More than 600 solidarity activists from dozens of countries joined the Nuestra América Convoy in Havana last weekend to deliver 35 tons of humanitarian aid to counter the U.S. government’s economic war on Cuba.
Among them were Cuban Americans who reject the deadly policy pushed by hard-line politicians like Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming to represent the Cuban-American community. This week, we hear from one of the activists — Danny Valdes — in the first of a series of interviews we shot during their visit to Havana.
Also this week:
Jeremy Corbyn: “Cuba Must Not Be Isolated”
U.S. Punishes Cuba for Helping Bring Peace to Colombia
Cuba and Puerto Rico: “Two Wings of the Same Bird”
Solidarity Can’t Be Blocked
Activists Face Border Harassment and Slander Campaign
U.S.-Government Funded Hit Piece on Belly of the Beast
NY Times: Cubans Dying in U.S. Oil Blockade
Recommended Reading and Watching
NY Times Parrots Fake News About Russia Spy Base in Cuba
Cuba Willing to Compensate U.S. for Nationalizations
Why Washington Keeps Doubling Down on Hard-Line Cuba Policy
U.S. Embassy in Havana Warns U.S. Citizens to Avoid…U.S. Citizens
Rubio Testifies Against Friend in Corruption Case
U.S. Wants Oil to Enter Cuba — For Its Embassy
Despite Oil Blockade, U.S. Deportation Flights to Cuba Continue
Are U.S. Journalists Getting Played by Anonymous Sources on Cuba?
Cuban Americans: “Not In Our Name”
Cuban-American hardliners like Secretary of State Marco Rubio have long been the driving force behind sanctions that have ravaged the island’s economy and caused widespread suffering.
But many people of Cuban origin in the United States are speaking out against the U.S. government’s economic war.
“There is a very well-organized and powerful right-wing Cuban lobby, that even is in the halls of Congress, and that gets to determine what U.S. policy is toward Cuba,” said Danny Valdes, a Cuban American born in Miami. “But we feel like it's a very important time now to say: not in our name.”
The full version of the interview with Valdes is now available to subscribers on our Patreon.
This was the first in a series of interviews we did with Cuban Americans who were in Havana as part of the Nuestra América Convoy. We will release more in the coming days.
The convoy also included parliamentarians like British MP Jeremy Corbyn, who spoke with Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández.
“The crisis now is a result of the sanctions against Cuba, essentially, and the isolation of Cuba by international finance,” said Corbyn, who has been to Cuba numerous times, including a cycling trip with his son. “So we’re looking to countries all around the world to break the blockade that the U.S. is imposing.”
Corbyn said that he and other members of the convoy were discussing how to help Cuba accelerate its shift to green energy and decrease its dependence on oil imports.
“It is perfectly possible for Cuba to transition [to green energy], but that does require international finance,” said Corbyn. “What we’re discussing is some details of how we do that and what pressure we put on our own governments to invest in renewables in Cuba and what pressure we put on the renewable industries around the world.”
Corbyn talked with Liz about what he saw on the ground and why he believes this moment represents the worst point in Cuba's decades-long struggle against the U.S. blockade.
Liz also interviewed Colombian lawmaker María Fernanda Carrascal, who credited Cuba for its role in her country’s peace process.
“Cuba helped Colombia when we needed it most, to end our armed conflict of more than 60 years,” she said. “Cuba not only hosted peace talks, but also gave [medical school] scholarships to members of social organizations and former combatants”
She added: “We’ve seen how Cuba has extended its support with all its medical brigades and its literacy campaigns that have existed for many decades.”
Cuba’s role in the peace process would later be warped into a pretext by the Trump and Biden administrations to smear the island a “state sponsor of terrorism.” In January 2025, the Biden administration finally recognized there was “no credible evidence” to back the claim.
Carrascal's statements come as Colombian President Gustavo Petro was designated a “priority target” by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Cuba and Puerto Rico: “Two Wings of the Same Bird”
The Nuestra América Convoy also included a delegation of solidarity activists from Puerto Rico who delivered medicine and medical equipment to the Salvador Allende Hospital in the Cerro municipality of Havana.
