“The struggle for the rights of Cuba to self-determination and sovereignty remain as vital as ever for all those struggling against imperialist domination in Latin America and in Palestine too.”
Bernard Regan, Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Jorgito Reina Llerena, an eight year old Cuban boy suffering from Leukemia needed to travel to the USA for vital bone marrow treatment not available on the island of Cuba. Despite his father seeking and obtaining the support of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jorgito has had his application for a visa turned down by the US Immigration services and looks set not to receive the life-saving treatment he so urgently requires.
This is just one example of the inhuman impact of the blockade imposed on Cuba by Washington and intensified by President Donald Trump. Just 24 hours after his inauguration on 10th January 2024, he placed Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT). Apart from being a complete travesty of the truth it has had serious consequences for the island’s economy. Coupled with the already draconian measures imposed through the Helms-Burton and the Torricelli Acts, amongst many injustices Cuba is denied access to SWIFT the standard mechanism for international money transactions. As a consequence, many companies which trade with the USA will not engage in trade with Cuba for fear of having huge fines imposed on them by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In March 2024 the Switzerland based private banking firm EFG International was forced to pay $3,740,442 to the US Treasury because, between 2014 and 2018, it had handled transactions with Cuba.
The blockade has intensified under Trump. From 1st March 2023 until 29th February 2024 the blockade cost Cuba a massive $5,056,800,000, an increase of over $189,800,000 over the previous year. These figures do not convey the inhuman consequences of the blockade. The lifting of the despotic blockade for just nine months of the year could release sufficient monies to build much needed houses. Just ½ hour of the blockade being lifted could enable the purchase of the electrical and mechanical wheelchairs needed in the country’s schools. Every aspect of Cuban life and every age group could benefit from the countryside to the city if the USA’s tyrannical measures were lifted.
However, President Trump has no intention of changing course. He made his intentions very clear in 2018 when, speaking at the UN General Assembly, he declared “It has been the formal policy of our country since President Monroe that we reject the interference of foreign nations in this hemisphere and in our own affairs”. This policy first espoused in 1823 remains in tact. It was a clear declaration that US imperialism intended to seek to politically and economically dominate the whole of the western hemisphere. No one is exempt from this threat as Canada, for one, has been made fully aware.
This is not just rhetoric on President Trump’s part. Admiral Alvin Holsey, the Commander of US Southern Command who is responsible for all US military force across the Caribbean and the whole of Latin America sees the region as a major field of confrontation. It is a question of control over the vast economic resources and potential of the whole area.
“While the United States is looking to the Far East, China is plowing (sic) fertile ground to our south,” Holsey said and went on to spell out why the area is viewed as so important to US imperialism. “The region is home to abundant natural resources, including 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves, 25 percent of its strategic metals, 30 percent of its forest area, 31 percent of its fishing areas and 32 percent of its renewable freshwater resources. Economics plays a central role in China’s interest in the region.” As Holsey pointed out 21 of the 31 countries in the US Southern Command zone are signed up to the Belt and Road Initiative of Beijing. This is undoubtedly one of the main driving factors behind Us policies in the region.
In response, President Trump has authorised Holsey to deploy an additional 4,000 troops to the region together with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided missile cruiser. Furthermore, a $50 million bounty has been offered for the arrest of President Maduro of Venezuela. Whilst the White House presents this as a move to combat drug trafficking it cannot be separated from an offensive against Latin America countries which seek to assert their national sovereignty.
And how is this related to Cuba? Very simply – in the revolution of 1959 Cuba asserted it right to self-determination and the right to assert sovereignty over its own land. The response of the United States was spelt out in the very first months of the revolution on 6th April 1960 when Lester Mallory of the Inter-American Affairs Department sent a secret memorandum to Roy Richard Rubottom Jnr, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, in which he said that the only way to end the revolution was to adopt a policy “which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” That policy has varied little in over 66 years of the revolution. It is now being ramped up.
As Fidel Castro said in Havana in 1962, “What is hidden behind the Yankees’ hatred of the Cuban revolution? What explains it is fear. Not fear of the Cuban revolution but fear of the Latin American revolution.”The struggle for the rights of Cuba to self-determination and sovereignty remain as vital as ever for all those struggling against imperialist domination in Latin America and in Palestine too. The challenge for socialists is to decide – “Whose side are you on?” Cuba must not be allowed to stand alone against the most dominant imperialist power that has existed. Solidarity with Cuba is critical.
Latin America Adelante! Conference 2026 