After two and a half months of waiting, I just received a message from a relative in Iran as they continue to experience an ongoing internet black out: “Thanks for your message. After a lot of effort, I finally managed to connect to the internet. Thank God, we’re still alive. Please send my regards to everyone.” Though I have never been able to visit family in Iran in person, the little bit I am able to communicate with them I know life in Iran has not been easy. Ongoing U.S. sanctions and now military aggression by Israel and the United States have made life under an already oppressive regime so much more difficult. For various reasons, I have not yet been able to travel to Iran to meet many of my relatives in person and yet knowing their strains also make me empathize with the Cuban people so much more. 

The U.S. government is going above international law with impunity and Cuba seems to be their next target. Whether you have had the privilege of going to Cuba, or not, this is the time to speak on your learnings or educate yourself, and join the #NoWarOnCuba campaign. Last summer, on the Venceremos Brigade’s first Queer and Trans Brigade I had the honor of being a responsable to the brigade. The Venceremos Brigade is the longest standing brigade in solidarity with the Cuban people that began back in 1969 and has brought over 10,000 people to Cuba. As responsables, we supported the brigadistas who came from all over the United States with their medical needs, conflict resolution skills, processing what they were learning each day in Cuba and safely getting the group to and from Cuba. Our brigade experienced days without running water and electricity due to barriers created by the U.S. government imposed economic blockade. Despite limitations, we were met with so much generosity from the Cuban people wherever we went. Their cultural foundation is rooted in care, love and solidarity. And they have systems in place that seem far from our reality in the United States like free healthcare and progressive antidiscrimination laws spelled out in their updated Family Code. 

The economic blockade on Cuba has been an ongoing act of war against the Cuban people since 1962 under the Kennedy administration. The increase of aggression through the sanctioning of oil and cutting electricity is a blatant act of terror against the Cuban people. Belly of the Beast reported on May 2, 2026 that: “A new report from the D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has found that increased U.S. sanctions were likely the primary cause of a 148% rise in Cuban infant mortality from 2018 to 2025. ‘If the rate of infant mortality had remained unchanged, then approximately 1,800 fewer babies would have died since 2018,’ according to CEPR.” From those we know in Cuba, we are hearing of higher death tolls because much of the country depends on oil for transportation and fueling generators. Due to these strains, Cuba’s ally China has donated 5,000 solar panels for areas of the island most in need. These solar panels are being prioritized for places such as  maternity homes, nursing homes, senior centers, polyclinics (emergency rooms), funeral homes, bank branches (including exchange bureaus), municipal radio stations and radio transmitters. Mexico and Uruguay have also successfully sent shipments of material aid such as grain and powdered milk to the island. 

On May 18th, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People’s (ICAP), a Member of th National Assembly of People’s Power, and Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Fernando González Llort issued a statement on recent escalations by the United States: 

The anti-Cuban circus is accelerating its hysteria. Every pretext, regardless of its falsity, is repeated ad nauseum to justify a military aggression against Cuba. 

Funds from the U.S. federal government flow and finance the lies and manipulation propagated by this digital circus. None of those who administer these hysterical sites would land in Cuba as part of the aggressor contingent if the military action they are encouraging were to occur. 

From the safety of distance, they would watch thousands of Cubans die and criminally applaud it. In their unpatriotic rhetoric, any attempt to defend our people is presented as a “threat of aggression” against the U.S. 

In other words, in their subservient mentality, Cubans should allow themselves to be crushed by the U.S. military machine without responding, without defending themselves, without honoring the more than 150-year history of struggle of this nation. 

There have always been lackeys in our history, but the people have always put them in their place. Them and their masters. No matter the cost. 

With the recent indictment of former Cuban president Raúl Castro on May 20, 2026 the U.S. government is using their media propaganda to justify military actions against the island nation and reports of the USS Nimitz nearing Cuba. The U.S. government chose this day because May 20, 1902 marked the signing of the Platt Agreement, giving the U.S. rights to intervene in affairs and the lease or buy land for the establishment of a naval base.  This act of escalation and the false narratives being shared by gusano politicians like Marco Rubio make the act of military aggression against Cuba feel imminent as was the case with the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, where 83 people were reported killed during that attack. 

On May 20, 2026, the National Network on Cuba also published a call for the #NoWarOnCuba Campaign to the U.S. government escalations of imperialist threats and action towards Cuba: 

The United States is escalating its imperialist threats against the sovereign nation of Cuba, calling for direct military intervention and regime change. 

