The president of the Caribbean nation, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, emphasized that they were gathered there not only “for Cuba, but also for all the just causes of the world.” “Despite the challenges, the Cuban people will not allow themselves to be dominated, they will never kneel, they will never be defeated,” he added.
May 2, 2025 — teleSUR
During the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, held in Havana, Cuba, hundreds of delegates reaffirmed their stance against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States for more than six decades.
With 969 delegates from 39 countries , the event condemned the sanctions and also supported the Palestinian struggle and global peace , demanding the exclusion of Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
In this context, the president of the Caribbean nation, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, emphasized that ” they were gathered there not only for Cuba, but also for all the just causes of the world .” “Despite the challenges, the Cuban people will not allow themselves to be dominated, they will never kneel, they will never be defeated,” he added.
Photos: Cubadebate.
The dignitary also indicated that he remains firmly confident that “we (Cuba) will emerge from the current situation, and we will do so with the effort and talent of the Cuban people.”
“We must continue to demand the lifting of the blockade imposed by the United States , as a priority for all those who feel Cuba’s struggle is their own,” he insisted.
The event also served as a platform to reject the inclusion of Cuba on the US list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism , a measure declared by the previous US administration as unfounded to apply it , however and evidencing the inconsistencies of Washington, the exclusion decision issued by former President Joe Biden, almost at the end of his term, was arbitrarily revoked by the current administration of President Donald Trump.
For two hours, attendees raised their voices against hatred, discrimination, and the resurgence of fascism, the Cuban Presidency detailed on the social network X.
“For two hours, voices of solidarity were raised. There was support for Palestine and world peace , and especially condemnation of the U.S. government’s blockade of Cuba ,” the post reads.
Delegates also demanded an end to sanctions that limit the country’s economic and social development, which have been intensified by 243 additional measures in recent years.
I remember being afraid of two things as I left Cuba: that the language would leave me and that, as I attempted to convey the last four months to people gnawing at the bit for answers to the questions about this mythical place, I would fail to do the island justice.
By Anya Sesay May 1, 2025 The Harvard Crimson
Cuba is a myth to too many of us. We’ve made it a fictitious island, corroding at the hands of wicked communists-in-training, rung with poverty, and spitting out young people who’ve grown to despise this place that raised them. Or, we’ve idolized it as one of the many heroic tragedies to come out on the other side of the United States’ neo-colonial factory. Either way, there’s a curious presumptuousness in the questions that roar in our throats when we think of Cuba.
We think we have an answer to their problems. We’re just waiting on the evidence to confirm our theories.
When I tell people I studied abroad in Cuba for four months, I’m met with the same perplexed and even awe-filled reaction. Most people’s bodies respond before they have the words to form a reply, and I’ve grown to believe that is emblematic of how we see Cuba. It’s as though they don’t have the language — which most of us don’t — to articulate the notion of Cuba that has been spoon-fed to us. So, a strange air of overcompensation surrounds their reaction — their curiosity pointed with pity or contempt.
When we came home in May, the questions came flooding, brazen and invasive. My Puerto Rican tío and Bolivian tía asked me first about the people. Were the conditions they lived in terrible, were they happy — could they be?
I was tasked with succinctly interpreting the nuances of life and money in Cuba. Others in my program were met with similar questions, the details of their days subsumed by the worries of their families and friends. Have you lost any weight? Do you eat enough?
Some, overhearing our conversations or listening to our stories, would interject — Did you say you were in Cuba? Wow, that’s amazing. Can I ask, are you a communist now?
These questions were often snuck in like a guilty pleasure, evidence of a craving that could not be silenced. Sometimes we could sense they felt like they shouldn’t be asking these things, like they should care about the totality of our experiences and that of the Cuban people. But the legend of Cuba seemed to swallow totality whole — leaving behind a flattened fantasy of poverty, communism, and desolation.
I don’t think we’re apathetic academics, inquisitive simply for the sake of collecting information. In fact, I believe that our fascination and bewilderment with Cuba often stems from a deep sense of compassion. We know about the blackouts, the disappearances of dissenters, the food shortages. But beyond this, we know so very little. And if we’re not careful, our tenderness can shift ever so subtly into a kind of condescension or callousness.
