Falcon Heights, MN – Instead of the regular Cuba car caravan on Sunday, August 27, twelve Cuban Solidarity activists bannered and held signs at the Minnesota State Fair to call for an end to the 60-year U.S. blockade of Cuba – made even more brutal by U.S.’s incomprehensible designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Standing at the main gate of the “Great Minnesota get together,” the activists got a chance to talk to many people about Cuba and share information. They gave out stickers about ending the blockade as well as Cuba’s recently passed extremely progressive family code which ensures the rights of the LGBT community.

The event was organized by the Women Against Military Madness Solidarity Committee on the Americas and co-sponsored by the MN Cuba Committee.

#FalconHeightsMN #Cuba #blockadeOfCuba #Americas

St. Paul, MN – On July 31, the Women Against Military Madness’ Solidarity Committee of the Americas (SCOTA) and the MN Cuba Committee continued their monthly car caravans to show solidarity with Cuba and to demand Cuba be taken off the U.S. terrorist list.

The monthly Cuba caravans are important since they show public support for Cuba, especially since the U.S. is escalating attacks against that country. In Congress this year, Representative Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida introduced HR 314 bill (Senate companion bill S 538), known as the FORCE Act. If passed, it would prohibit removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism until the president makes the determination that a transition government in Cuba is in power. Caravan organizers believe this bill is criminal since Cuba has never invaded or bombed any other country, unlike the United States has.

For two years now, Twin Cities activists have joined the call from Bridges of Love’s initiative, formed in 2021, to continue to have caravans in solidarity with Cuba to demand the U.S. end the blockade. This month, the 20-car caravan wanted to expand their message to Saint Paul.

Before the caravan began, Sarah Martin of SCOTA rallied the crowd, “We demand that the Biden administration remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list. It harshly exacerbates the cruel 60-year U.S. blockade that has already stolen an estimated $144 billion from the Cuban economy, especially at a time when they are experiencing their worst economic crisis in decades because of the pandemic and fuel shortages from the war in Ukraine. The injustice and hypocrisy of the U.S., the greatest purveyor of violence on earth, punishing Cuba, which sent medical personnel to 50 countries during the pandemic, is grotesquely unbelievable.”

As the car caravan lined up, covered in signs and flags, the lead car had a bright red sign reading, “Cuba and the world against the blockade.” They left the parking lot of the Midway Target store located in Saint Paul and drove east on University Avenue for two miles to the Minnesota State Capitol building. University Avenue is the main street for Saint Paul’s working-class residents. It is lined with predominantly Asian and Black-owned businesses and homes.

As the caravan passed a farmers’ market, the people on the streets saw cars with Cuban flags flying from the windows and covered with signs of “Cuba si, bloqueo no,” “Stand with socialist Cuba,” “U.S. out of Cuba,” and “End the blockade on Cuba.” The cars honked and people chanted out the windows, “Let Cuba live,” “Hey Biden, you must know the blockade has to go” and “Cuba si, bloqueo no!”

The protesters gathered to hold banners at the State Capitol in the middle of their trip. One banner was made of the Cuban flag with the message “End the blockade of Cuba,” others read “Minnesota ‘hearts’ Cuba” and “Cuba off the terrorist list.”

As the caravan made its way back to the Target store’s parking lot, it was mentioned that many other Cuban solidarity groups had done other events during the week in honor of the July 26, the 70th anniversary of a key event in the Cuban revolution, the attack on the Moncada military barracks by rebels lead by Fidel Castro.

#MinneapolisMN #Cuba #Americas

Santa Marta, Cabañas, El Salvador – On January 11, 2023, five environmental activists and community leaders from Santa Marta, Cabañas, El Salvador were arrested on bogus charges in a clear case of political persecution. They are still detained five months later and the movement to free them is growing around the world.

The men arrested – Antonio Pacheco, Saúl Rivas, Pedro Antonio Rivas, Alejandro Laínez and Miguel Gámez – are prominent leaders of the grassroots movement that won the world's first ban on metallic mining. The organization they’re part of, the Association for Social Economic Development (ADES), organized for years until succeeding in 2017 to get El Salvador to implement a country-wide ban on metallic mining due to the environmental damage it causes just to enrich multinational corporations.

