let’s build an international anti-imperialist movement

This article was originally published in English on the Left Voice site, part of the La Izquierda Diario International Network in the United States.

Since last month, Cuba has been going through one of its deepest crises as a result of the oil embargo imposed by the United States. The goal is to deepen the social and economic crisis in Cuba so that the United States can force the country to give in to imperialist interests and pave the way for a full restoration of capitalism.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on any country that supplies him with oil. Mexico has completely cut off critical oil supplies, and Brazil has sharply reduced its shipments. Recently, the United States blocked shipments of Venezuelan oil to the island. These measures make these countries complicit in Trump’s imperialist aggression, demonstrating the need for an urgent anti-imperialist response organized by the working class and masses around the world.

In the midst of this crisis, several organizations have announced the sending of the Nuestra América flotilla to Cuba with food, medicine and other essential supplies. The flotilla will set sail next month from ports in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, with the goal of reaching Cuba in March as a challenge to the US blockade and a concrete act of solidarity with the Cuban people.

The flotilla is inspired by Global Sumud’s aid flotillas to Gaza, which set out to break Israel’s illegal blockade with civilian ships carrying food, medicine and activists, in a direct challenge to the use of siege warfare as a tool of imperialist subjugation. One of the most forceful actions that emerged from the flotilla movement were the general strikes organized by dockers in Italy, against the repression of the flotilla and the genocide in Gaza.

This intervention of the working class, in alliance with the youth and broader sectors, demonstrated that when workers “block everything” they can make imperialism pay a real cost for its wars and blockades.

Now more than ever, internationalist youth and workers around the world need to organize and mobilize against Trump’s broader imperialist offensive, including the revived “Monroe Doctrine,” which has resulted in military intervention in Venezuela, as well as threats of invasion of Greenland. At the same time, Trump is also stepping up his attacks in the Middle East by deploying even more military forces surrounding Iran to subdue it. Even within the US, Trump has stepped up his attacks on immigrants in cities like Minneapolis and is working to undermine any opposition to his policies.

Unconditional support for the fight against Trump’s siege of Cuba does not require, nor should it require, political support for the Cuban bureaucratic regime. We can firmly support the Cuban people against imperialist aggression and, at the same time, defend the democratic rights of the Cuban masses. This means opposing policies aimed at restoring capitalism and, at the same time, advocating for the broadest freedom of organization for those who wish to defend and deepen the social achievements of the revolution.

Against Trump’s repression and his criminal attempts to reassert American dominance, especially in Latin America, we must organize a campaign in solidarity with the flotilla and in support of the Cuban people. This campaign is especially significant from the heart of imperialism, where building visible and coordinated action can amplify these international efforts and directly target the bipartisan imperialist regime that is orchestrating the siege against Cuba. A criminal blockade that has been maintained since 1962 and that no administration, whether Democratic or Republican, has dismantled throughout these decades, increasingly suffocating the Cuban people.

The labor movement can play a key role in joining with other labor movements in the region—some of which have been calling for a continental strike against imperialist aggression in Latin America—to be a leading force in the fight against the imperialist offensive directed against Cuba.

Down with Trump’s blockade and imperialist aggression against Cuba! All in solidarity with the people of Cuba, Venezuela and all oppressed nations that fight against imperialism!