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As the Trump administration ramps up economic warfare and threats of military action against Cuba, solidarity from people in the United States is growing in response.
This week, we hear from people who have traveled to Cuba amid deepening economic hardship on the island — from a young activist who left Minneapolis for Havana to march on May Day, to rapper Vic Mensa who witnessed the effects of sanctions firsthand in a Cuban hospital, to organizer Imani Bashir who reflects on Cuba through the lens of anti-imperialist and Black radical traditions.
Also:
- MAGA Influencer Violates Trump’s Sanctions
- Trump’s Cuba Order Claims First Casualty
- Teresita’s Dream Screens at Havana Film Festival NY
- New Poll: U.S. Citizens Oppose War on Cuba
- Military Invasion On Hold?
- Cuba Modernizes Migration Laws
- Solar Energy Expands
Solidarity with Cuba Strengthens
As Washington doubles down on its economic war on Cuba, one young activist from Minneapolis packed his bag and flew to Havana. Lavish came not despite U.S. aggression, but because of it, to show solidarity with the Cuban people.
On International Workers’ Day, Lavish was joined by Josué, a young Cuban researcher who has been attending May Day marches since he was a child. The two come from different worlds, but found common ground in Havana.
Watch our video with Lavish and Josué.
Vic Mensa in Cuba
Chicago-born rapper Vic Mensa visited Cuba for the first time recently, and saw for himself the effects of the U.S. government's economic war on the island.
Belly of the Beast’s Liz Oliva Fernández took a walk with him around Havana, where they talked about race, resistance and the pain inflicted by U.S. sanctions.
“From an American perspective, the pain of the world is often out of sight, out of mind,” he said.
Cuba didn't just move Vic Mensa politically. It moved him personally, as a Black man, as a father as someone who carries both America and Africa inside him.
“What I like the most about this experience is seeing that there are Black people on this planet who can't be broken,” he said.
Join our Patreon to watch the full interview, gain early access to our content and support grassroots journalism in Cuba.
“Cuba Won’t Bend the Knee”
For Imani Bashir, a Black American activist from Washington, D.C., visiting Cuba wasn't just political, it was personal.
“I'm a Black American, and in the Black radical tradition, we have celebrated the Cuban people,” she said. “One of the things I love about Cuba, is seeing Afro-Cuban people, seeing people that look like me, seeing people with my skin tone and my shade, seeing the people who have been under the thumb of these sanctions and these blockades still exist in beauty and family and culture.”
WATCH the interview with Bashir, the second episode of our series U.S. Voices Against the Blockade.
MAGA Influencer Violates Trump’s Sanctions
Right-wing influencer Nick Shirley arrived in Cuba last week “to show people what Communism is like” and promptly violated U.S. law.
Shirley posted a 13-minute video after his trip that was shot from a room at Havana’s Hotel Nacional, which is one of more than 400 hotels and other lodgings where the State Department prohibits its citizens from staying. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was violating sanctions imposed by Trump during both his first and second terms.
Belly Beast Cuba
Nick Shirley, right-wing influencer and Trump supporter, posted a video last night saying he was “almost taken hostage in Cuba and “tailed” by spies to his hotel. His hotel, the Hotel Nacional, is on the State Department’s Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List, which means he was violating U.S. law by staying there. The list, which includes over 400 hotels and other lodgings, was imposed by Trump as a part of his administration’s economic war on the island.#cuba #havana #sanctions #blockade #embargo #nickshirley
♬ original sound - Belly Beast Cuba - Belly Beast Cuba
The rambling monologue posted by Shirley was littered with false and absurd claims. Shirley said he was “almost taken hostage,” under threat of being imprisoned and might need to “escape” the island by stealing a boat or getting a private jet with help from the U.S. embassy.
Shirley did not explain how he returned, but he likely did what hundreds of people from the United States do every day — took a taxi to the airport and boarded an American Airlines flight back to Miami.
Trump’s Cuba Order Claims First Casualty
Canadian mining company Sherritt International has halted its Cuban operations following Donald Trump’s May 1 executive order that threatened sanctions against foreign individuals and entities determined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to have “operated” in any “sector of the Cuban economy.”
The company said in a statement Thursday that although it had not been formally designated, the order created conditions that alter Sherritt’s ability to operate in Cuba. Three members of the company’s board of directors resigned, according to the statement.
One of the biggest investors in Cuba, Sherritt had a joint venture with a Cuban state company to mine nickel and cobalt. Cuba has cobalt reserves estimated at 1.1 billion pounds, the fourth largest in the world. Cobalt is an essential part of batteries in electric vehicles. Cuba also has significant quantities of nickel, which is used in the manufacture of stainless steel, high-performance alloys for aerospace, and batteries for electric vehicles.
Isaac Saney, a Black Studies and Cuba specialist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, called on his government to invoke the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (FEMA), a Canadian law enacted in 1984 to protect Canadian companies and individuals from the extraterritorial application of foreign laws — especially U.S. sanctions on Cuba.
“Canada must choose whether it will defend its sovereignty and uphold international law, or whether it will permit itself to be subordinated to the extraterritorial dictates of a foreign power,” wrote Saney in a post on Facebook.