There are strong signals that the current Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who also controls the country’s legislative assembly and the courts, wants to overturn the ban on mining. The arrest of the Santa Marta 5 appears to be an attempt to weaken the organized opposition to overturning the mining ban.

The Santa Marta 5 are facing dangerous conditions in El Salvador's prisons, and there has been a growing movement in El Salvador and internationally demanding their immediate release.

On June 11, the five-month anniversary of their arrest and detention, ADES released a statement saying, “For five months the Salvadoran government has mercilessly detained these five humble and brave fighters for social justice; the same heroes who saved the country from the horrific outcomes of metal mining in rural communities that was directly threatening the water, environment, agriculture and the continuity of life. Their work was key to demonstrating the infeasibility of metal mining and in approving the law that prohibits it in El Salvador. They deserve to be rewarded, not punished...Our colleagues have not been here for five months. We are overwhelmed by sadness of their absence, but also our fighting spirit to demand their freedom grows every day.”

Salvadoran President Bukele declared a “state of exception” in March 2022, which allows the government to arrest and hold anyone without due process or trial, among other severe restrictions on civil liberties. This was ostensibly to combat street gangs that have plagued El Salvador for decades. In the past year, Bukele’s government has arrested more than 68,000 people under the state of exception and has created the largest prison in Latin America to hold all the people being arrested and detained.

While his crackdown on gangs is popular in the country, Bukele is also taking advantage of that popularity to widen the net and politically persecute his perceived political enemies. He has mainly targeted people and organizations on the left but has also lashed out against some on the right who haven’t gone along with his leadership.

Bukele particularly has carried out a vendetta against the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), El Salvador’s main leftist political party, with both former FMLN presidents of the country, Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez Ceren, in exile in Nicaragua to avoid political persecution, and many other FMLN leaders and members facing very serious trumped up legal charges.

In that vein, Bukele’s government has also gone after the Santa Marta 5, jailing them on ridiculous charges dating back to the country’s civil war in the 1980s. The five were members of the FMLN during El Salvador's civil war, who fought against El Salvador’s U.S.– backed right-wing dictatorship. After the war, many FMLN members, including the Santa Marta 5, continued organizing for social justice in El Salvador.

The Santa Marta 5 are targets of repression because of their leadership in the anti-mining struggle and other popular struggles that confront Bukele’s government.

Additionally, at least 16 union leaders have been arrested and held indefinitely under the state of exception, since many unions continue to organize and fight against Bukele’s anti-worker policies.

The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), which has organized solidarity with the Salvadoran left and popular movement since the country's civil war, is asking people to email their U.S. Representative and Senator, calling on them to speak out against the unjust detention of the Santa Marta 5: https://cispes.salsalabs.org/SantaMartaCongressionalaction/index.html

#SantaMartaCabañas #SantaMarta #ElSalvador #PoliticalPrisoners #environmentalJustice #Americas

Havana, Cuba – In a rose and butter-yellow building held up by Greek columns, Cuba’s LGBTQ activists work every day to advance equality. This building, formerly someone’s mansion and now repurposed by the socialist government, houses the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX).

From May 7 to 14, an LGBTQ delegation from the U.S. got to meet with CENESEX organizers, health workers and other public servants.

CENESEX helped organize hundreds of neighborhood meetings to debate and amend the new Families Code, covered in our last delegation report. The law went through 25 drafts to account for commentary from the people. But well before the Code, CENESEX led the country through advance after advance on LGBTQ issues.

“The basis of a socialist democracy”

In 1972, the Federation of Cuban Women founded the National Sex Education Working Group, CENESEX’s predecessor. This was a response to the growing demand for sex education as women gained reproductive autonomy.

The working group helped provide hormones and eventually surgery to a trans man for the first time in Cuba’s history. It had to fight strong pushback from conservatives for doing so. But it only gained strength and support.

By 1989, the working group became CENESEX, its own government organization under the Ministry of Health. Over the next few years, CENESEX fought hard for transgender people. By 2007, it won approval from the legislature to ensure free gender-affirming surgery as part of the national health system.

