Category: Cuba/Cuba Solidarity

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Refuting Slanders Against Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba

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In this article, Current Affairs correspondents Alex Skopic and Nathan J. Robinson focus on refuting slanders against the Nuestra América convoy to Cuba in the U.S. media — mostly the conservative press, which “spun the aid mission into a vanity trip, ignoring the issue of the fuel embargo and its effects,” as they note. The authors went to Cuba in March as part of the convoy, which brought tons of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, food, bicycles, and solar panels, from about 30 countries around the world. This initiative was organized in response to the siege of Cuba by Washington, which at the end of January intensified its decades-long economic war on the country by blockading virtually all fuel oil from entering the island.

‘What I Saw in Cuba Was Resilience’

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This is a Cuban American’s story from the Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba. “I traveled to Cuba this month,” writes Gerardo Delgado. “As a Cuban American, that sentence carries the weight of longing born of an estrangement from my roots. For much of my life, Cuba existed as a distant story, a place I knew only through descriptions from my father. I was there as part of an international solidarity convoy; over 500 representatives from more than 30 countries, united by a simple conviction: no country has the right to strangle another simply because it chose a different path. I cannot stand by while the island of my family’s heritage is suffocated.”

‘Cuban People Act with Creative Resistance’ (II)

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This is the second of two parts with excerpts from the transcript of a press conference Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez gave on March 13, 2026, as the Cuban people continued to resist Washington’s siege on their country. With characteristic frankness and transparency, Díaz-Canel responded to Trump’s threats and to journalists’ questions about the everyday challenges the Cuban people are diligently working to overcome. Challenges resulting from Washington’s relentless economic war, escalated recently with the U.S. blockade preventing any petroleum from reaching the country.

‘Cuban People Act with Creative Resistance’ (I)

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On March 13, 2026, as the Cuban people continued to resist Washington’s siege on their country, Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez met with reporters in Havana. With characteristic frankness and transparency, Díaz-Canel responded to Trump’s threats and to journalists’ questions about the everyday challenges the Cuban people are diligently working to overcome, resulting from Washington’s economic war, intensified recently with the U.S. blockade preventing any oil from reaching the country. This is the first of two parts.

Cuban Leader: ‘Do We Talk or Negotiate with the Trump Administration’?

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Cuban leader Ernesto Limia Díaz is a historian and writer. Here he provides historical context to the recent revelations by Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez that Havana is holding talks with the Trump administration after Washington imposed a blockade of petroleum shipments to Cuba and threatened the overthrow of the Caribbean nation’s revolutionary government.

‘Cuba Under Siege: Strategies for United Response’

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NEW YORK CITY — About 225 delegates representing organizations across the United States and Canada attended the conference “Cuba Under Siege: Strategies for Resistance and a United Response.” In welcoming delegates to the meeting, Ike Nahem of the New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition, said: “The conference is taking place at an ominous time. A time of imperialist war in the Mideast and intervention in our hemisphere, marked by the January 3 U.S. attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country’s president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Celia Flores, and the siege of Cuba under the U.S. blockade of petroleum to the country.” Nahem called on delegates to focus on actions that represent a united response to this qualitative turn of events in the world situation.

Cuban Athletes: An ‘Unusual and Extraordinary Threat’?

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PHOENIX, Arizona — As baseball fans around the world geared up for the Sixth World Baseball Classic, eight members of the Cuban team, along with their pitching coach and other support personnel, were denied visas to come to the United States. As a result, just 11 players were left to face a roster of 37 from the Kansas City Royals on March 3, 2026, and 33 from the Cincinnati Reds the following day. The Los Angeles Hands Off Cuba Committee (LAHOC), together with 5 affiliated Cuba solidarity committees in other cities, has been spearheading a campaign to put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to demand that all athletes be allowed to compete. The Trump administration’s policy is a direct violation of the IOC charter and is especially egregious as Washington prepares to host the games.

Opinions Shift Among Cuban Americans: ‘We Want Engagement, Not Escalation’

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In this column, Cuban-American Danny Valdes explains that Washington’s myth about the source of the Cuba’s economic challenges has been exposed, most recently and most clearly, by U.S. president Donald Trump. “There’s an embargo. There’s no oil, there’s no money, there’s no anything,” Trump said last month. “There is … a growing shift,” Valdes adds. “Whether in Miami or in New Jersey, we are today seeing a wave of Cuban Americans who are mobilizing to demand engagement, rather than escalation.”