Kenny Daici, a senior at Brown University, studied in Cuba with me. He was one of the most adventurous and curious among us, and often, in his free time, he went out into the neighborhoods, talked with people, and asked them if he could take their picture. By the end, he was asked to curate his photographs and exhibit them in Cuba and at Brown.
While installing the exhibit at Brown, a stranger took interest in his photos. Daici told him about the exhibition, how he had lived in Havana for the spring semester, how he had taken these photographs to honor the rich cultural tradition and resiliency that whisper in the lives of Cubans on the island.
And the first question out of the stranger’s mouth was rather disquieting.
“He was like, ‘oh, were you on a mission trip?’” Daici says. “And he was very serious.”
Despite our sympathetic proclivities, sometimes we lead with pity regarding Cuba, as though it signals strong moral character or some kind of contemporary geo-political prowess. Citing the long-standing U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba, the fallacy that there is no private sector on the island, and the onslaught of political protests against the government, we can relegate the island to a destination for our commiseration.
Or, on the other hand, we scold the Cuban government and their history in some saviorist attempt to fight for the Cuban people; to squeeze their government into capitalist submission and finally free the population from the bleak lives we believe they lead.
Perhaps because the embargo is at the heart of our contemporary relationship with Cuba, we resign ourselves to only having philosophies regarding the socio-political bones of the island, rather than exploring experiences with it and its people.
I wish everyone would go to Cuba the way that I did.
Live there for months, under the care of a loving host family who, receiving a call at 5 a.m., would rearrange their entire day to drive their elderly neighbor to the hospital, since her ride canceled on her last minute due to the gas shortage. Take classes with internationally-renowned Cuban scholars, both through a program and at the University of Havana to ground yourself in the vast complications that lie at the foundation of our relationship with Cuba. Go to the Feria de Libros and purchase 25 books for less than a dollar.
Tour Trinidad with el profe, who everyone expects to stop the blackouts from robbing them of their food and their peace. Whatsapp message a taxi driver to take you to visit the medicine man, and listen as he teaches you how to cure every ailment with something growing in his garden. Learn la rueda, salsa basico, y la rumba in El Vedado, and proceed to kiss your dance partner as the sun rises over the Atlantic.
Listen to Cuban students call their professors liars and slander the revolution. Then hear their classmates call them weak, conformist, and the very reason the island is struggling. Take a car to Guantanamó, and watch your friend go door-knocking until he finds his last living relatives in Cuba. Eat níspero by the river while you wait, and have lunch at their house even though they didn’t know you were coming. Make a ritual of sitting at the Malecón to watch every sunset sink into the horizon and listen to the music the waves make as they crash against the esplanade.
Learn to understand that having much does not equate to giving much. That in fact, sometimes, being stripped down to very little materially creates unfathomable bonds of mutual aid and a resilient kind of contentment. Learn to conceptualize Cuba as more than a communist wasteland of poverty and pain.
Perhaps if I were writing to another audience, in another time, I would concede that there are insurmountable barriers to traveling to Cuba in the way that I did — a visa, justification, access to scholars and institutions providing nuanced and restorative activities, opportunities, and tours. But, when Harvard opened its doors to you, it also opened the doors to Cuba. Please, please walk through them.
The flyer for Daici’s exhibition features one of my favorite photographs in the series — a group of Cuban men, steel drums in hand, wistful and taken by the music and the sun. I’ll never forget the day this photograph was taken, as these men led us in a beautiful procession through Los Hoyos in Santiago de Cuba.
I remember when they started beating the drums and chanting the cyclical lyrics, as people began poking their heads out the window. First dancing in their homes, doing the steps from behind their windows, watching from the sidewalks, until they couldn’t hold it in anymore. They came to us, their bodies called by the conga music, and they danced. Vendors, neighbors, and families alike flooded the streets to join us. We moved by dancing, as the conga uniquely allows. And they taught us, without burden or restraint. Once strangers, they became our educators, and together we learned to move as one, in the distinctly Cuban sense.