“Since I arrived on Tuesday I’ve been crying from emotion because I know how important this historic moment is, coming here to support the Cuban people,” said Alejandro Sáez, a member of the Puerto Rican Juan Rius Rivera Brigade. “This is our way of giving back something of what the Puerto Rican people have already received from Cuba because they’ve always supported us.”
Director of the Salvador Allende Hospital Dr. Mylene Vázquez said the convoy's arrival was "a ray of light in the middle of the darkness."
Watch interviews from the Puerto Rico delegation’s visit HERE.
Solidarity Can’t Be Blocked
Most of the convoy’s activities concluded on Sunday, but solidarity activists were still arriving earlier this week. On Tuesday, after five days at sea, the Nuestra América flotilla sailed into Havana harbor carrying 14 tons of humanitarian aid, including 73 solar panels, medicine, food, and hygiene supplies.
The aid was delivered by 32 people from around a dozen countries.
“The world owes Cuba,” said Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist. “Cuban doctors were among the first to fight Ebola in Africa. They went to Italy during COVID-19. That's why Italians are on this boat.”
Watch a video of the boat’s arrival into Havana’s port HERE.
Activists Face Border Harassment and Media Smears
Upon returning to the United States, more than 20 aid convoy activists were detained for hours and interrogated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Miami International Airport. Some had their laptops and phones seized.
“They are directly trying to instill fear in us,” said one activist in Miami shortly after being released.
The detentions were not limited to the United States. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila was arbitrarily detained in Panama City while trying to make a connecting flight home.
In Miami, activists said that questions asked by border agents had seemed politically motivated, and had little to do with any genuine security concerns. One activist said agents criticized the visit as a “bad look,” telling him that the Cuban people wanted Trump to “take over” the island.
“The fact that they took my phone and laptop, honestly it was worth it, because I got to deliver not only the 6,300 pounds of aid that we brought, but my partner and I brought over 100 pounds of aid in our own bags,” said Code Pink's Leonardo Flores.
While border agents were harassing people in Miami, propagandists launched a wave of attacks and misinformation. The Washington Post editorial board, for example, branded the activists “useful idiots” and tried to justify U.S. sanctions on the bogus claim that Cuba is a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
For a thorough breakdown of the slander campaign, check out "How to Slander a Humanitarian Mission" in Current Affairs, written by Alex Skopic and Nathan J. Robinson, both of whom were on the convoy and reported from Cuba.
U.S.-Government Funds Hit Piece On Belly of the Beast
Earlier this week, El Toque, a Spanish-language media outlet that covers Cuba, published a hit piece about Belly of the Beast written by two anonymous authors who claim to expose the media outlets that form part of “an authoritarian support network.”
The 7,500-word article is riddled with falsehoods, most significant of which is an allegation that Belly of the Beast is simultaneously funded by both the Cuban government and the U.S. government. The authors present no evidence to support either claim, which is not surprising because neither is true. Since we launched in 2020, Belly of the Beast has not received a penny — directly or indirectly — from any government.
The same cannot be said about El Toque.
The Mas Voces Foundation, which was created to fundEl Toque, received grants in 2024 of $150,000 and $220,000 from the State Department, according to the federal spending database USAspending.gov. (This is just the tip of the iceberg — stay tuned for more reporting on El Toque and other cutouts that form part of the U.S. government’s efforts to bring about regime change in Cuba.)
El Toque’s hit piece is a good sign — it shows our impact is growing.
According to the article, Belly of the Beast has managed to “break out of the [progressive] bubble” and into the mainstream. The article goes on to explain that our work has appeared in progressive outlets like Democracy Now!, The Real News Network, Jacobin and The Nation as well as mainstream media such as ABC News, NPR and WLRN.
The New York Times has today published a front-page, in-depth article that lays out how the U.S. oil blockade is killing Cubans.
Six Cuban doctors told the Times that rapidly deteriorating conditions at hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable.
