Activists at Socialism Conference Discuss Building Opposition to US Blockade — CHICAGO, September 6, 2026 — Chants of “¡Cuba Sí, Bloqueo No!” opened the round table session “Cuba Under Siege” during the Socialism 2026 Conference held here over the Labor Day weekend. The conference, sponsored by Haymarket Books, was attended by approximately 2600 people. More than 100 conference attendees took part in the discussion on Cuba, hosted by the Chicago Cuba Coalition, and another 50 online.
This article highlights the central role of the escalating US economic war in causing the crisis that has engulfed Cuba — the most severe economic and social crisis the Caribbean country has faced since the 1959 revolution. At the same time, the author sounds the alarm that the new economic measures the Cuban government adopted in June could lead to a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and undermine the main achievements of the Cuban Revolution — unparalleled social equality and human solidarity created and sustained for decades. Written by Wilder Pérez Varona, who has served as a managing director of the Institute of Philosophy of Cuba, the article reflects a real debate in the country on how to confront the tremendous challenges in everyday life wrought by the attempted imperialist strangulation and about how various ways of implementing the recent economic measures pose potential dangers to the Revolution.
On June 18, 2026, Cuba’s National Assembly — the country’s highest legislative body — adopted an extensive series of new economic measures. These decisions were made as Cuba confronts its deepest economic and social crisis since the 1959 revolution, largely caused by Washington’s relentless economic war for nearly seven decades, which the Trump administration qualitatively escalated this year. In discussions and debates on social media and elsewhere in Cuba, a number of supporters of the Cuban Revolution have referred to similar measures adopted in the early years of the Russian Revolution, known as the “New Economic Policy” (NEP). While some of the measures being taken in Cuba resemble the NEP, the situation facing Cuba today is very different. As a contribution to this discussion, we are publishing here an article on the NEP with a postscript sketching the main differences in the political situation faced by the Bolsheviks in the 1920s and those Cuba confronts today.
In this article, Enrique Ubieta Gómez, the editor of Cuba Socialista, the theoretical magazine of the Communist Party of Cuba, dissects the current economic and social crisis in Cuba, the recent measures the Cuban government adopted in an attempt to confront this dire situation, and the international conjuncture. This is the second of two parts.
In this article, Enrique Ubieta Gómez, the editor of Cuba Socialista, the theoretical magazine of the Communist Party of Cuba, discusses the current economic and social crisis in Cuba, the recent measures the Cuban government adopted in an attempt to confront this dire situation, and the international conjuncture. This is the first of two parts.
This article addresses a widespread controversy in Cuba, sparked by the participation of Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro in Cuba’s negotiations with the U.S. government in May. Known as Raulito, or “El Cangrejo” — “The Crab” — Rodríguez Castro is the grandson of Raúl Castro, a central leader of the Cuban Revolution and a former president of Cuba. Many Cubans questioned or objected to Rodríguez Castro’s participation in such high-level talks because he does not hold any elected or other formal position in the Cuban government and because his public conduct renders him “a symbol of wealthy partygoers, the type who wore designer clothes and flashy jewelry, imitating the mannerisms of the moneyed North,” in the words of Michel Torres Corona, this article’s author, who is a well-known Cuban TV host and a staunch supporter of the Cuban Revolution.
“Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” released by the U.S. Department of State on July 20, 2026, is a monumental distortion of history. The same government that recently threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, backs genocide in Gaza, and put militarized thugs on the streets to terrorize its own population labels Cuba the “Espionage Empire,” the global center of a new “red menace.” Under that rationale, it lays the groundwork for escalating government repression — reminiscent of McCarthyism during the Cold War — against perceived “domestic enemies,” in essence, targeting anyone who speaks out against U.S. policy. This is the second of two parts.
“Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” released by the U.S. Department of State on July 20, 2026, is a monumental distortion of history. The same government that recently threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, backs genocide in Gaza, and put militarized thugs on the streets to terrorize its own population labels Cuba the “Espionage Empire,” the global center of a new “red menace.” Under that rationale, it lays the groundwork for escalating government repression — reminiscent of McCarthyism during the Cold War — against perceived “domestic enemies,” in essence, targeting anyone who speaks out against U.S. policy. This is the first of two parts.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Calls Out Hypocrisy of U.S. Claims Over Blockade. UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK CITY, July 7, 2026 — In a diplomatic offensive aimed at challenging the U.S. economic war against Cuba, Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla requested a session of the UN General Assembly to re-open debate on ending the U.S. blockade of the island. U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio actively and aggressively opposed the proposal. But an overwhelming majority of UN member states approved Cuba’s request to hold the debate. 136 voted in favor, 9 against, and 30 abstained. A win for Cuba! This is an eyewitness report on the debate that followed.