By the end our group spanned a few blocks, the drums and chanting echoing far beyond that. I can only imagine what we would’ve looked like from above — American and Cuban together, celebrating and preserving.
I remember being afraid of two things as I left Cuba: that the language would leave me and that, as I attempted to convey the last four months to people gnawing at the bit for answers to the questions about this mythical place, I would fail to do the island justice. I was afraid I would forget; afraid that I would become just another voyeuristic traveler exploiting my unique privilege to explore this supposedly uncharted territory. And in so doing, I would make Cuba all about me — about how I had seen the light, I could solve the problem, I knew revolution in a palpable way.
So whenever I’m asked, I tell people I left Cuba with more questions than answers. I tell them about my family, about the friends I made there, about the conga and the jazz and the salsa. I tell them about the Ropa Vieja, the beach days, the electric class debates. I tell them about the art exhibits, the performance pieces, the cafecitos.
And when the other questions do come — brazen and invasive — I don’t always feel equipped to answer them. And perhaps that’s the point. I’ve learned that Cuba cannot be distilled, and it’s certainly not my job to try. Cuban people don’t need our pity, and they certainly don’t need our disdain. They need our partnership.
—Magazine writer Anya Sesay can be reached at anya.sesay@thecrimson.com. Her column “The Islands That Shape Us” explores how our personal relationships with the Caribbean are entangled with its cultural erasure.
The Harvard Crimson, the nation’s oldest continuously published daily college newspaper, was founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. The newspaper traces its history to the first issue of “The Magenta,” published on Jan. 24, 1873, and changed its name to “The Crimson” to reflect the new color of the College on May 21, 1875. The Crimson has a rich tradition of journalistic integrity and counts among its ranks of editorship some of America’s greatest journalists. More than 40 Crimson alumni have won the Pulitzer Prize; many of their portraits line the walls of The Crimson.
The Crimson is proud of its legacy of alumni active in journalism, business, public service, and politics. Past editors include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, John F. Kennedy ’40, J. Anthony Lewis ’48, David Halberstam ’55, Michael Crichton ’64, Don Graham ’65, Linda Greenhouse ’68, Steve Ballmer ’77, Jim Cramer ’77, Mark Whitaker ’79, Susan Chira ’80, and Jeff Zucker ’86. More than 140 years after its founding, having grown from a fortnightly newspaper to a daily, The Harvard Crimson continues to flourish with a strong body of undergraduate staff volunteers.
Santiago de Cuba, May 2 (Prensa Latina) The U.S. solidarity brigade Levántate por Cuba spoke today with students and professors from the Universidad de Oriente, in what was its first visit to the country.
Led by Family Medicine Specialist Howard Ehrman, the brigade members, mostly from Chicago, aim to collaborate in the areas of solar energy, public health, agriculture, and culture, showing particular interest in interacting with key figures in these activities.
The Universidad de Oriente provided a space where young students and recent graduates from several neighboring provinces came together to share life experiences, alongside the image of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and his Concept of Revolution.
The Americans discussed their struggles for civil rights and an end to the genocide in Palestine, the police brutality and racial segregation suffered by people of African descent, and the pressure exerted by the government to prevent expressions of solidarity with other causes and their own compatriots.
They were also interested in learning how university autonomy works when it comes to addressing their needs and interests, the relationship with the university administration, the relationship between students from different social strata, and how the special needs of some young people are addressed.
The hosts explained the role of the Student Council and the Federation of University Students, the support they receive from the university administration, and the collaborative work between the government, the Union of Young Communists, and the Communist Party of Cuba to ensure the comprehensive training of graduates.
In addition to Dr. Howard Ehrman, the participants include Juan Carlos Vaillant, the delegate of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples in Santiago de Cuba; Diana Sedal, the rector of the Universidad de Oriente; and Amika Tendaji, executive director of the Black Lives Matter movement in Chicago.
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Andy Gomez, former director of the University’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, taught his first class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Center, on US-Cuba relations, in the fall.
By Amy Ellis 03-07-2025 – University of Miami
On the first day of his inaugural course on U.S.- Cuba relations for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Andy Gomez said he set a few parameters for his students.
