Havana, January 25 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío denounced the blockade on oil imports as a new possible measure by the United States against Cuba.
Photo Cubadebate
The Cuban diplomat described this claim as a brutal assault against a peaceful nation that poses no threat whatsoever to the United States, noting that such measures are irrefutable proof that the economic hardships faced by the Cuban people are primarily caused and designed from Washington
He also recalled that it appears that Marco Rubio and John Bolton had already tricked Trump in 2019 into ordering a similar blockade, an action that was stopped at the time by national security agencies that considered that course of unjustifiable confrontation irresponsible and dangerous.
The reactivation of these threats in 2026 demonstrates the intensification of a hostile policy that seeks the country’s energy collapse through international piracy.
This warning comes in a context of sovereign resistance from the Global South against the aggressive unilateralism of the Republican administration.
Ever since it was founded in the 19th century, The Economist has enjoyed a cozy relationship with political and economic power in Britain. The magazine champions elite interests and scorns social justice.
“Cuba is heading for disaster, unless its regime changes drastically,” an article The Economist published in November, is a case in point. The piece rehashes tired clichés about Cuban socialism while ignoring the elephant in the room: U.S. economic warfare that has never been fiercer. The 1,600-word article mentions “the embargo” exactly once — and only in passing.
This is disingenuous.
“To ignore the U.S. blockade — now the longest and most punitive economic war in modern history — is not merely intellectually dishonest; it is propaganda masquerading as journalism,” professor Isaac Saney, coordinator of the Black and African Diaspora Studies program at Dalhousie University in Canada, wrote on Facebook. “For 65 years, Washington has set out to… cripple Cuba’s economy, deny it resources, isolate it from global finance, block food, fuel, medicine, and investment, and punish any country or business daring to engage with it. This is not a metaphorical war; it is a structural, economic, and psychological war designed to produce the shortages The Economist now reports as though they were natural phenomena.”
Belly of the Beast’s corrective
By ignoring the context, The Economist obscures understanding. Here’s our corrective:
The Economist: “Electricity goes on the blink in most places for at least four hours a day.”
Tragically, the reality is even worse: Most Cubans endure daily power outages of well over 12 hours. The Economist doesn’t bother to ask why.
The island has been suffering a fuel crisis since the U.S. government began sanctioning oil tankers to the country in 2019. The measures remain in place today, raising the cost of fuel needed by the island’s decrepit power plants to generate electricity.
U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have driven the decline in the country’s oil production. In 2013, Caracas sent Havana almost 100,000 barrels per day; last year, Havana received a daily average of under 30,000 barrels per day. This fuel lifeline has been severed in the last month after Trump’s enforcement of “a total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers. Seven tankers transporting Venezuelan oil have been commandeered.
In recent years, Mexico has become the primary supplier of oil to Cuba, with President Claudia Sheinbaum describing the shipments as part of her government’s humanitarian efforts in the Caribbean and a long-standing policy of Mexico.
Perhaps most importantly, so-called “maximum pressure” sanctions — imposed by Trump during his first term, maintained by Biden, and intensified in the last 11 months — have succeeded in their aim of bankrupting the Cuban state. Economists estimate that on top of the embargo, these new measures cost the country billions of dollars per year. Cuba currently spends more than half its money importing food and fuel. Goring state revenues leaves the government with less money to buy fuel on the open market, to maintain power plants and to invest in renewable energy.
No wonder Cubans are suffering from the worst blackouts the country has seen since after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Economist: “According to the Social Rights Observatory, a Spanish-backed think-tank…only 3% of Cubans can get the medicine they need at pharmacies.”
Until 2019, Cubans could get just about all the medicine they needed in local pharmacies at affordable prices. But since then, they have suffered chronic medicine shortages leading to empty pharmacy shelves.
The Economist’s numbers are again off the mark.
Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz told Cuba’s parliament in December 2024 that 29% of medicines were available in the necessary quantities at hospitals and pharmacies.