National Nurses Union: ‘End U.S. Blockade of Cuba’

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On February 27, National Nurses United issued a press release calling for an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba. NNU president Mary Turner called Washington’s efforts to asphyxiate the Cuban population by cutting off the nation’s supply of fuel “an unconscionable violation of human rights and international law.” She noted that the healthcare crisis created by lack of fuel, and electricity from oil-fired generation, particularly impacts pregnant women and children. “As nurses,” she said, “we will not be silent when our nation’s policies cause immense suffering for any people, whether at home or abroad.”

Cuba: ‘Failed State’ or Besieged Nation?

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As the widely acknowledged humanitarian crisis in Cuba intensifies, political figures and conservative pundits alike are blaming the island nation’s leadership, government, and socialist revolution, labeling Cuba a “failed state.” José R. Cabañas Rodríguez, the author of this article, was the Cuban ambassador to the United States from September 2015 to December 2020. In this essay, which first appeared on the website of Radio Havana Cuba, he analyzes the criteria that many use to define a “failed state” and suggests that those governing the Yankee “paradise” take a look in the mirror.

Solidarity with Cuba Takes Off in Latin America

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Cuba is not alone. Around the world — including the United States, Cuba solidarity groups are organizing campaigns to send medical supplies and medications, solar panels, and other material aid. Pressure is now being applied to governments of oil-producing countries in Latin America to send Cuba the one thing that working people, youth, and anyone who cares for human decency cannot provide — petroleum.

We Stand with Cuba — For All Time

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On January 29, 2026, U.S. president Donald Trump issued a new executive order declaring a “national emergency” due to the “unusual and extraordinary threat” that Cuba allegedly poses to the United States. The White House announced it will impose harsh punitive tariffs on any country that trades oil with Cuba. This is unvarnished economic warfare, a major escalation of Washington’s unrelenting efforts over more than six decades aimed at asphyxiating the Cuban people and overthrowing their socialist revolution.

U.S. Blockade of Oil to Cuba Threatens Sovereignty of All Nations

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Over the last month, the U.S. government has intensified its decades-long aggression against Cuba. Oil shipments to the island from Venezuela have been cut off since Washington’s January 3, 2026, attack on that country. On January 22, the Trump administration threatened a full naval blockade of the island nation. And on January 29, Trump signed an executive order labeling Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States and declaring that Washington will impose punitive tariffs on any country trading oil with Cuba. In a statement published here, Isaac Saney, a Cuba specialist and Black studies professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, takes apart Trump’s latest imperial edict.

‘We Don’t Know the Word Surrender’: Cubans Respond to New U.S. Threats

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On January 29, 2026, U.S. president Donald Trump issued a new executive order declaring a “national emergency” because of the “unusual and extraordinary threat” the island nation allegedly poses to the United States. Trump declared his administration would impose punitive tariffs on any country sending oil to Cuba. Earlier, Trump had threatened to impose a naval blockade around Cuba to completely cut off the supply of oil to the island. We publish in this post the response by Cuban leader Ernesto Limia Diaz and other Cuban revolutionaries to the latest Yankee assault on Cuba.

‘Cuba: Committed to Peace, Ready to Fight for Its Sovereignty’

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On January 16, 2026, hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched and rallied in Havana to pay homage to their countrymen killed during the U.S. assault on Venezuela two weeks earlier. Thirty-two Cuban soldiers died while putting up fierce resistance to U.S. forces that stormed the presidential residence in Caracas and ultimately kidnapped Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel delivered the speech published here to honor the 32 fallen combatants and respond to Washington’s escalating threats against his nation.

Cuba’s Role in Venezuela

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On January 3, 2026, the U.S. military invaded Venezuela and abducted its president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Among the approximately 100 civilians and security personnel killed in the assault were 32 Cuban nationals. Since then, there has been rampant speculation about how the U.S. forces were able to breach Maduro’s security, what the Cuban nationals were doing in Venezuela, and the nature of the relationship between Cuba and Venezuela. This article clarifies Cuba’s role in Venezuela and answers many of the claims peddled as part of Washington’s propaganda.