“I want you to leave your political biases at the door,” said Gomez, former senior advisor to the President’s Office on Cuban Affairs. “In this class, we respect different points of view, but we deal in facts.”
Setting aside personal feelings is not easy when the subject is Cuba, he acknowledged.
“When you talk about Cuba, it stirs a lot of passion,” Gomez explained. “I believe you have to study the past to understand the present and prepare for the future.”
Considered one of the top scholars on Cuba and Cuban-American relations, Gomez will teach a new course at OLLI this semester on the influence the Cuban-American community has had on South Florida–politically, economically, and socially.
The six-week course will also examine the challenges and struggles various waves of Cuban immigrants faced in the U.S.
“There is no question that we created an economic and political powerhouse here in South Florida,” said Gomez. “And, from 1959 on, each wave of refugees faced very different difficulties in how well they adjusted to their new country.”
Gomez said he won’t shy away from challenging topics or perceptions faced by Cuban Americans in Miami.
From the Mariel boat lift in the 1980s to violent images in the movie “Scarface” and the long-running television show “Miami Vice,” the perception of Cubans in Miami was not always positive, he said.
“These things didn’t really paint a pretty picture,” he said. “And at least some of it was based on the reality that was happening at the time. This class will look at the good with the bad and see what we can learn to apply for a better future.”
As a Cuban American who left the island nation when she was 5 years old, Vivian Maza said she knew very little about Cuban history. Though family members often reminisced about the “good old days” in Cuba, they never discussed what happened later in Cuban history, she said.
“My mom passed away three years after arriving in the U.S.,” she said. “How Cuba came to be was not something we discussed. I (wanted) to understand what my parents and relatives lived through and how Cuba became what it is today.”
Maza described Gomez as a “Cuba encyclopedia.” Although the class was supposed to cover 1959 to the present, she said, “he took us way back to the 1900s so we could really understand (how) the revolution started.”
“He took what he normally teaches in a full semester and did a phenomenal job condensing it into six weeks,” she said. “The class really gave me a clearer understanding of the sequence of events which led some of my family members to leave Cuba and why many decided to stay. He also keeps politics out of it, which is refreshing.”
Gomez said the students at OLLI were among the best he has had in more than 30 years teaching master’s and Ph.D. students at the University.
“I’m only as good as my students are,” he explained. “For my first time teaching at OLLI, I found the response from the students re-energized me in preparing for each lecture. I was very pleased.”
Havana, April 30 (ACN) Cuban and US citizens gathered at Havana’s Friendship Center on Wednesday to pay homage to US activist William (Bill) Camp, who tirelessly advocated the normalization of US-Cuba relations and free travel to Cuba for US citizens.
Bill was a unionist in California and leader of the Building Relations with Cuban Labor organization. He built relations with Cuban unions and became a close friend and defender of the island nation.
Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP) president Fernando Gonzalez said that thanks to Bill’s leadership and commitment US local and state authorities approved important resolutions demanding the end of the US blockade of Cuba and its removal from the arbitrary US list of States Sponsors of Terrorism.
Gonzalez recalled the arrival in Cuba these days of hundreds friends from the US and other nations to join May Day celebrations here. This makes us so proud and proves the unbreakable commitment of the US people to Cuba, he noted.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Building Relations with Cuban Labor and from Los Angeles’ Hands Off Cuba, who will join the Cuban people at the march of International Workers’ Day on Havana’s Revolution Square.
Also at hand were many US activists like Cheryl LaBash, co-president of the US National Network on Cuba (NNOC); ICAP director Leima Martinez, and Foreign Relations official Alexander Valentin.
Thousands of Cubans gathered Thursday in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion to commemorate May Day, reviving a tradition that had been put on hold in recent years. (AP Video/Ariel Fernández and Milexsy Durán) Published May 1, 2025
Havana, May 1 (Prensa Latina) President Miguel Díaz-Canel today highlighted the massive mobilization of the Cuban people on International Workers’ Day and emphasized the commitment to the Revolution amid a complex economic situation.
“600,000 Havana residents, millions across #Cuba? No one can say a number with certainty, because any figure seems small compared to the emotion provoked by that sea of people rising from the Malecón into history,” the president highlighted on the social network X.