The National Network on Cuba (NNOC) condemns these acts of aggression and calls for an international campaign to counter this escalation. We call for an international #NoWarOnCuba campaign that will use all means necessary to stop the United States from attacking Cuba. 

The NNOC, the Action for Cuba Committee (ACCs) and its membership of more than 60 organizations, will prioritize all efforts toward stopping direct militarism by the United States against Revolutionary Cuba and its people. 

Each local ACC will use media, material support collection, pressure campaigns to U.S. representatives, pickets/demonstrations, and international brigades as tactics to make the struggle for Cuba known to the people living within the Belly of the Beast.

As we organize nationally, the NNOC has complete faith in Revolutionary Cuba’s ability to fight imperialism. The revolutionary Cuban people will continue to resist all acts of aggression against their nation. Even as this aggression escalates, the Cuban government maintains an openness to dialogue and collaboration with the U.S. on fair, respectful, and equal terms. 

Today, the threat of military intervention is only a continuation of genocidal policy the U.S. government has taken against the Cuban people since February 7th, 1962. The U.S. government and comprador ruling class have attempted to intervene and stop Cuba’s ongoing revolutionary socialist project. 

Through unilateral coercive measures, U.S. president, John F. Kennedy implemented cruel economic, financial, and commercial blockades on Cuba, denying the island access to critical resources. In the past three months, the United States government has aggressively escalated and imposed a full energy blockade on oil imports, stopping any and all oil from entering Cuba. The National Network on Cuba along with several international allies are calling for an international Week of Action, from June 28th through July 4th. We say NO WAR ON CUBA AND VENCEREMOS! 

This is the time to speak up and act against military aggression against the Cuban people. Despite the economic blockade and U.S. government threats Cuba chooses to invest in their people. El pueblo Cubano are peace loving people who do not want military aggression but they are willing to defend themselves if necessary. In a recent emergency planning meeting for the #NoWarOnCuba campaign, Fernando González Llort, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and one of the Cuban 5, reminded us “military aggression is harder to stop once it starts.” May our efforts allow for a different reality that does not involve military aggression or more war. 

You can join the international #NoWarOnCuba campaign and support in some of the following ways:

• SIGN and SHARE the global petition.
• Join the #NoWarOnCuba campaign.
• No War on Cuba website.
• ACC Linktree (toolkits & resolutions).
• Financially support medical aid to Cuba.
• Donate to the Venceremos Brigade to get brigadistas to Cuba who will bring material aid.
• Organize an action leading up to the global week of action for #NoWarOnCuba between June 28th – July 4th. This could include telling your representatives to support No War On Cuba, End the Blockade, remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and close Guantanamo Bay. Push for No War Resolutions where you live and keep talking about Cuba. 
• Upload graphics to the Justseeds U.S. Out of Everywhere call by June 15th, 2026

Upcoming Events: 

• Seattle: LET CUBA LIVE… STAND WITH CUBA! Friday, May 22, 2026 (Doors open 5:30 pm – event 6 – 7:30 pm PST) 321 16th Ave S., Seattle Central District 
• Online: REVOLUTION within the REVOLUTION show by the National Network on Cuba will be streaming Friday, May, 2026 (1 pm EST/ 10 am PST)
• Webinar: *TRUMP’S ESCALATING SIEGE ON CUBA: Why we must stand against U.S. military threats & war on Cuba* WEDNESDAY JUNE 3, 2026 (7:30pm EST/4:30pm PST) 

Some recommended readings: 

• Assata Shakur’s interview with Pastor’s for Peace (2000)
• Love Is the Law: Cuba’s Queer Rights Revolution
• Cuba condena la canalla acusación contra el Líder de la Revolución. Declaración del Gobierno Revolucionario by REDH-Cuba (May 20, 2026)
• Trump’s May Day Escalation Against Cuba Signals Failure and Desperation by Hood Communist (May 19, 2026)

Watch and share videos about from: 

• Belly of the Beast
• National Network On Cuba

Photos were taken or provided by Saiyare Refaei from the Queer & Trans Brigade in the summer of 2025. Main blog image is of Cubans riding motorcycles past the Nakba Solidarity Mural, the larger central photo is part of a mural at an international camp calling for the release of the Cuban 5, (bottom left) Saiyare handing ICAP employees including ICAP’s President Fernando González Llort a block print, (bottom center) a donated Red Crescent tent in Cuba, and (group photo) brigadistas with staff members from the Cuban National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) including Mariela Castro Espín after the “Love Is the Law” book launch and panel.