Family doctors and pharmacists interviewed last month by Belly of the Beast say that since then, the situation has gotten worse: They estimated they are now receiving between 20% and 25% of the medications their communities need.
“Three percent is an absurd figure,” said Dr. Mayda Mauri Pérez, president of BioCubaFarma, the state-run biotech and pharmaceutical group that produces most of the island’s medicines. “Anyone making this claim is lying and will not be able to substantiate it.”
The statistic comes from the Social Rights Observatory, which The Economist presents as “a Spanish-backed think-tank.” The magazine fails to mention that the organization is a U.S. government cutout: It forms part of the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, which was granted $2.2 million between 2019 and 2025 by USAID for Cuba “democracy promotion” (a.k.a. regime change) programs.
The Social Rights Observatory did not respond to questions about how it arrived at the 3% figure.
A blood-stained Cuban flag on the profile image of The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights on X shows this is a partisan organization. The hashtag #SOSCuba, which helped spark nationwide protests in Cuba in July 2021, was retweeted more than a million times by bots beyond the island’s shores.
The Economist: “Tourism, once a pillar of the economy, has collapsed…after the covid-19 pandemic the industry never recovered.”
Covid was a major blow for all Caribbean economies dependent on tourism. But for Cuba, it was a double whammy. The island was hit by the pandemic and potent new U.S. sanctions at the same time.
Following Barack Obama’s historic detente, tourism on the island surged to historic highs. Conversely, following the unprecedented hardening of U.S. policy, tourism tumbled from 4.75 million visitors in 2018 to just 2.2 million last year.
Successive administrations have designed policies to maximize damage. Trump banned U.S. cruise ships from docking in Cuba and stopped flights to all Cuban cities except Havana in 2019. The Biden administration quietly rescinded ESTA privileges, or electronic visa waivers, for citizens from 40 countries who travel to Cuba. That means a British reader of The Economist who visits Cuba would be barred from going to the United States unless they first obtain a visa — a lengthy and uncertain process.
For most Europeans, traveling to the U.S. is an easy process. They qualify for the U.S. Visa Waiver program (ESTA), meaning they just have to fill out an online form. However, U.S. law denies normally eligible individuals access to ESTA if they have visited countries on its State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Cuba has been on the list since 2021 even though there is no credible evidence Cuba sponsors terrorism.
The emperor’s new clothes
The Economist: “‘This system is so screwed up it’s unfixable,’ says a 52-year-old taxi driver who would leave if he didn’t feel obliged to look after his sick mother. ‘All you can do is get rid of it and start all over again.’”
For The Economist, calls to replace socialism are par for the course. The magazine was founded in 1843 by James Wilson, a British hat manufacturer who would go on to become a politician and banker. From the get-go, the magazine consistently opposed progressive politics on the grounds of advancing “free trade.”
James Wilson, founder of The Economist.
In the 19th century, The Economistadvocated for abolishing Britain’s meager state welfare system known as the Poor Laws, policies that, according to the magazine, only encouraged “improvidence, idleness, fraud, and lying.” It opposed the Factory Act, which limited child labor to nine hours per day. It even moralized that steps toward public sanitation in Britain’s cities should be opposed: “There is a worse evil than typhus or cholera or impure water, and that is mental imbecility.”
The Economist has regularly cheerled state violence to crack open foreign markets. “We may regret war,” mused a 1857 editorial as British ships shelled Chinese ports during the second Opium War, “but we cannot deny that great advantages have followed in its wake.” More recently, it backed the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2011 bombing of Libya.
The front covers of two editions of The Economist in 2002 and 2003.
In Latin America, The Economistcelebrated the 1973 coup in Chile that replaced Salvador Allende’s democratically elected leftist government with Augusto Pinochet, who oversaw the murder of 3,000 people and the torture of tens of thousands more. A 2013 Economist article derided food and public health programs in Venezuela that extended fundamental human rights to millions of people, casting them as state “handouts.”