The head of state emphasized that at the most difficult moment for the country, amid the most brutal pressure and threats ever, from Maisí (Guantánamo) to Mantua (Pinar del Río) and vice versa, the Cuban archipelago shook as a people.
Through the same digital platform, the Secretary of Organization of the Cuban Communist Party, Roberto Morales, confirmed that more than 600,000 people marched in Havana and more than 5.3 million across Cuba.
Numerous Cuban demonstrations, under the slogan “For Cuba Together We Create,” took to the streets of the Caribbean country this Thursday morning in support of socialism and the Revolution.
In the capital, the health sector inaugurated the massive event in recognition of its work protecting the public’s health and denouncing the campaigns orchestrated by the United States government against Cuban medical missions.
On behalf of the Cuban labor movement, the secretary general of the Cuban Workers’ Central Union (CTC), Ulises Guilarte, reaffirmed the Caribbean country’s commitment to a peaceful, prosperous, and just future.
Guilarte emphasized that the sea of people that flooded the squares across the country today confirms the people’s determination to resist the counterrevolutionary attacks, and reaffirmed the will to maintain internal unity and solidarity with other nations.
As a demonstration of global support for Cuba, some 1,000 international delegates from more than 30 countries rallied around the squares alongside the people to condemn the economic, commercial, and financial blockade.
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The awards ceremony will be held Saturday, April 26, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
April 24 (OnCuba News) Renowned Cuban pianist and composer Chucho Valdés has been honored with the 2025 Jazz Master Award, the highest honor for a jazz musician in the United States.
This is the first time a foreign Latin American artist has received this distinction, which is presented annually by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
The awards ceremony will be held next Saturday, April 26, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, during the traditional annual concert organized by the NEA, reported Prensa Latina news agency.
Along with Valdés, three other prominent exponents of U.S. jazz will be recognized: saxophonist Marshall Allen, pianist Marilyn Crispell, and music critic Gary Giddins, all honored for their exceptional contributions to the genre.
Chucho Valdés, considered the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz, currently resides in the United States, adding yet another recognition to his extensive career.
Chucho Valdés and the 2025 Leonard Bernstein Award
Havana, April 30 (Prensa Latina) Havana’s Acapulco cinema hosted a special day of screenings and discussions today to mark the fifth anniversary of Belly of the Beast, a U.S. media outlet based in Cuba.
Belly of the Beast specializes in the production of documentaries and videos about the impact of US sanctions, Cubacine Icaic highlighted on its Facebook profile, while praising the work of the media with the phrase: “Cinema that denounces, cinema that humanizes: Belly of the Beast celebrates five years in Cuba!”
With the support of institutions such as the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the International Press Center (CPI), and with the presence of international delegations that will participate in tomorrow’s May Day celebrations, two documentaries were screened.
According to Cubacine, these films embody the spirit of committed journalism, and the opening remarks at the Acapulco celebration were given by Reed Lindsay, director of Belly of the Beast and producer of both documentaries.
From Gaza to Cuba, directed by Frank Rojazz, tells the story of Murid Abukhater, a young Palestinian born and raised amid the ravages of war in Gaza, who is currently training as a doctor on the island with the hope of one day returning to serve his people. His story is a testament to resilience, solidarity, and the future.
The premiere of El sueño de Teresita, by Daniel Montero Pupo, took place. It stars Dr. Teresita Rodríguez and the Cneuro team, creators of the drug NeuroEpo (brand name: NeuralCim).
This is a Cuban innovation in the treatment of Alzheimer’s with promising clinical results, with an 84 percent effectiveness rate in clinical trials.
The documentary exposes how the embargo hinders global access to this breakthrough, while also revealing a moving personal story: that of the first woman to try the drug, motivated by her daughter’s love for her mother.
Both screenings opened the way for direct exchange with their protagonists and filmmakers, in a meeting where cinema not only documents but also calls for debate, empathy, and transformation.
From the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), we celebrate the power of cinema to amplify voices, challenge silences, and remind us that every well-told story can change the way the world looks, concluded the institutional post on social media.
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teleSUR Latin America Cubadebate (English)
