Tag: U.S. blockade against Cuba

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.”

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.

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’ (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.

Cuba’s President: ‘We Can’t Defend the Revolution when We Hide Our Problems’

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This article, published on July 15, 2025, on the website of the Presidency of the Cuban government, reports on the response by Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s president, to controversial remarks a day earlier by the country’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera. On July 14, Feitó Cabrera told Cuba’s parliament that there are no beggars in Cuba, that the island’s beggars are faking poverty in search of easy money, and that those cleaning windshields on the streets or collecting rubbish from trash bins are actually collecting raw materials without paying taxes. Her televised remarks went viral on social media, causing an uproar by the public and government officials alike. Feitó Cabrera resigned her post on July 15.

Over 5 Million Turn Out for May Day in Cuba

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About 5.3 million people, nearly half of the country’s population of 11 million, filled the streets of cities, towns, and municipalities across the Caribbean island today to celebrate International Workers’ Day. “A sea marched toward Revolution Square this May Day,” began the report in Trabajadores, the daily newspaper of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, covering the mobilization of 600,000 in Havana. “It was certainly a sea of workers and other people, men, women, old, young, teenagers, and kids who came together to form this multicolored and enthusiastic stream, showing the world once again that Cubans defend their revolution and won’t be intimidated by blockades and other threats.”