Serious critiques of Cuba — especially of the economy’s glaring internal problems and the current level of suffering on the island — are invaluable. But despite its smug self image as a magazine that marshals the facts to arrive at authoritative conclusions, The Economist shows no interest in rigorous inquiry when it comes to Cuba. Instead, it cherry picks data, uses dodgy sources and airbrushes the main driver of Cuba’s economic and humanitarian crisis. This is not journalism. It’s dogma.
Paris, January 22 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban ambassador to France, Otto Vaillant, today underlined the Caribbean nation’s commitment to peace and the principles of the UN Charter and thanked the people of France for their solidarity with his country.
Speaking at a gala for the 67th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, the diplomat evoked the complex international scenario prevailing, marked by the aggressiveness of the US Administration, headed by President Donald Trump.
We are witnessing total contempt for order and justice, we are witnessing the use of force and the threat thereof, aggressions and unilateral coercive measures, a behavior of Washington from which no one escapes and which shows no interest whatsoever in peace, he denounced.
Vaillant recalled that Cuba is a victim of that policy, with the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade by the current Government.
It is the longest siege imposed on a country, with which they intend to suffocate us and break our will, he stressed at an event attended by French authorities, UNESCO officials, parliamentarians, representatives of parties, unions and solidarity associations, businessmen, Cuban residents, artists and other actors from local society.
Among the prominent figures present were the Cuban Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro, the Director of Latin America and the Caribbean at the French Foreign Ministry, Alix Everard, the Cuban Ambassador to UNESCO, María del Carmen Herrera, the President of the France-Caribbean Friendship Group in the Senate, Helen Conway-Mouret, and the President of the Friendship Group with Cuba in the National Assembly, Jean-Victor Castor.
The ambassador of the Caribbean nation highlighted the ties that unite Cuba and France and the intense activity that bilateral relations had during 2025.
He also acknowledged the numerous actions taken to support the Caribbean country on French soil, such as solidarity with those affected by Hurricane Melissa, condemnation of the US blockade, and ongoing aid.
Vaillant stated that the current year will be full of challenges for Cuba and its people, challenges that they will face with vision and unity, counting on the support of their friends around the world, and in this case, France.
Mexico City, Jan 21 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban Ambassador to Mexico, Eugenio Martínez, and the president of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Pedro Vázquez, reaffirmed today the historic ties of friendship between both countries.
During a meeting at the legislative body, Vázquez recalled moments of the bilateral relationship, forged “in a shared cause” with references to Mexico’s role in “giving refuge, strength and horizons to the Cuban Revolution and the preparations for the Granma yacht’s journey of freedom.”
He added that Cuba and Mexico recognize each other as sister nations and “there is no blockade, no sanction, no external pressure that can break a brotherhood forged in dignity.”
“Our friendship is not circumstantial. It is political, historical, and profoundly human,” he asserted.
According to a press release from the Embassy, Martínez referred, for his part, to the symbolism of holding the session in the Gilberto Bosques room and conveyed that it is also a concrete expression of the indestructible relationship between the two countries.
He recalled that without the support of Bosques and other Mexicans who played a leading role in the effort to offer refuge, support and affection to the Cuban revolutionaries, history might not have been the same, and he referred to the dangers and threats currently facing the largest of the Antilles, our region and the world.
He also alluded to the words of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who characterized this new stage as an “era of barbarism, neocolonialism and fascism.”
The diplomat called for unity and closing ranks to save the dignity of Latin America and the Caribbean and recalled the glorious pages written by Mexico in this regard in recent times, in accordance with its Constitution and the principles of its foreign policy.
During the meeting, deputies Ana Corina Rojo, Maribel Martínez, Olga Lidia Herrera, María Isidra de la Luz and Jorge Armando Ortiz also spoke, expressing their solidarity with the people of Cuba and their rejection of the “criminal and ominous” blockade imposed by the United States.