Intellectuals and Revolution

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“It is elementary that ‘a superior capacity for material production is the necessary basis for a superior cultural superstructure,’” Cannon writes in this 1961 letter. “Even the Cuban leaders, who don’t profess to be practicing Marxists, know that and are working night and day to improve productive capacities to provide the means for all the other things. But in my opinion, there is also merit in [Mills’] concern for ‘moral, cultural, and intellectual superiority,’ because it cannot be taken for granted that this will follow automatically from the reorganization of the productive system. This aim must be deliberately stated and consciously fought for all the time.”

A Visit with Sociologist C. Wright Mills

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The following is a 1961 letter and postscript by Socialist Workers Party (SWP) leaders George Novack and Evelyn Reed to James P. Cannon, who was then SWP national chairman, describing a visit by Novack and Reed with sociologist C. Wright Mills. What is striking in the exchange is the open-mindedness of socialist leaders at the time, the interest in finding common ground with fighters committed to struggle for a world of social equality and human solidarity. This attitude permeates the writings of Novack, Reed, and Cannon. It is the polar opposite of sectarianism. And it is central to Marxism and to the spirit of the Communist Manifesto, the founding document of the communist movement.

Cuba’s Healthcare Tested by Epidemic, U.S. Sanctions

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The following article was published on December 17, 2025, by Belly of the Beast, a “U.S.-based media outlet that tells Cuba’s untold stories through hard-hitting journalism and stunning cinematography.” As Cuba’s economy has been devastated by Washington’s economic war, the article reports, and a mosquito-borne epidemic has swept through the island, the country’s universal, free healthcare system is being stretched to its limits.

Cuba: ‘A Creative, Hard-Working People Who Do Not Give Up’ (II)

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This is the second part of a speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Cuba’s president, at the closing of the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba on December 13, 2025, in Havana. The Cuban leader addresses the impact on the people of the Caribbean nation of the relentless U.S. economic war, Hurricane Melissa, the U.S. naval blockade of Venezuelan oil, as well as “bureaucracy, formalism, and inertia [that] are putting unacceptable brakes on the will of the Party and the needs of the people.” He points to the working people of Cuba and its youth as the main social forces that can confront the dire economic situation facing the country today.

Cuba: ‘A Creative, Hard-Working People Who Do Not Give Up’ (I)

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This is the first part of a speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Cuba’s president, at the closing of the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba on December 13, 2025, in Havana. The Cuban president addresses the impact on the people of the Caribbean nation of the relentless U.S. economic war, Hurricane Melissa, the U.S. naval blockade of Venezuelan oil, as well as “bureaucracy, formalism, and inertia [that] are putting unacceptable brakes on the will of the Party and the needs of the people.” He points to the working people of Cuba and its youth as the main social forces that can confront the dire economic situation facing the country today.

World Votes with Cuba to Demand an End to U.S. Blockade

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The world has spoken. An overwhelming majority of United Nations (UN) member states voted for the 33rd time at the UN General Assembly to demand an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba. The resolution on the “necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” passed with 165 votes in favor, 7 against, and 12 abstentions.

Miami Coalition Raises Funds for Cuban Pacemaker Campaign

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The Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba held a successful educational and fundraising event on the evening of September 5 at Florida International University’s main campus. Despite stormy weather, 30 people attended and raised just over $2,000 for the national Saving Lives Campaign, which aims to send cardiac pacemakers to Cuba. The effort addresses a shortage of vital medical devices caused by the U.S. blockade.

Trump’s War on Cuba Now Targets Many Cuban Americans

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This is a statement by the U.S.-Cuba Normalization Coalition. It outlines how the Trump administration — by canceling Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants — is targeting many Cuban Americans for deportation. These are the same people that successive U.S. governments for decades have tried to lure to leave Cuba as “victims of Communism” seeking freedom.

‘Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories’: The Cuban Revolution, Social Vulnerability, and Revolutionary Ethics

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This opinion column was published on Facebook on July 16, 2025. The author, Isaac Saney, is on faculty at the College of Continuing Education, Dalhousie University, and an adjunct professor of International Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University, both in Halifax, Canada. The essay is one among many articles and posts by revolutionaries in Cuba and supporters of the Cuban Revolution in other countries addressing a public debate that erupted in Cuba in the middle of July 2025. The controversy was triggered by contentious remarks that Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, Cuba’s former Minister of Labor and Social Security, made on July 14 at the National Assembly, the country’s parliament, dismissing begging and homelessness as fictitious problems.