“We are building the basis of a socialist democracy. Socialism cannot be declared by law or decree, it is built by consensus,” CENESEX director Mariela Castro told the delegation.

The surgeon who performed Cuba’s first gender-affirming surgery would later transition herself, with CENESEX’s support.

Today, CENESEX is creating work teams to promote gender medicine access in every province. The organization also teaches trans inclusivity to government agencies, including tourism officials and the police. The delegation asked Gustavo Valdés Pi of CENESEX where a trans person could go if they experienced police harassment. He pointed to a corner of his building’s wrap-around indoor balcony.

“To the second floor, that’s our free legal office” he said. Cuba has far fewer police officers than the U.S., and they suffer severe penalties for misconduct. They are also frequently unarmed.

“You cannot just export our health system”

The delegation met with representatives of three LGBTQ community networks. “Men Sexually Relating with Men” (HSH) is officially its own agency of non-professional healthcare workers under the Ministry of Health. It’s mainly active in preventing HIV transmission. The “Network of Lesbian and Bisexual Women,” directly under CENESEX, combats bullying and runs national workshops promoting lesbian and bisexual visibility.

“TransCuba,” the largest network, was founded to address three main problems of police harassment, surgery access, and legal ID recognition. It also distributes condoms and helps to prevent HIV transmission. While the organization mostly recruits trans women, members like Verde Gil Jímenez of Santa Clara are leading programs for trans men.

To learn about the world-class healthcare system at the base of Cuba’s HIV prevention, the delegation also visited a polyclinic. The country ensures that doctors are accessible in every neighborhood. CENESEX integrates its educational programs throughout the health system, and polyclinics participate in the annual “working days against homophobia and transphobia.”

“You cannot just export our health system because it depends on the political will of the government,” said Dr. Ruben García Lopez de Villavicenci of the Plaza de la Revolución Polyclinic.

“The U.S. has tried to recruit from CENESEX”

When asked about their biggest obstacle to promoting LGBTQ rights, Cuban activists were clear: the United States.

Valdés Pi discussed how, since the defeat of the Soviet Union, Christian fundamentalists trickled into the island. They came with American money and preached bigotry.

The softer imperialist approach tries to co-opt community organizers. “The U.S. has tried to recruit from CENESEX and use them against us,” Castro told the delegation. She noted that recruits get paid speaking tours across the U.S. but do nothing for the LGBTQ community in Cuba.

The United States’ criminal blockade prevents hormones, surgical supplies, condoms, syringes and other basic medical necessities from entering the island. The delegation brought 10,000 condoms and a suitcase full of medical equipment to combat this. After a visit to a biotechnology center, the group learned how the blockade impacts the U.S. as well. Because of it, U.S. residents can’t access Cuba’s breakthrough treatments for cancer, diabetes, COVID-19 and other diseases.

“Down with the blockade, up with the love!”

While LGBTQ Cubans can’t count on their northern neighbor, they can count on their party. “The Communist Party supports progress for LGBTQ people. The Party promoted the first gender affirming surgery, discrimination protections in the 2019 constitution, and supports CENESEX. I am a member,” Mariela Castro told a delegate. Because working people run the government and get representation through the Communist Party, Cuban leaders are constantly thinking about how to put people’s needs first.

On May 13, the delegation ended its visit by marching in the annual “Conga Against Homophobia and Transphobia.” There were no police or corporate ads in sight. Up and down 23rd Street, LGBTQ Cubans sang, danced, kissed, held hands, showed off their glittered outfits, and waved both rainbow and Cuban flags. Signs reading “LGBTQ against the U.S. blockade” by the U.S. organization “Women in Struggle – Mujeres en Lucha” were visible from sidewalk to sidewalk. A flag reading “Cuba Yes! Blockade No!” by Real Name Campaign NOLA blew in the wind by the front of the march.

Participants chanted “Down with the blockade, up with the love!” and “What do we celebrate? Love is the law!” They held nothing back to show their pride, in their true selves and in the power of the working class.

