The Venceremos Brigade, the oldest continuous U.S.-Cuba solidarity project, forcefully condemns President Donald Trump’s remarks at yesterday’s “Shield of the Americas Summit” in which he declared Cuba to be “in its last moments of life” and boasted that a deal to overthrow the Revolution would be “an easy one.”
Speaking from his Doral, Florida golf club alongside a coalition of right-wing Latin American leaders, Trump made clear that the playbook of abduction and resource plunder used against Venezuela in January is the model for what he intends for Cuba. His assertion that Cuba has “a bad philosophy” and that he will “take care of it” is nothing less than an open declaration of war against the Cuban people’s right to self-determination.
For 56 years, the Venceremos Brigade has traveled to Cuba in defiance of the U.S. blockade. We have built schools, harvested sugarcane, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Cuban people. We have seen firsthand what Trump and his allies refuse to see: a revolution that has sent doctors to every corner of the globe, that eradicated illiteracy, that stands unwaveringly with Palestine and against apartheid. That is the “bad philosophy” Trump fears: a world where healthcare is a human right, where solidarity trumps profit, where another world is possible.
Trump’s threats come as the U.S. maintains an illegal naval blockade, strangling Cuba’s access to fuel and plunging hospitals into darkness. They come as the Cuban people endure 60+ years of economic warfare, an unjust designation on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and now the spectacle of a foreign president hosting a summit to plan their subjugation.
But Trump is wrong. Cuba is not in its last moments. The Revolution is not for sale. And the solidarity movement is not backing down.
This Sunday, March 8, the Week of Action in Defense of Cuba begins. From California to Maine, from Florida to Texas, from the streets to the screens, we will show that Cuba is not alone. We carry the spirit of Maceo, who 148 years ago this month refused a peace without independence. We carry the spirit of Fidel, whose 100th year we prepare to celebrate. And we carry the unshakeable conviction that another world is possible and that Cuba is proof.
The Venceremos Brigade calls on all people of conscience:
- Join the Week of Action. Find an event or organize your own.
- Flood social media with #CubaSiBloqueoNo and #OffTheList.
- Reject the lies of empire. Learn the truth. Speak it.
Trump says Cuba has “no oil, no money, no future.” We say Cuba has something he will never understand: dignity.
¡Cuba Sí, Bloqueo No! ¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Venceremos Brigade 