On June 7, 2026, the Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee (SCFC) voted “to remove the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) participants from membership in our committee,” as the organization announced, “because of ideological differences with the SWP Middle East policy, specifically their support of Israel in the face of Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people.” Others active in Cuba solidarity work across the United States have expressed opposition to the SCFC action and its rationale, even though many of them also decried the SWP’s position on Israel/Palestine; these activists explained that the SCFC decision set a dangerous precedent that could hurt the chances of broadening opposition to the U.S. blockade against Cuba. We publish here documents outlining both sides of the debate. This is the second of two parts.
On June 7, 2026, the Seattle/Cuba Friendship Committee (SCFC) voted “to remove the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) participants from membership in our committee,” as the organization announced, “because of ideological differences with the SWP Middle East policy, specifically their support of Israel in the face of Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people.” Others active in Cuba solidarity work across the United States have expressed opposition to the SCFC action and its rationale, even though many of them also decried the SWP’s position on Israel/Palestine; these activists explained that the SCFC decision set a “dangerous precedent” that could hurt the chances of broadening opposition to the U.S. blockade against Cuba. We publish here documents outlining both sides of the debate. This is the first of two parts.
The Federation of Cuban Workers (CTC) held its 22nd congress in Havana, Cuba, on June 26-27, 2026. Delegates from every province on the island discussed the new economic and social measures adopted nine days earlier by the National Assembly of People’s Power, the country’s highest legislative body. The measures are aimed at addressing the severe humanitarian crisis faced by the Cuban people. Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, speaking at the conclusion of the congress, addressed the changes and surrounding debate on their significance for the future of the Cuban Revolution. He said, “So that it is perfectly clear to our compatriots, to our friends, and even to our enemies: We do not propose, nor will it ever be among our objectives, to restore capitalism in Cuba!”
MIAMI — Forty people attended a June 18, 2026, speak out here opposing U.S. war threats against Cuba. The Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba and the campus Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) sponsored the meeting. The event took place on the main campus of Florida International University (FIU).
Harlem, New York— Organized by the new Blacks4Cuba coalition and led by the December 12th Movement, 100 people, overwhelmingly Black, took to the streets on June 20, 2026, demanding “No War On Cuba!” This was just one of what was projected to be an ongoing campaign of organizing and activity in the Black community focused on solidarity with Cuba.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is the second part of an interview with Ernesto Limia Díaz, a historian, writer, member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (known as UNEAC, its Spanish-language acronym), and director of the TV program MARCAS. He is also the author of the bilingual book “Patria y cultura en Revolución” (Homeland and Culture in Revolution).
This is the first part of an interview with Ernesto Limia Díaz, a historian, writer, member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (known as UNEAC, its Spanish-language acronym), and director of the TV program MARCAS. He is also the author of the bilingual book “Patria y cultura en Revolución” (Homeland and Culture in Revolution).
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.
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.
“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.
Speaking on May 26, 2026, before a packed audience in New York City, Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Padilla blasted Washington’s escalating aggression against his country and noted the dangerous precedent that U.S. actions toward the island set for every other sovereign nation in the world.
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.
On May 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted former Cuban president Raúl Castro on charges of murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens. These absurd charges are part of the Trump administration’s campaign to asphyxiate Cuba, including threats of military assault, in order to topple the Cuban Revolution.
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.
“Teresita’s Dream: Cuba’s Battle Against Alzheimer’s,” is a magnificent documentary about Cuba’s astounding progress in developing a treatment for Alzheimer’s — a progressive, and up to now irreversible brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and cognitive skills. The film is now available for streaming. WATCH IT NOW!
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is the speech by Osnay Miguel Colina Rodríguez, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Organizing Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), during the main May Day rally in Havana, Cuba, at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribunal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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 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.
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 Cilia 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.
This is a speech Osmayda Hernández Beleño, director of international relations of the Federation of Cuban Women, gave on March 14, 2026. That day, the FMC leader addressed the opening of a conference at the City University of New York Graduate Center in Manhattan, New York, on normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.