#HavanaCuba #Havana #Cuba #LGBTQ #Americas

Minneapolis, MN – On May 7, a couple dozen activists gathered at the busy intersection of Minneapolis’ Chicago and Lake Streets for a rally as part of the international “Week for Alex Saab” called by the Committee to Free Alex Saab. Speakers from different movements gave messages of solidarity with Venezuela’s kidnapped diplomat and connected Alex Saab’s struggle to a broader history of U.S. imperialism and repression. Many cars honked in support of the “Hands off Venezuela” signs and passersby stayed to listen to the speeches.

Sarah Martin of the Women Against Military Madness Solidarity Committee of the Americas spoke first, stating, “We’re here today because we understand the fight to free Alex Saab, end sanctions on Venezuela, the blockade of Cuba and U.S. imperialism in Latin America are connected to and important to our struggles for a better life in the U.S.” Martin detailed her trips to Venezuela over the years, painting an optimistic portrait of the Bolivarian revolution’s accomplishments with regard to expanding food sovereignty, poverty alleviation, free and low-cost housing and medical care.

Next, Mike Madden of the Twin Cities Assange Defense Committee and Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 made connections with the fight to free imprisoned journalist Julian Assange, and also spoke to the hypocrisy of the White House’s 2021 declaration that “diplomacy is back” under the Biden administration, stating, “The United States is now undermining the fundamental underpinnings that make international diplomacy possible. With the kidnapping of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, the United States is showing the world once again that it is above the law and that the protocols established by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations do not apply to our exceptional nation.”

Bruce Nestor, member and former president of the National Lawyers Guild, spoke about the case of the Cuban Five, who were political prisoners held by the U.S. from 1998 until 2014 when the final men were released after years of sometimes small, sometimes large grassroots solidarity actions and a long legal fight.

Nestor also spoke about the U.S. weaponization of human rights in pursuit of its imperialist agenda, saying that the U.S. government claims, “’We're adopting sanctions and allowing Venezuelans to die en masse because we're concerned about human rights in Venezuela.’ It has nothing to do with human rights. It has everything to do with maintaining the U.S. economic control, through the International Monetary Fund, through the control of the dollar, which is the objective of the United States.”

Kelly Thomas of Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar expressed support for Alex Saab’s freedom and told the crowd that repression and abusing political prisoners is a matter of routine for the U.S. government. Thomas stated, “Internationally, the state uses its military power to suppress people. And domestically, the state uses militarized police forces, including the National Guard, to suppress its own citizens.” Thomas spoke about community control of the Minneapolis Police, as a way to fight back. TCC4J continues to gather signatures to move that struggle forward locally.

Sorcha Lona, an organizer from the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), connected Saab’s detention in the Miami detention center to the current political repression aimed at the students of Florida State University known as the Tampa 5.

Finally, the MN Anti-War Committee’s Andrew Josefchak stated, “The U.S. would like to be able to imprison any diplomat, any government official, any head of state, just because it wants to. So, while the U.S. claims to be spreading democracy around the world with sanctions and starvation and bombs and bullets, in reality, it has declared itself the sole dictator of which governments count and which ones don't, no matter what the people of those countries themselves have to say about it.” Josefchak ended his speech with spirited chants of “Hands off Venezuela!” and “Free Alex Saab!”

The rally was initiated by the Anti-War Committee and endorsed by Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, Twin Cities Assange Defense Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, and the UMN chapter of SDS.

The protest was organized as a part of the Committee to Free Alex Saab’s international week of action. Events took place across the country including Washington D.C., New York City, Dayton OH, Dallas TX, Milwaukee WI, Grand Rapids WI, Miami FL, and Vancouver BC Canada, among others.

#MinneapolisMN #Venezuela #AlexSaab #Americas

Milwaukee, WI – More than 20 people filled a room at the Urban Ecology Center in the Silver City neighborhood on April 29 to hear a report from Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Omar Flores on his recent trip to Venezuela. Flores was one part of a FRSO delegation that was invited to participate in a special conference that coincided with the tenth anniversary of the death of Comandante Hugo Chavez, the former Venezuelan president and one of the primary figures behind the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution.

Flores spoke broadly about his time in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. The differences between day to day life in Venezuela versus what his experiences have been living in Milwaukee are what stood out to him the most through his trip.