In the room, phrases such as “talking about Cuba is talking about the fight for justice” were heard, and the commitment of the Labor Party caucus to support the position of President Claudia Sheinbaum and the government in favor of fruitful, respectful, and strong relations with the island was ratified.
Three parliamentarians conveyed their condolences, sympathy and admiration for the Cubans who died in the face of the United States’ aggression against Venezuela.
Deputy Ortiz stated that together with the citizens of the island they will celebrate Fidel’s 100th birthday on August 13th and expressed the desire to accompany and share the same fate as the people of the largest of the Antilles, because “solidarity is the tenderness of the people.”
The Cuban ambassador expressed his gratitude for the expressions of solidarity and confirmed his willingness to continue strengthening the historic ties of friendship between the two countries.
Havana, Jan 21 (Prensa Latina) The President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, approved $80 million and a donation of 60,000 tons of rice in aid to Cuba, a decision widely highlighted today on the island.
The ambassador in Havana, Hua Xin, officially communicated his government’s instruction to President Miguel Díaz-Canel during a meeting at the Palace of the Revolution.
The new round of emergency financial assistance is intended for the acquisition of electrical equipment and other urgent needs, while the food support joins another 30,000 tons of the grain, previously approved.
Hua Xin highlighted the meetings in recent days between the authorities of both countries, including the one held by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, and the special envoy of China for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, reported the Granma newspaper.
He also mentioned the talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Oscar Pérez-Oliva; with the Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O; and Carlos Miguel Pereira, Director General of Bilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ambassador of the Asian giant commented on the decision by the leadership of the sister nation to modify the modalities in which the projects of the donations of 200 MW in photovoltaic solar energy and the delivery of five thousand photovoltaic solar panel kits for isolated homes were being developed, for which they agreed the designation of an executing company.
The head of state of the Caribbean nation extended his warmest greetings to the Chinese diplomat at this new meeting and underlined his intense activity in the country these days, which includes the delivery of the first part of the rice donation previously approved by the People’s Republic of China.
Likewise, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba praised the good state of bilateral relations and highlighted the progress in Phase Four of the digital transformation program with Chinese support, as well as the results in the high-definition television project and other technologies.
President Claudia Sheinbaum explained that the continued oil shipments to Cuba aim to mitigate the obstacles imposed by the U.S. economic embargo, which has been in place for more than six decades. Photo: EFE.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum clarified that the continued shipments of crude oil to Cuba are based on contractual agreements and a firm humanitarian commitment.
January 21, 2026 — teleSUR
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed this Wednesday, January 21, in a press conference, the continuation of oil shipments to Cuba, aimed at mitigating the obstacles imposed by the US economic, commercial and financial blockade, in place for more than six decades.
This decision reaffirms the Latin American country’s solidarity with the Cuban people, who are facing a severe energy crisis. “If Mexico can help create better conditions for Cuba, we will always be there. It is a relationship with the Cuban people under very difficult circumstances,” declared the head of state, who emphasized that the crude oil supply is carried out “both by contract and for humanitarian reasons.”
The Mexican president underscored the nature and impact of the blockade, established in 1962, which has been escalating its sanctions against countries that support Cuba. “You can’t import and export freely, so the conditions for a country’s development are very difficult,” Sheinbaum pointed out. She also recalled that Mexico has historically opposed this coercive measure, which is condemned by the vast majority of nations in the United Nations General Assembly. “When there is an extreme blockade, people are experiencing hardship, and Mexico has always shown solidarity,” the president added.
Sheinbaum maintained that Mexican diplomacy is governed by strict constitutional principles, which limit the suspension of relations with another country only to situations involving coups d’état or direct affronts against Mexico or its people.
Despite the information published in January by the British newspaper Financial Times, which indicated that Mexico would be Cuba’s main oil supplier by 2025, and the criticism from right-wing sectors questioning these shipments, the president considered them to represent a small portion of Mexico’s total crude oil production.
