the beginning of this year was the face of U.S. president Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign of mass deportations. He was pushed out of that position as part of the fallout from the mass protests against Operation Metro Surge, which laid siege to working-class communities in Minnesota — especially around Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Tribute to Assata Shakur, Street Protests Denounce U.S. War Threats Against Cuba

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A New York meeting to celebrate the life of Black revolutionary Assata Shakur highlighted Cuba’s internationalism and sounded the alarm about U.S. threats of war against the island nation. Gathering at the historic Riverside Church in Manhattan on May 30, 2026, more than 2,000 people — overwhelmingly Black — paid tribute to Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army who died in Havana in September 2025. The day after the Riverside Church gathering, actions were held in New York City and Miami, Florida, to demand an end to U.S. military threats against Cuba and Washington’s blockade of the island aimed at starving the Cuban people into submission. The events at Riverside Church and the New York and Miami protests show that the possibility of building united front actions — around the demands “U.S. Hands Off Cuba! No to Washington’s War on the Cuban People! End the Blockade!” — is growing as U.S. threats intensify.

Cuba Solidarity Activist Responds to U.S. Gov’t Intimidation Attempt

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On March 21, 2026, the Nuestra América convoy — including activists from the United States and countries throughout Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Canada — arrived in Havana, bringing tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines, food, and solar panels. Medea Benjamin, a founder of CODEPINK — a U.S.-based nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid to Cuba, and Hasan Piker, the popular Twitch streamer, were part of the contingent. On March 24, the U.S. treasury department Office of Foreign Assets Control sent the two activists letters demanding information and documentation related to their participation in the convoy. In an interview with Belly of the Beast, Benjamin explains the motivations for the trip and their response to the OFAC probe.

Letter from a Cuban Soldier to a U.S. Soldier

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“I don’t know your name, your age, or if you have children or siblings. I don’t know the color of your skin or your family history. But I do know one thing: you and I are soldiers. And right now, the circles of power place us on opposite sides of a threat that I didn’t seek, and that I presume you didn’t either. ”With these words, a Cuban soldier began an “Open Letter from a Cuban Soldier to an American Soldier” on May 27, 2026. The letter is a very personal expression of the reality that the U.S. warmakers deny, that — despite the tremendous hardships of the Cuban people today — they stand ready to defend their independence and their sovereignty with their lives.

Palestinian Pop Singer Elyanna Sparks Acclaim, Controversy

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This article reports on the growing international popularity of Palestinian pop singer Elyanna, who is scheduled to perform at the opening of the soccer World Cup in Mexico City on June 11, 2026. The singer has sparked acclaim and controversy by expressing pride in her Palestinian identity, often wearing kaffiyeh over her curls in public appearances and using henna hand decorations, and always speaking about Palestine and the plight of the Palestinian people.

Abortion Pill Is a Lifeline for Women

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On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily paused a lower court ruling that had blocked telehealth prescriptions of the drug mifepristone nationwide. This action allows the continued use of the medication — a lifeline for millions of women facing unwanted or medically contraindicated pregnancy, especially in states that have severe limitations or outright bans on abortion. Without the right to control their own bodies and decide whether and when to have children — not only in cases of rape or incest but at any time — women can never achieve genuine equality in a society where the capitalist class profits handsomely from their second-class status.

Stop War Threats Against Cuba! End Inhumane Oil Blockade!

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In response to Washington’s escalating aggression against Cuba, solidarity groups across the United States have started to organize protests, speak outs, and educational teach-ins to counter U.S. government propaganda and mobilize popular opposition to U.S. warmongering. We publish here information about several such actions recently called in Miami, New York City, and nationwide. We encourage the largest possible turnout in each case and the emulation of such solidarity activities across the United States and other countries.

‘A People Unbroken, Unbowed’ – Eyewitness Report from Cuba

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Amid Washington’s increasing threats against the Cuban people, the 2026 Labor and Youth Activists Delegation to Cuba traveled to Havana to join the celebration of the international working-class holiday on May 1 and to add their voices to those demanding “U.S. Hands Off Cuba. End the Blockade!” The delegation met with Cubans to learn about the gains of their revolution in health care and education; about the advances in equality and social justice for women, Afro-Cubans, and other historically oppressed groups; and about Cuba’s historic role in aiding the struggles of working people and the oppressed worldwide through its internationalist missions. Delegation members also witnessed firsthand some of the devastating consequences of Washington’s extreme hostility to this record over the last 66 years and its recent efforts to starve Cuba into submission by blockading petroleum supplies and threatening military attack. Cuban American Gerardo Delgado from Miami was part of this delegation; his report is published below for the information of our readers.

The New York Times Shameful Roadmap for U.S. War on Cuba

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On May 16, 2026, the New York Times published the article “With Possible Raúl Castro Indictment, U.S. Eyes Venezuela Playbook.” Reporting on the May 13 visit to Cuba by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Ratcliff, the article trumpeted the ultimatum the CIA chief publicly delivered in Havana on behalf of the Trump administration: “Shut down Russian and Chinese listening posts and take steps to open the economy.” This article by Pete Seidman, a leader of the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba, is an apt response to the New York Times hack piece promoting U.S. imperialist aggression against Cuba and its people.