“I think something that was really substantial was getting to meet people from the FMLN, people that were held as political prisoners, people from radical organizations that have been painted as enemies by the United States, is that U.S. imperialism is what brought us all together in that space,” said Flores. “Imperialism is so wide-reaching, but getting to see it in a very tangible way, getting to meet people who’d be directly impacted by it, was impactful.”

“The first thing we saw when we arrived in the country was a person sitting behind a desk, and they’re wearing military garb, and we saw that they had a bunch of insignia that were in support of socialism and communism,” Flores continued. “We can be in that role, for those of us in Freedom Road, this is the future that we’re fighting for, for people that look like us, people we can identify with, being the ones that are running the show.”

“Walking through the city as an American was actually kind of unsettling. We saw thousands of murals that were in support of socialism, in support of communism, and [in support of] internationalism in general. What I didn’t see so much of was advertisements, just empowering revolutionary art,” Flores said. “We walked up to buildings to check them out and there were always people standing outside them telling us to come in. We were confused by this. We don’t have to pay for this, like, you’re not gonna yell at us for trespassing or tell us we can’t use the bathroom or any of that other weird stuff that we get in America? These beautiful places are all just public spaces and anybody can have access to them and they’re not really discriminatory about who could come in or out. That was something really notable, that everything seems to be a public space.”

More than the culture shock, Flores talked about the ways in which the Bolivarian Revolution has transformed society at all levels for people, whether it’s the community, the military, or the government itself.

“When the conference began, we got to hear a handful of speakers, and they were some of the most impactful. One of them, a woman – I can’t remember her name – told this story about how she lived in the slums and still does. The story here in the U.S. is, like, ‘Oh, I lived in the bad neighborhood, or the ghetto, and then I made it out,’ but in Venezuela it’s very different,” Flores said. “For them, it’s more like ‘Well, I lived in the slums and then I made the slums better with my community because we were given that opportunity by the government.’ This was a common story that we heard from a lot of the government officials because they’re all basically recruited from the barrios that they’re from.”

Flores went on: “Another speaker was dressed in military attire and kinda looked like what you might expect a right-winger to look like here in the U.S. so I was kinda unsettled. But then I heard him talk and what he was saying was that the military isn’t like in the U.S. They’re not a rich people’s army, they’re never gonna fight for the corporations; they’re working people in military clothing, and they’ll always operate with that in mind.”

“Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president of Venezuela, spoke about the need for something called a pluripolar world. What that means is we don’t just need different poles in the world challenging U.S. hegemony, but we need socialist poles, progressive poles, to move the world along,” Flores continued. “She said that while multipolarity is a good thing, we also need to be fighting for socialism. Multipolarity alone is not gonna take down imperialism, only socialism can. Hearing the vice president of a country saying that was really exceptional.”

Later in his presentation, Flores highlighted how many buildings that had previously belonged to the rich, like big high rises and corporate banking offices, had been appropriated and repurposed for the people for things like housing and the like.

Another focus of the trip and Flores's report was the case of imprisoned Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Saab was kidnapped during a diplomatic trip to Iran when his team stopped for fuel in Cabo Verde nearly three years ago. He has been languishing illegally in federal custody in Miami ever since. Saab is being denied critical medical attention. A court hearing in Miami earlier this year denied him his freedom on the grounds that the U.S. government doesn't recognize him as a diplomat because they don't recognize the Venezuelan government that issued him his credentials in the first place, a bogus argument that they're using to cover for the violation of established international law.

After the question-and-answer section, emcee Alan Chavoya promoted the ongoing spring fundraising campaign launched by FRSO several weeks before. Between all of the attendees, the FRSO Wisconsin managed to raise $800.

The evening ended with a special message from Chavoya, which was first delivered in English and then once more in Spanish:

“We’re gathered here today on April 29, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and others who are interested in expressing anti-imperialist solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela, led by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Specifically, we are demanding that President Joe Biden end the unjust sanctions against Venezuela. We’re also demanding an end to the unlawful detention of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. And we demand all of this now! Free Alex Saab!”

#MilwaukeeWI #Venezuela #BolivarianRepublicOfVenezuela #Americas