“It’s a very small amount that is sent, but it is a show of solidarity in a situation of hardship, of difficulty that a people are experiencing,” Sheinbaum stated.
Information shared by the British newspaper Financial Times indicates that exports to Cuba registered a significant increase, reaching an average of 12,300 barrels per day according to international estimates.
However, in December 2025, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state-owned oil company, reported to the US stock exchange shipments of 17,200 barrels of crude oil and an additional 2,000 barrels of petroleum products to the island. According to the same British newspaper, these shipments of Mexican oil to Cuba represented a 56 percent increase compared to 2024 and constituted approximately 44 percent of Cuba’s crude oil imports.
The president emphasized that Mexico is a fraternal nation and that, just as the country receives international solidarity in times of crisis, it has a moral obligation to reciprocate. Sheinbaum emphasized that the essence of the Mexican people is to be in solidarity with those facing hardship, assuring that her administration will always be willing to create better conditions for Cuba.
In this context, she defended the export of crude oil to the island as an act of self-determination in the face of external pressures.
Impact of the US Blockade on the Development of Cuba
According to the most recent data, Washington’s economic, commercial and financial blockade to Cuba has caused an estimated $7.5561 billion in damages between March 2024 and February 2025, representing a 49 percent increase compared to the previous period.
In the health sector, this policy resulted in losses of nearly $300 million in a single year, while in the energy sector, the impact amounts to more than $496 million due to restrictions on the import of fuels and spare parts.
On October 29, Cuba achieved a new victory in the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) by obtaining 165 votes in favor of the resolution requesting the lifting of the embargo.
Havana, Jan 20 (Prensa Latina) More than 1,500 national and foreign artists will converge in Cuba from January 25 to February 1 for the 41st International Jazz Plaza Festival, which will take place in four provinces of the country, organizers announced today.
The event, which focuses each year on the diversity of expressions and artistic excellence, will be present in Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara and for the first time, in Holguín.
Concerts, visits to educational institutions, thought meetings and other initiatives distinguish this edition, which will be attended by relevant Cuban artists, some residing abroad, and others from more than 20 countries.
The president of Jazz Plaza, Victor Rodriguez, told the press from the Meliá Cohiba Hotel in the capital that the new generations are the main protagonists this year, while praising the organization in the host provinces and the satisfaction of hosting the event.
He also highlighted the participation of 286 international artists, in addition to the national artists and more than 23 Cuban musicians residing abroad, including Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, Yosvany Terry, Jorge Luis Pacheco and Dayramir González.
The festival’s artistic director, Roberto Fonseca, spoke about the intention to hold it throughout the country, and thanked the musicians for making each concert a unique experience, different from the rest.
The closing show, titled “Selección de Maestros,” will feature the virtuoso Cuban pianist, accompanied by other prominent artists such as Pedrito Calvo, Alexander Abreu, Haila María Mompié, and Yasek Manzano.
In another meeting with the press, Fonseca expressed the possibility of involving film in his artistic proposal, and his intention with it is to touch the spirit and emotions of the people.
This new edition holds many joys: the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Síntesis group, a concert by the outstanding Cuban pianist and composer Frank Fernández entitled Maestro de Juventudes, the Gala Cuba Vive, and the initiative to reflect the atmosphere of the festival through images, the call for which was launched today at the press conference.
Another attraction of the event lies in its visual aspect, created by the Cuban artist Alfredo Sosabravo, winner of the National Prize for Plastic Arts in 1997.
Also noteworthy are the performances by musician Bobby Carcassés, Honorary President of the festival; as well as the holding of the XXI International Colloquium Leonardo Acosta In Memoriam, in Havana, and meetings for reflection and debate in the other host provinces.
