For over six decades the Cuban people created a system that provides free universal health care, free public education from kindergarten through university, and housing to people at around 10% of their income. That system is socialism. Despite six decades of U.S. invasion attempts, blockades, embargos, assassination attempts, sanctions and demonization, the achievement record of the socialist mode of production in Cuba speaks for itself. As Mao said, “The fundamental cause of the development of a thing is not external but internal.” So, we must look at what has been happening inside Cuba to account of the success of its socialist path.
The SOS Cuba movement, which called for pro-US protests in Cuba on November 15, has fallen on its face. Protests were reported in several Florida cities, but there were none in Cuba. Despite backing from the U.S. government and heavily sympathetic coverage from every major U.S. news outlet, the small group of U.S.-funded counterrevolutionaries in Cuba were not able to organize even a single, small protest. American peace activist Medea Benjamin reported that the main protest site designated by the counterrevolutionaries was occupied only by two clowns, entertaining passersby.
Minneapolis, MN – The Solidarity Committee on the Americas (SCOTA) and the Minnesota Cuba Committee held their second rally and car caravan, September 26, demanding the end to the blockade against Cuba. The protest was part of a growing movement which started in Miami and has spread to many cities across the country and around the world.
Miami, FL – In the morning hours of Sunday, September 26, roughly 60 protesters gathered outside of Miami City Hall as part of a National Day of Action to demand President Biden end the decades-long blockade of Cuba. The national call was put out by the Cuban solidarity organization Puentes de Amor (Bridges of Love) and was attended locally by Cuban Americans, anti-war activists and community members.
New Orleans, LA – On August 21, around 30 community members gathered in opposition to the U.S. government’s role in fueling crises around the world. They met at the historic Congo Square in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans.
Minneapolis, MN – Around 30 people took to May Day Plaza, July 29, to hold signs and banners in a show of solidarity with the people of Cuba and Haiti after a new wave of U.S. intervention attempts. This event came after the Biden administration’s July 22 issuance of new sanctions on Cuba, as well as the July 7 assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse.
Chicago, IL – Noam Chomsky, Gilbert Achcar, Paul Le Blanc, Suzi Weissman, Tithi Bhattacharya, Charlie Post, Robert Brenner, Gayatri Spivak, Alex Callinicos, Ashley Smith, Eric Toussaint, Marc Cooper, Etienne Balibar. These are a handful of the over 500 signatories on an open letter directed to the blockaded Cuban government on July 12 demanding “respect for the democratic rights of all Cuban people” and the release of “dissident Marxist” Frank García Hernández and his comrades from jail after the protests of July 11.
The working people of Cuba are mobilizing to defend the Cuban revolution and drive pro-U.S. reactionaries from the streets. The Cuban people are united in overcoming the costly U.S. economic embargo and subversion. Cubans steadfastly refuse to return to being a colony controlled by the U.S. Older Cubans remember when it was a playground for American millionaires and gangsters, with widespread poverty, abuse of workers and death an everyday part of life.
“Let no one doubt that as long as I live, I will be ready, with a foot in the stirrup to defend the homeland, the revolution and socialism. I will continue serving as one more revolutionary fighter, ready to make my modest contribution until the end of my life.”
Hialeah, FL – Over 70 members of the South Florida Cuban community took part in a car and bicycle caravan through Hialeah to demand an end to the immoral and illegal U.S. blockade of Cuba. This caravan near Miami was one of dozens of actions that took place not only in cities across the United States, but in countries across the world, from Canada to Egypt to Cuba itself.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) condemns the January 11 U.S. State Department designation of socialist Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.” In the few days it has left to remain in power, the Trump administration is trying to implement every reactionary measure it can dream up, all the while calling good “evil” and evil “good.”
Miami, FL – A caravan of some 60 cars and 15 bicycles made up a caravan against the Cuba blockade, October 25 in Miami. It was the fourth caravan here since July. Those in attendance overcame not only threats by right-wing Cubans in the area, but pouring rain in the early morning hours before the 8 a.m. departure.
According to April 23 report in Granma, “On Havana's Lenin Hill, a small group of trade union leaders, headed by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, Party Political Bureau member and general secretary of the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC), dedicated a floral tribute to the legendary Bolshevik, who played a key role in the Russian Revolution, the greatest lesson in the annals of history of what the emancipated working class can achieve in unity of thought and action, guided by socialist principles.”
Caracas, Venezuela – From July 25 to 28, delegates from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) will be participating in the 25th Sao Paolo Forum, held this year in Caracas, Venezuela. Over 1000 delegates from around the world will be attending, under the slogan “For Peace, Sovereignty and the Prosperity of the People: Unity, Struggle, Combat and Victory!”
Dallas, TX – About 20 people came to Pan-African Connection in Oak Cliff, Dallas, May 9, to show solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela, and brainstorm ways to organize against imperialist threats against them from the U.S. government. Akwete Tyehimba of Pan-African Connection hosted the forum. Many of the participants were from local socialist groups but others said they were unaffiliated.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Dec. 22 speech by Miguel M. Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Councils of State and Ministers, at the close of the Second Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People’s Power’s Ninth Legislature.