Labor Leaders, Jewish Groups Defend U. of Michigan Professor’s Pro-Palestinian Remarks

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At the University of Michigan May 2, 2026, commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson delivered a short speech in which he celebrated many of those who have fought for social justice at the school. At the end of his remarks, Peterson also praised the “pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.” The backlash was swift. U of M president Domenico Grasso apologized for Peterson’s remarks, and the speech was condemned by pro-Israel Jewish organizations and outlets. But leaders of the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers, as well as other academics and Jewish groups, quickly spoke out in defense of Peterson. Four of these responses are published in this post.

Tucker Carlson’s Bigotry and Antisemitism

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In this transcript of a video posted May 11, 2026, on the “Beinart Notebook,” author and commentator Peter Beinart presents convincing evidence about Tucker Carlson’s bigotry and Jew hatred. Carlson is a well-known right-wing commentator and talk-show host. This discussion is timely. Carlson and other ultra-rightists have recently broken with U.S. president Donald Trump over the Iran war, claiming that Israel forced Washington into attacking Tehran. In doing so, Carlson and company have openly or covertly advanced antisemitic conspiracy theories.

‘I Discovered Anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m Glad It Lives on There’

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“At the University of Michigan’s recent commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson delivered a five-minute speech in which he celebrated all those who have fought for justice at the university, my alma mater,” wrote Gayle Kirshenbaum in the May 8 issue of Forward, a “Jewish, independent, non-profit,” as it is self-described. “Invoking our legendary sports-focused fight song, he asked the crowd to ‘sing’ for suffragist Sarah Burger, who battled to get women admitted as students; for Moritz Levi, Michigan’s first Jewish professor; for all the students who fought for racial justice at Michigan as part of the Black Action Movement; and for the ‘pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza,’” Kirshenbaum said. This is a thoughful article on why conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism hurts the struggle to eradicate Jew hatred.

Cuba Street: A Model of Community Hygiene in Old Havana’s Heart

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This article describes a concerted effort by local residents, the city administration, and private businesses to end the problem of trash accumulation in a part of Cuba’s capital city, Havana. Since it was published in October 2025, this problem has become more acute and widespread as a consequence of the U.S. oil blockade, which, since January 3, 2026, has stopped virtually all petroleum shipments from reaching Cuba. The resulting fuel shortage, has, among other things, made it difficult to almost impossible for garbage trucks to operate and regularly collect trash. The setbacks due to this cruel and unusual escalation of the U.S. blockade notwithstanding, this article describes an example of the initiatives ordinary Cubans take to improve their daily lives in the middle of extreme adversities caused by Washington’s decades-old economic war.

Trump’s May 1 Escalation Against Cuba Signals Danger of Military Aggression

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This essay by Isaac Saney, a professor of Black studies and history at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, accurately draws out the implications for the Cuba solidarity movement of Trump’s May 1 executive order against Cuba. Issued, not accidentally, as millions marched in Cuba on International Workers’ Day, Trump’s escalation “signals failure, desperation, and the danger of military aggression,” Saney explains.

Cuba: Millions March on May Day, Denounce Threats of U.S. Invasion

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HAVANA, Cuba, May 1, 2026 — Beginning at 3:30 a.m., Cuban working people from all over this city began mobilizing to answer the growing threats of an invasion by the U.S. government, converging on four different rally sites in the country’s capital. In Havana, 500,000 participated in the four rallies, according to the Cuban media, the reports of which are corroborated by magnificent aerial photos. An estimated 5.2 million people turned out in May Day rallies in cities and towns across the country.

Gaza and the West Bank: Dispatches from Catastrophe (II)

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This is the second of two parts of a Jewish Currents dispatch. At the end of 2025, Jewish Currents reached out to about two dozen Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank — all of whom the magazine had previously interviewed after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 — to ask them how their lives had changed since they last shared their stories.“ The resulting testimonies are difficult to read,” says the introduction to these stories. “They show the effects of years of industrialized, live-broadcast massacres and colonization, particularly in Gaza, where more than 10% of the population is estimated to have been killed or injured in the last two years.“

Gaza and the West Bank: Dispatches from Catastrophe (I)

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At the end of 2025, Jewish Currents reached out to about two dozen Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank — all of whom the magazine had previously interviewed after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 — to ask them how their lives had changed since they last shared their stories. “The resulting testimonies are difficult to read,” says the introduction to these stories. “They show the effects of years of industrialized, live-broadcast massacres and colonization, particularly in Gaza, where more than 10% of the population is estimated to have been killed or injured in the last two years.” This is the first of two parts.

Youth and Labor Delegation Visits Cuba

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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 this article on April 26 on the delegation’s work.