The president of the Cuban Institute of Music, Indira Fajardo, highlighted the diversity of spaces hosting the event and the work of Sosabravo, while the Deputy Minister of Culture of Cuba, Fernando León Jacomino, emphasized that this is the first edition after the declaration of the practice of Cuban Son as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The International Jazz Plaza Festival is emerging as a cultural offering where passion for music and creative talent converge.
According to the artistic director, it is a space where all the arts are mixed together, to the delight of its admirers, performers and the public.
Havana, 20 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez today thanked China from this capital for the arrival of a first batch of rice as part of the Asian giant’s aid to the island.
In X, the Cuban foreign minister reciprocated the Party, the Government and the people of China for sending the first batch of a donation of 30,000 tons of the grain officially received the day before.
The aid intended to supplement the basic food basket for Cubans “is a sign of the close brotherhood and the historic bonds of friendship and solidarity that unite both nations,” Rodríguez highlighted on the social network.
During the welcoming ceremony this Monday, Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister, Óscar Pérez-Oliva, noted that two shipments, both of 2,400 tons, are already on Cuban soil, arriving through the Mariel container terminal and the port of Santiago de Cuba.
He also reported that two more shipments will arrive in Cuba in the first half of this year, completing the total amount donated by the Chinese people and authorities.
China’s ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, also attended the ceremony, where he noted that it “not only embodies the deep and special bonds of friendship between both nations, but also demonstrates the unwavering commitment to remain united even in difficult times.”
By Asiah Quattlebaum — The Tufts Daily — The Tufts Daily is the entirely student-run newspaper of record at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
Published Tuesday, January 20, 2026
The U.S. justifies its economic terrorism against Cuba by claiming that it is defending democracy and protecting freedom. But I have to ask: What kind of freedom are we protecting that starves children and violates a people’s sovereignty? That is something every single American with a conscience should question.
Before I went to Cuba, I believed I had a full grasp of what economic warfare meant. I had read about the U.S. embargo and followed the headlines about its harmful impacts on everyday Cubans. But when I was on the ground in Cuba, everything I thought I knew faded. I saw the reality — ration lines, defiant optimism and a revolution still breathing through struggle. The United States’ blockade is a deliberate strategy of harm, and if we cared about justice, we must recognize it and challenge it. The United States has been able to efficiently mask the horrors of its blockade on Cuba, and it is our responsibility as Americans to ensure that Cubans can live with dignity and self-determination. Genuine solidarity with Cuba begins with bringing the blockade to attention as a source of the crisis and recognizing how U.S. narratives distort the reality of Cuba to keep Americans passive.
I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Cuba with the Democratic Socialists of America’s Cuba Solidarity Working Group. I saw how the U.S. blockade shapes everyday life: empty grocery shelves, shortages of hygiene products, classrooms missing basic materials and hospitals having to reuse medical supplies. All of these conditions exist because the U.S. restricts Cuba’s access to global markets. Yet people fight to maintain their universal healthcare, keep education affordable and support one another through neighborhood networks and ration sharing.
There were moments when I could feel the U.S. blockade within my body. I got sick from food that Cubans rely on every day — not because Cubans cannot cook or preserve food, but because the sanctions force the country into fragile supply chains with unstable refrigeration and inconsistent imports. What passed for me for a couple of days is what Cubans have to navigate for their entire lives under a policy designed to break them.
Throughout this trip, I saw the tensions between pride and exhaustion. We were shown around Havana by people who still fight for the revolution’s promises, even as they navigate the exhaustion that comes with living under the U.S. blockade. In between tours, we had the opportunity to speak with locals at bars, restaurants and on the streets. People talked openly about the pressure they feel, the contradictions they live with, their commitment to the revolutionary project and the exhaustion of daily scarcity. They described searching for tampons and toilet paper, the rising difficulty of obtaining antibiotics and the financial strain from inflation exacerbated by U.S. sanctions. Even simple things like toilet paper reflected this pressure. I had to carry my own because so many public bathrooms could not reliably stock it. It is yet another reminder of how U.S. sanctions turn basic goods into luxuries. Yet every single person we spoke to explained that they were able to share rations and receive community support to survive together.
