Sunday 18 May 2025 / 18.30 (London Time)
Eyewitness reports from Cuba's international May Day brigade
On April 19 supporters of Rock Around the Blockade and the 1 Cent 4 Cuba (1C4Cuba) campaign held vibrant demonstrations across the country in support of the Cuban revolution and against British banks' complicity with the US blockade of Cuba. Protestors held stalls and speakouts outside banks, or brought the example of Cuba to events organised around other political issues. British banks extraterritorially apply the US blockade of Cuba in this country by blocking transactions headed for Cuba or even just mentioning Cuba in the reference. To build up a case against the banks and to expose their complicity in the genocidal US blockade, 1C4Cuba has declared a week of action from April 19-25. To find out how you can take part in the week of action or to otherwise contact the campaign, visit 1c4cuba.eu!
Here are photos and videos from across the country:
Brighton
Supporters in Brighton bring Cuba's example of trans healthcare to a protest against recent attacks on trans rights.
On 2 April the Revolutionary Communist Group held a protest outside the Bank of England, demanding the Bank to release the 31 tonnes of gold worth £1.2b which it has illegally
seized from the Venezuelan people. Despite Maduro’s legitimate victory in the Venezuelan presidential elections in July 2024, the British state refuses to recognise him as the
designated representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, completely disregarding the will and sovereignty of the Venezuelan people and through the blessing of the supreme
court, keeps its claws on Venezuelan gold.
Rock around the Blockade is sending a brigade of young activists to socialist Cuba for International Workers Day, 1 May 2025. They will bring material aid with them to combat the illegal US blockade of Cuba. Donate now!
With increased aggression from the US Trump administration, it is more important than ever to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with socialist Cuba. In addition to learning from Cuba's revolutionary example to inspire our struggles in Britain, we will also bring material aid including medical equipment to help the people of Cuba as they continue to battle against 67-year blockade imposed by the US.
We need to raise £5,000 to make this brigade successful and materially support Cuba, so we are calling on you to donate however much you can.
https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002KJW8Z5SM
Cheques are payable to:
Rock Around The Blockade
RATB BCM Box 5909, London, WC1N 3XX
The Revolutionary Communist Group and our solidarity campaign Rock around the Blockade (RATB) wholeheartedly denounce the mass deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador by the imperialist US Trump administration. We share below a statement produced by the Venezuela Solidarity Network, of which RATB is a member. Furthermore we note that Britain is complicit in the economic warfare meted against Venezuela which is the root cause of migration from the Bolivarian Republic. The Bank of England continues in its theft of 31 tonnes of Venezuela's gold and has imposed sanctions on over 50 Venezuelan officials adding to the more than 1,000 unilateral coercive measures, led by the US, that are designed to strangle the economy. Viva Venezuela! End the criminalisation of Venezuelan migrants! End the blockade and return the gold NOW!
Building peoples power in Venezuela
Join us to explore how Venezuela is building popular power through the construction of communal councils and communes as part of the fight for socialism. With an all women panel for International women's day!
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The United States’ illegal blockade of Cuba has long been used as a tool in the power struggle between the two dominant US political parties, the Democrats and Republicans. Florida, with its significant counterrevolutionary Cuban American population, plays a pivotal role in US elections, making the state a battleground where policies toward Cuba are often tailored to secure votes. Having promised in his 2020 election campaign to ‘promptly reverse the failed Trump policies that have inflicted harm on the Cuban people and done nothing to advance democracy and human rights’ (Americas Quarterly, 4 March 2020), throughout his presidency Joe Biden allowed the Cuban people to continue to suffer under those policies until four days before leaving office, before rushing through a series of last-minute executive orders which did little more than inconvenience the incoming second Trump administration.
Ever since President Trump added Cuba to the state sponsors of terrorism list, Cuba’s economy has suffered as most banks worldwide would not risk interacting with Cuba or Cubans for fear of fines. In addition to over 60 years of the genocidal US blockade, the listing made trade and banking even more difficult for Cuba. By locking Cuba out of the international financial system, the US ensured shortages of food, fuel and medicine and scarcities in every sector. It is for this reason that President Biden’s surprising removal of Cuba from the list should be celebrated as a victory for the Cuban people and all those around the world who stand for justice and self-determination.
Sam McGill from the Revolutionary Communist Group and Rock Around the Blockade was interviewed by TeleSUR English on their programme: Venezuela Decides 2025. Sam speaks about the need to fight the media war and and imposition of sanctions against Venezuela, and emphasises the need to fight against this economic warfare on the streets of Britain. Watch the interview here:
On Friday, December 20, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader of the Cuban Revolution and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez led a march in Havana against the 65-year-old U.S. blockade and the unfounded inclusion of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.