Iran Stymies U.S.-Israeli War

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It’s been two months since the allied U.S. and Israeli militaries launched their war against Iran. A war of plunder, aimed at regaining access to Iran’s resources — primarily oil and natural gas — and confronting China’s growing economic influence in the region and the world. Despite the mass destruction, and degrading of its military capabilities, Iran has been able to inflict major damage on U.S military assets and on oil and other facilities in the Gulf and nearby countries allied with Washington. Iran has so far stymied the U.S.-Israeli war, providing a bit of much needed breathing space to revolutionary Cuba.

Strategies & Tactics for Social Change

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In the past year, millions in the United States have protested Washington’s attacks on democratic rights, ICE terror, and imperialist war. Among them are many young people, alongside others who have never before taken to the streets. These activists are testing strategies and tactics and debating how to push back Trump’s march toward one-man rule. Many of the questions they face have been posed before, perhaps most notably during the anti-Vietnam war movement in the United States in the 1960s and early ’70s. As a contribution to the discussion of strategy and tactics in today’s struggles, World-Outlook is publishing the 1971 column “Some Comments on the Mayday Actions” by Fred Halstead, a central leader of the anti-Vietnam war movement in the United States.

Disquiet Grows in U.S. Military, Fueled by War on Iran

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The Center on Conscience and War, which helps run a 24-hour GI Rights Hotline, is set up to inform members of the U.S. armed forces about their options for military discharge. The group has recently experienced a spike in calls by active-duty servicemen and women asking how they can become conscientious objectors. In this article, Bill Galvin, the center’s counseling director, told National Public Radio in early April that nearly all the callers he talks to mention the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran on February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war, which killed at least 165 civilians, most of them children. A preliminary assessment determined the U.S. military was at fault.

U.S. Oil Blockade Punishes Cuban People, Medical Science

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Nothing illustrates the criminality, hypocrisy, and brutality of Washington’s economic war against Cuba better than its impact on the island’s universal healthcare system and highly advanced biotech sector. And the consequences can be felt far beyond Cuba’s shores in countries around the globe. When the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and broke the grip of the capitalist class on the island, one of the first priorities was to take some of the country’s wealth that previously went into the purses of the dictator and his cronies and turn it toward extending healthcare to the masses of people. That progress is now threatened, along with the lives of the Cuban people and of others internationally who rely on life-altering treatments and medicines from the island, as the article that follows details.

‘All They Will Find Is Sand’: Israel’s Demolition of Gaza

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“Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide,” an upcoming book by British-Israeli architect Eyal Weizman, catalogs, in unflinching and exacting detail, the Israeli campaigns of violence and displacement that have reshaped Gaza and its surroundings to make these areas unlivable for the Palestinian people. This article, which first appeared in the London Review of Books, is a powerful preview of “Ungrounding.”

Colorado Meatpackers Ratify New Contract

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On April 12, 2026, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 ratified a new agreement with the JBS Swift beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado. A union press release announcing the vote — with 93% in favor — said the contract contained “all gains, countless improvements, and not a single concession.”
“This … is a testament to the incredible resolve of our members,” said Local 7 president Kim Cordova. “These workers stood together on the picket line for three weeks, through extreme weather, because they knew their worth and refused to be disrespected.”

Cuban Gov’t: ‘Bay of Pigs Is Today and Forever!’

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Today, April 17, is the 65th anniversary of the launching of the U.S.-organized invasion of Cuba. In less than 72 hours of combat in April 1961 near the Bay of Pigs, Cuba’s revolutionary militias, police, and armed forces defeated the assault by 1,500 mercenaries armed, trained, supported, and deployed by Washington. To mark that weighty victory for the world’s working people, we publish the statement Cuba’s revolutionary government issued today on the occasion of this important anniversary.

U.S. Blockade of Cuba Puts Special Burden on Women

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Women in Cuba are among those most directly affected by Washington’s criminal blockade of the island’s access to fuel. The U.S. blockade of oil shipments has strained the Cuban electrical grid to the breaking point, limiting critical services such as medical care and delivery of medications, transportation of food and other essential commodities, access to clean water, and education. This article and video from Belly of the Beast illustrate the hardships, but also the resilience and fighting spirit, of Cuban women today.

Colorado Meatpackers End Strike, Will Return to Work

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GREELEY, COLORADO — On April 4, 2026, United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 announced it was ending a strike against the meatpacking giant JBS Swift here “after JBS agreed to return to the negotiating table,” according to the union’s press release. Local 7 said bargaining has been set for April 9-10, which was the basis for the decision to return to work on April 7. There has been no other motion toward resolution of the issues that sparked the strike. This article provides eyewitness coverage from the picket lines that World-Outlook reporters visited on April 3, the day before the walkout ended.

Cuba: Anti-Imperialist Bicycle Rally Floods Malecón

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In this post, Belly of the Beast reports on a rousing bicycle rally that took over Malecón, the seaside promenade of Havana, Cuba’s capital, on April 2, 2026, to denounce Washington’s economic war — which the Trump administration escalated in January by blockading virtually all fuel oil from entering the island nation — and 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 effects on the Cuban people of the ongoing U.S. siege.