Cuban vaccination programme

The Cuba solidarity organisation Cubanos En UK have launched a fundraising campaign to purchase essential vaccine supplies to aid the Cuban vaccination programme. Sanctions and the brutal economic blockade from the United States have made essential vaccine supplies hard to come by in Cuba. Cuba's exemplary biopharmaceutical sector has stepped up and are on the verge of completing a coronavirus vaccine, but the blockade has made it very difficult to secure the supplies needed to roll the jabs out. Things like vials, syringes and materials needed to carry out clinical trials are required. We are happy to announce that RATB has made a contribution to this very important fundraising campaign and we encourage anyone who wants to show their solidarity and support for the Cuban revolution to do the same, or share the below URL to spread the word.

Click here  to support the campaign and share this link on social media.

The fundraiser was initially launched on fundraising website Crowdfunder UK and later moved to JustGiving. Crowdfunder UK stopped accepting donations for the campaign, we suspect due to the effect of the blockade on their payments provider, the US company Stripe. JustGiving confirmed that it closed our fundraising page due to Cuba being 'one of the countries under sanctions [from the United States]'.

In a world dominated by imperialist powers, the Cuban Revolution has once again been given an opportunity to prove its resilience and capability to struggle in the face of economic and political attacks. Our support and solidarity are necessary, Cuba's struggle against the virus is a struggle for humanity, as Cubanos en UK's page says: 'We can help Cuba by contributing to this campaign. We can help the world by helping Cuba.'

Photo: Freddy Pérez/Granma. After 59 days in hospital, Nurse Yaquelín Collado received medical discharge.

UPDATE from Cubanos en UK:

JustGiving has blocked the Cubanos en UK campaign to raise money to buy syringes, to help Cuba’s vaccination campaign against COVID-19. JustGiving has confirmed that its action is due to Cuba being 'one of the countries under sanctions [ from the United States ]'.

Those who donated to the JustGiving campaign will have their donations reimbursed.

Cubanos en UK has set up:

1) an online petition to complain against JustGiving and Crowdfunder UK for participating in the illegal blockade of Cuba. https://www.change.org/cubanosenuk

2) an alternative website for raising this money. https://www.support-vaccination.org/ Payment goes through GoCardless' payment account direct to Cubanos en UK.

Cuban medical brigade

Statement to the press by the Director General of United States Affairs of MINREX, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, on the decision of the United States government to include Cuba on the list of State sponsors of terrorism.

As explained yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in firm and absolute terms the qualification of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism by the government of the United States and the inclusion of our country on a State Department list.

Cuban youth rallied in support of the revolution on 28 November

Main article image: thousands of Cuban youth rallied in support of the revolution on 28 November

In recent weeks, it has become clear that the US establishment is attempting to carry out a ‘soft coup’ in Cuba, as (social) media attacks against the revolutionary state have escalated. These attacks have focused on the alleged persecution of a group of dissident artists residing in the San Isidro neighbourhood of Havana. These dissidents are being given prominence by Trump-supporting Miami-based Cuban exiles who have built up their careers and reputations on broadcasting reactionary propaganda to attack socialist Cuba, even in the midst of the pandemic. Since Trump’s electoral defeat their tone is increasingly desperate, urging Cubans on the island to rise up before Trump leaves office. They recognise that the tide will turn against them under a Biden administration. They are pushing for a soft coup in Cuba.

Protest at Trafalgar Square against the blockade, 12 December

For over 60 years, the US has imposed an illegal and genocidal blockade on socialist Cuba. US imperialism has attempted to overthrow the Cuban revolution ever since its triumph in 1959, using political, economic and terrorist attacks.

Cuba Resists!

On Thursday 29 October, four days before the US elections, Rock Around the Blockade hosted an important and informative online event called ‘Cuba Resists! Trump, the Blockade and the US Elections’. Over 250 participants from Britain and many countries around the world heard from a fantastic line-up of speakers who gave presentations before answering audience questions.

A volunteer is administered the Soberana-01 vaccine candidate

On 20 August the video streaming site YouTube, owned by tech giant Google, suspended the accounts of Cuban media – just as they were reporting rare good news in the Covid-19 global pandemic: the beginning of clinical trials of Cuba’s Soberana-01 vaccine, the first such trials in Latin America. Though the accounts were restored a day later, this censorship is a symptom of the US blockade which has reached fever pitch under the current US administration. Facing an uncertain re-election poll on 3 November, US President Donald Trump is depending more than ever on the support of the right-wing Cuban exile lobby to swing the vote in the key state of Florida. WILL HARNEY reports.

Rock Around The Blockade organised a protest outside the US embassy in London on 17 October. This demonstration was to oppose the illegal US blockade at a time when it is more important than ever to defend the example of socialist Cuba.

Belly of the Beast, a group of independent journalists based in Cuba, have released the first episode in a documentary series about the US blockade of Cuba on their YouTube channel.

The series promises to explore the effect of the genocidal blockade on ordinary Cubans, alongside an investigation into the history of US aggression towards socialist Cuba and the latest sanctions which coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic.

You can watch the first episode here:

 

Join us on Thursday 29th of October at 7pm BST for an online public meeting: Cuba Resists! Trump, the Blockade and the US Elections.

We will hear from various speakers about the various difficulties facing the Cuban people, with the global Covid-19 pandemic and the tightening of the US blockade, and how the Revolution continues to resist.

Register for the meeting here

Speakers:

Cuban Ambassador to Britain, Bárbara Montalvo Álvarez

Cuban Ambassador to the US, Jose Ramon Cabañas

Gloria La Riva, Presidential candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation, US

Valia Rodriguez, Cuban medical scientist

Helen Yaffe, University of Glasgow

A speaker from the Rock Around the Blockade campaign