A gathering of international leftist politicians and activists are arriving in Cuba this week as part of “Nuestra America Convoy,” a gathering in solidarity with the communist Castro regime.
On its website, the leftist organization accuses the administration of President Donald Trump of “strangling” Cuba and claims that the consequences of said “strangling” are “lethal, for newborns and parents, for the elderly and the sick,” obviating that the communist Castro regime plunged Cuba into a state of abject misery and poverty through 67 years of continued disastrous communist policies. The group also omits that the regime brutally represses dissidents who peacefully demand an end to nearly seven decades of communism.
The Nuestra America Convoy claims that it will deliver “humanitarian assistance” to Cuba and is calling for an international “act of solidarity with the Cuban people” at the Malecón in Havana. Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, claimed on Thursday that the organization is composed of around 500 people from 30 countries and will deliver “20 tons” of humanitarian assistance to the island nation.
Some of the international leftists that have publicly expressed their participation in the initiative include British socialist politician Jeremy Corbyn, Spanish leftist and former Iranian state television host Pablo Iglesias, several leftist EU parliament members, antisemitic streaming personality Hasan Piker, and Manolo De Los Santos, the executive director of the People’s Forum — a far-left organization tied to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda efforts. The People’s Forum, the Breitbart News Foundation (BNF) reported in October, has received millions of dollars in donations from tech billionaire and leftist agitator Neville Roy Singham and his wife, Codepink co-founder Jodie Evans.
The ailing communist regime is experiencing a dramatically complex situation after it abruptly lost access to the lifeline that the Venezuelan socialist regime provided to its ideological mentors following the arrest of dictator Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3.
For decades, the Venezuelan regime, first under Hugo Chávez and then under Maduro, supplied the Castro regime with constant shipments of oil and other forms of support that allowed the Castro regime to continue its authoritarian repression of Cubans at home. In return, the Cuban regime assisted their Venezuelan peers in establishing their repressive apparatus while providing security to Maduro.
Speaking at a press conference in Havana on Thursday, De Los Santos asserted that around $500,000 were raised in the United States to purchase solar panels and other equipment to donate to Cuban hospitals — claiming that the U.S. “embargo” prevented the direct purchase and shipment of said equipment.
“We’ve come not only with a shipment of aid — which is necessary, such as food and medicine for children with cancer, items that the embargo specifically prevents the Cuban government from purchasing freely — but I believe the most important thing we’re bringing is our desire to stand with the people during this extremely difficult time,” De Los Santos said, and added, “if we turn our backs on Cuba, we would be turning our backs on humanity.”
Miguel Díaz-Canel, the figurehead “president” of Cuba, saluted the arrival of the leftist convoy, asserting in a social media post, “The courage of these friends of all ages is truly moving.”
“They are willing to share our fate during this difficult and challenging time for the country,” he wrote. “We also admire their generous selflessness in covering their own travel and living expenses, in addition to the valuable donations they bring with them.”
“This is a beautiful lesson in dignity and humanity that heroic Cuba is grateful for and will never forget,” he continued.
According to Telesur, a Latin American left-wing propaganda network largely funded by the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes, the “humanitarian aid” shipments experienced delays in departing, but the time and date of departure “are expected to be confirmed by this Friday.”
The leftist gathering in Havana occurs roughly a week after Díaz-Canel admitted that Cuban regime officials have engaged in talks with U.S. government officials. Days later, Díaz-Canel threatened that any “external aggressor” will be met with an “unbreakable resistance” after President Trump said, “we’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon.”
De Los Santos, a man with extensively deep ties to the Cuban regime and a vocal anti-U.S activist, claimed that the Nuestra America Convoy hopes that there is “genuine dialogue” between Cuba and the United States.
“We are insisting that the United States engage in sincere dialogue because we have observed with great concern that, even as this dialogue continues, the U.S. has not truly changed its rhetoric toward Cuba,” De Los Santos said.
David Adler, general manager of the Progressive International and one of the initiative’s main organizers, claimed during the press conference in Havana that the gathering is “the beginning of a major global mobilization in support of the Cuban people.” He claimed that in addition to the “humanitarian aid” convoy, the organizers aim to “demonstrate recognition of a real risk of escalating hostility by the U.S. toward Cuba.”
“We know this is completely inadequate, but we’re also coming forward with proposals because we need to break this deadlock,” Colombian leftist Senator Clara López said. “We must return to multilateralism and the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter. There can be no unilateral sanctions like those the Cuban people have endured for more than sixty years.”
Adler further claimed that the name of the convoy “is taken from that seminal work by [Cuban founding father] José Martí, which reminds us that this region belongs to its peoples, not to the Yankee empire.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