“I can’t tell you how many deaths, but I’m sure there are more than in the same period last year,” said Dr. Alioth Fernández, chief anesthesiologist at Havana’s William Soler Pediatric Hospital. “I see it in shift handovers, in colleagues’ comments and in children I’ve operated on.”
Public health experts connected the dots between the U.S. government's economic warfare and deteriorating healthcare in Cuba.
“This is not subtle, this is extreme,” Paul Spiegel, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University, told The Times. “You’re already seeing hospitals changing how they are operating.”
The infant mortality rate has more than doubled in the last seven years due to maximum pressure sanctions first imposed by Trump in 2019. The impact of the oil blockade “will likely be exponentially more severe," Ruth Gibson, a Stanford University doctor who studies the impact of sanctions on public health, told The Times.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the documentary Belly of the Beast produced with one of the article’s authors last year for Al Jazeera: Health Under Sanction.
Belly of the Beast journalist Daniel Montero spoke with Brace Belden and Yung Chomsky on TrueAnon about the impact of the U.S. blockade on the Cuban people. Listen HERE.
Daniel was also interviewed on The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast.
Check out British journalist Owen Jones’s column in The Guardian about the impact of the U.S. government’s war on the Cuban people. Belly of the Beast worked closely with Owen during his visit to the island.
We also worked with Ryan Grim from Drop Site News, who dismantled a NewsMax correspondent in an interview after his visit to Cuba. See more from Ryan below.
Check out the latest article about Cuba in FAIR, which breaks down how major U.S. media outlets whitewash sanctions by blaming Cuba for its economic crisis. Belly of the Beast’s work was cited extensively in the article.
Helen Yaffe has published two articles recently. In Jacobin, she criticizes calls for Cuba to “make a deal” with Trump, and in The Conversation, she shows how the U.S. pressure campaign against Cuba’s internationalist missions threaten healthcare for people across the Global South.
NY Times Parrots Fake News About Spy Base in Cuba
Trump made the oil blockade on Cuba official on January 29 with an executive order that justified the measure in part because the island “hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States.”
The allegation about a Russia spy base in Cuba comes out of the blue. In recent years, U.S. politicians, media outlets and think tanks have frequently warned that China — not Russia — has spy bases on the island. (Check out our reporting debunking these claims).
Major media outlets mostly ignored the allegation of the Russia base until Tuesday, when New York Times journalist Michael Crowley wrote an article entitled “Russian Oil Shipment Puts Focus on Kremlin Spy Outpost in Cuba.”
Citing former U.S. officials and experts, Crowley writes that the Russian spy base, known as Lourdes, “bristles with antennas and other eavesdropping equipment.”
There is one problem with Crowley’s reporting: Lourdes was shuttered in 2001.
Stay tuned for more reporting from Belly of the Beast on the Russia spy base, which appears to exist only the pages of the New York Times.
Cuba Willing to Compensate U.S. for Nationalizations
Cuba is willing to compensate U.S. claimants for property nationalized following the 1959 revolution, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told Drop Site’s Ryan Grim in Havana last week.
“We’re ready to sit down with the United States and discuss these issues; but Cuba also has claims,” Cossío told Drop Site. “We believe the Cuban people and the Cuban nation requires, or deserves, to be compensated for the damage done by the economic blockade, by the invasion, by terrorism, by assassinations, by actions, violent actions against the economy.”
For decades, U.S. policy toward Cuba has been shaped by sanctions, pressure and political narratives that rarely face serious scrutiny. Mikael Wolfe, director of Stanford University’s Cuba Observatory, explains how those narratives were built, why they persist and who pays the price.
“Cuba has always loomed large in the U.S. imagination,” said Wolfe in an interview with Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández.
U.S. Embassy Warns U.S. Citizens to Avoid U.S. Citizens
Just before the Nuestra América Convoy arrived in Havana, the U.S. Embassy in Havana warned U.S. citizens to avoid “anticipated pro-Cuban regime and anti-U.S. policy protests and rallies.”
The warning is farcical.