Despite the horrors of U.S. economic domination, people in Cuba find ways to survive, laugh and love each other. Seeing this up close made me far angrier than reading about it ever could.
I always knew that the blockade was inhumane, but hearing directly that hospitals have to reuse supplies because the U.S. blocks Cuba from purchasing medical equipment deepened my understanding of how intentional this harm is.
When I was walking around Old Havana, I saw children begging for money. I didn’t have any cash on me, so I gave a child some pistachios I’d bought at Target for 50 cents. His excitement startled me. This was not about Cuba’s failures; it was about how U.S. policy manufactures poverty by design. Cuba is not poor by nature. Cuba is kept poor in retaliation for building a socialist state and refusing U.S. domination. It made me think about how the U.S. leftist movement has failed to meet the demands for internationalist solidarity.
The U.S. justifies its economic terrorism against Cuba by claiming that it is defending democracy and protecting freedom. But I have to ask: What kind of freedom are we protecting that starves children and violates a people’s sovereignty? That is something every single American with a conscience should question.
I will admit that the Cuban problem is very complex. But one thing is clear: The U.S. blockade creates hardship and forces people in Cuba to endure unnecessary suffering.
The government implements the blockade to make daily life unbearable so Cubans turn against their government. The shortages the U.S. cites as proof of socialism’s failures are, in fact, symptoms of the blockade it designed to coerce political change. And yet Cuba continues to provide universal healthcare, free education, childcare for all and free gender-affirming care. They don’t do this because it is easy; they do it because it is central to the revolutionary ethic of collective survival.
During this trip, DSA leadership asked us to help with a solidarity project, and for me, it starts with writing this op-ed. One thing is clear: The U.S. blockade must end. We need to rebuild real international solidarity because what is happening in Cuba is not accidental. It is a direct result of U.S. choices and the very basis of U.S. global hegemony. The Cuban people deserve compassion, dignity and sovereignty. They don’t deserve punishment.
This experience has made me think deeply about what we, as young people in the United States, should do. It made me question our role in confronting U.S. imperialism, and how often our society and culture teach us to see the world through an “America First” lens that hides the suffering of others. The blockade is a weapon in our name, as Americans, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
If we truly believe in justice, then solidarity cannot stop at our borders. We need to understand how U.S. actions shape life and death in the Global South. We must reject the lie that American prosperity must come at someone else’s expense. Young people have always been at the forefront of movements for change, from the Greensboro sit-in to the Kent State University students protesting the Vietnam War.
Ending the U.S. blockade on Cuba, building real internationalist solidarity and rejecting the “America First” mindset are not abstract political ideas. They are material obligations. If we want to confront U.S. imperialism, we have to build communities of resistance here on this campus. That includes student groups that educate, organize, take coordinated action, run campaigns that pressure our representatives to end sanctions and build coalitions that connect our struggle with Cuba’s. Ending the blockade starts with refusing to let the violence of U.S. policy go unchallenged. Our liberation is bound together, and we have a duty to act as if it is.
Tens of thousands of Cubans marched to the U.S. Embassy in Havana on Friday to denounce U.S. imperialism following the attack on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro. People from all walks of life — military officers, retirees, workers, students — took to the streets to show their willingness to defend their country in the face of U.S. aggression. Watch our report on the march to the U.S. embassy.
The “March of the Fighting People” honored the 32 Cubans who were killed in Venezuela during the January 3 U.S. attack and reaffirmed their support for the Cuban Revolution in the wake of Trump’s threat that Cuba “make a deal” with the United States the ongoing economic war the U.S. is waging on the island.
“No one can mess with us. We don’t accept threats. Cuba deserves respect!” said one protester.
“We came to demand that Cuba remains free, that U.S. imperialism stays out of our affairs,” said another.