Sherritt’s withdrawal, after decades of operating in Cuba, marks the first casualty of the Trump administration’s sweeping executive order. The U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council called Trump’s order a “storm cloud” over the island that was “designed to inflict on a global scale as much apprehension, confusion, fear, and uncertainty as possible.” The Council suggested that Spanish companies, which are also major investors in Cuba (Spanish chain Meliá operates more than 30 hotels on the island), could soon also be in the crosshairs.
Spanish Vice-President and Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said Monday that Spain had not identified any impact on Spanish companies “for now.”
Shortly after Sherritt’s withdrawal, the Trump administration took its first action pursuant to the executive order, sanctioning Moa Nickel, Cuba’s joint venture with the Canadian company, as well as military-run conglomerate GAESA and its executive president Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera. GAESA was already sanctioned, but according to the law firm Akerman, sanctions can now be expanded to entities and subentities controlled by GAESA.
The State Department warned of additional designations in the coming days and weeks.
Fact-Checking Marco Rubio (and the Herald) — Again
To justify the most recent sanctions, Rubio repeated his claim that the military-run Cuban company GAESA is “stealing” billions of dollars from the Cuban people. He also said that "not a cent" of the money generated from GAESA benefits the Cuban people.
Rubio does not substantiate these claims, which seem to be based in part on the Miami Herald's reports that GAESA is "hoarding" $18 billion. The Herald's reporting is based on fuzzy math and what appears to be an egregious error in interpreting the one “secret” document upon which its entire investigation seems to hinge. See our analysis of the Herald's reporting HERE.
Herald journalist Nora Gámez Torres is frequently cited by Rubio and other hardliner politicians, who use factoids from her reporting to push for ever-harsher sanctions on Cuba. In turn, she regularly cites them...citing her.
The echo chamber has continued in the wake of the new executive order, as Gámez Torres took credit for the claims made by Rubio to justify Trump's executive order.
Rubio's false claims this week were not limited to GAESA.
He also said that "there’s no oil blockade on Cuba per se," a statement so detached from reality that it borders on absurd. The Trump administration has spent months aggressively pressuring countries, including an executive order threatening tariffs on any country that exported oil to Cuba.
Teresita’s Dream Screens at Havana Film Festival NY
Belly of the Beast’s latest documentary, Teresita’s Dream, screened to a packed house on May 3 at the 26th Havana Film Festival New York.
The film tells the inspiring story of Dr. Teresita Rodríguez, the Cuban scientist who helped develop a groundbreaking treatment for Alzheimer's.
Look out for the online premiere of Teresita's Dream...COMING SOON!
New Poll: U.S. Citizens Oppose War on Cuba
A poll commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that 64% of Americans oppose the U.S. going to war with Cuba, with only 15% in support. Among those who expressed a view, 81% opposed. Independent voters — considered key swing voters ahead of midterms — oppose a Cuba war 68% to 25%.
The poll comes as Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against Cuba, most recently on May 1 — the same day he signed the new executive order hardening sanctions — when he said the U.S. would be “taking over” Cuba “almost immediately.”
Military Invasion On Hold?
Donald Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of military action against Cuba. The U.S. Southern Command joined in Tuesday, posting a suggestive photo of Rubio alongside Gen. Francis L. Donovan, with Cuba looming prominently on a map in the background.
But the signals from Trump and his administration have been mixed.
After meeting with Trump in Washington, D.C., Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday that the U.S. president “doesn’t plan to invade Cuba."
“It's a great sign, because Cuba wants to dialogue and find a solution," he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials have told AP that the Trump administration is “not looking at imminent military action against Havana.”
AP also revealed the names of the State Department officials who led a reported delegation to Havana on April 10 — Jeremy Lewin, who is in charge of all U.S. foreign assistance, and Michael Kozak, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America.
“Cuba Should Be Applauded, Not Invaded”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro spoke out Monday against military aggression toward Cuba in a speech at the National University in Bogotá, praising Cuba’s scientific and cultural achievements.
“If there is an artistic and cultural vanguard in Latin America, it is called Cuba,” he said. “Instead of being invaded and bombed, [Cuba] should be applauded and helped."
Cuba Modernizes Migration Laws
Cuba has announced a significant overhaul of its migration policies with a more relaxed and inclusive attitude toward Cuban citizens who have moved abroad, as well as toward foreigners living on the island.
A 24-month limit on the length of time Cubans could spend outside the island has been scrapped and dual nationality will be formally recognized for the first time. In addition, Cubans abroad will maintain their property rights.
Foreigners residing in Cuba were granted new pathways to permanent residence — taking into account family ties, professional qualifications and length of stay.
Solar Energy Expands
Cuba’s first solar-powered charging station opened in Santa Clara in early April — and it’s free.
People are flocking to the “solinera” to charge electric vehicles, appliances and mobile phones, AP reports.
Renewable energy now accounts for around 10% of Cuba’s electricity, up from 3.6% in 2024, as the island battles chronic blackouts caused by U.S. economic warfare and the oil blockade.
Meanwhile Spanish humanitarian organization Open Arms is preparing its vessel Astral to set sail on Monday from Barcelona, carrying solar panels bound for the pediatric ICU at Havana’s Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric Hospital.
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