Rather than “protests and rallies,” the convoy was centered around the delivery of humanitarian aid, including thousands of tons of medicine, to counter the U.S. oil blockade.
Over 100 of those who participated in the convoy are U.S. citizens.
In other words: the U.S. imposes an oil blockade on Cuba that causes suffering and death on the island — and then warns its own citizens, as they try to deliver humanitarian aid, to stay clear of themselves.
Rubio Testifies Against Friend in Corruption Case
Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the first U.S. cabinet member to testify in a criminal case in over four decades Tuesday, when he appeared in court in a corruption trial of his long-time friend David Rivera.
Rubio and Rivera were roommates in college and subsequent political allies. Rivera represented Florida's 25th district in Congress from 2002 to 2010.
He is charged with money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent. The prosecution claims he took $50 million to lobby on behalf of the Venezuelan government to get the U.S. government to ease sanctions on the South American nation.
"He's someone I've known for a long time. We've worked closely together but not on this," Rubio said.
U.S. Wants Oil to Enter Cuba — For Its Embassy
The U.S. has been imposing an oil blockade on Cuba for two months, but it doesn’t want its Havana embassy to deal with the resulting blackouts.
As the oil blockade has contributed to frequent blackouts on the island and ground economic life to a halt, the U.S. embassy in Havana requested authorization from the Cuban government to import fuel for its generators.
According to diplomatic cables reviewed by The Washington Post, the Cuban government called the request “shameless.”
Despite Oil Blockade, U.S. Deportation Flights Continue
The U.S. deported 117 Cubans to the island last week, raising the number to almost 2,000 since last year. Cuba has continued to receive U.S. deportation flights once a month, even as the U.S. wages economic war on the country.
Watch our reporting of the arrival of one of those deportation flights HERE.
U.S. Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly posted this week that the media was being “played” by anonymous sources who describe the administration’s plans for Cuba.
Kelly’s comments echo Rubio’s recent rebuke of a New York Times report claiming the U.S. is looking to force the removal of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel for negotiations to advance, quoting “four people familiar with the talks.”
Rubio called the report “fake news” and its sources “charlatans & liars.”
Join us on a guided trip to Cuba!
Travel to Havana with Belly of the Beast journalists and filmmakers for an immersive eight-day trip where you’ll meet the people behind our stories, visit community projects and experience the island beyond the headlines.
Truly independent media relies on donations. Your tax-deductible donation helps us continue producing independent, on-the-ground reporting about Cuba that you won’t find anywhere else.
Every contribution — big or small — strengthens our journalism. Thank you for being part of our community!
Boletines en Español | English Newsletters Archives Más de 600 activistas de solidaridad provenientes de decenas de países se unieron al Convoy Nuestra América en La Habana para entregar 35 toneladas de ayuda humanitaria con el fin de contrarrestar la guerra económica del gobierno de Estados Unidos contra Cuba. Entre ellos se encontraban cubanoamericanos que rechazan la política letal impulsada por políticos de línea dura como el Secretario de Estado Marco Rubio, quien afirma representar a la...
Boletines en Español | English Newsletters Archives En junio de 2024, el kickboxer Ely Malik Reyes se convirtió en el primer atleta trans oficialmente reconocido en Cuba. En una entrevista exclusiva, Liz Oliva Fernández de Belly of the Beast conversa con Reyes sobre cómo ha roto barreras en el deporte cubano. También esta semana: Convoy de solidaridad llegando a La Habana Daniel Montero: “Cambio de régimen a través del hambre” No, NBC, no fueron los primeros en informar desde un hospital...
English Newsletters Archives | Boletines en Español In June 2024, kickboxer Ely Malik Reyes became the first transgender athlete officially recognized in Cuba. In an exclusive interview, Belly of the Beast’s Liz Oliva Fernández speaks with Reyes about breaking barriers in Cuban sports. Also this week: Solidarity convoy arriving in Havana Daniel Montero: “Regime change through starvation” No, NBC, you’re not the first to report from a Cuban Hospital New poll: most people in U.S. oppose oil...
