cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47888119

Duration - 5:49

[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Belly of the Beast recently held a screening of two documentaries on Cuban medical missions. One is focused on Cuban doctors deployed to Calabria, Italy, and another follows a brigade of African students from ELAM (Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine), who traveled to Guinea-Bissau to provide medical care based on the training they received on the island. Some of the ELAM students attended the screening and were given a standing ovation.

One audience member said: "Thank you for being heroes, not just of Cuba, but of the entire world."

𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 ❤️ Make a tax-deductible donation or join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BellyoftheBeastCuba

00:00 – Why We Made From Cuba to Calabria 00:31 – Southern Italy’s Healthcare Crisis and Cuban Doctors 01:05 – Discovering Cuba’s Medical Brigades 01:24 – “Cuban Doctors Bring Hope” 01:43 – Filming ELAM Students in Guinea-Bissau 02:31 – Medical Students React to the Documentary 02:54 – Audience Member: “Thank You for Being Heroes” 03:38 – Criticism of the U.S. Healthcare System 04:13 – Can Documentaries Help End the Blockade? 04:34 – Liz Oliva Fernández on Sanctions and Infant Mortality 05:20 – “1,800 Babies Could Have Been Saved” 06:03 – Belly of the Beast’s Mission to Humanize Cuba

#cuba #cubanews #blockade #sanctions #solidarity #embargo #havana

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47836018

[weekly newsletter about Cuba from the BellyOfTheBeast news collective. Their videos can be found at: https:// peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]
May 22, 2026

Trump justified his Jan 29 executive order imposing an oil blockade on Cuba by claiming its government poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat.” Since then, as the Trump administration has rolled out a new wave of punishing sanctions, it has also ramped up its rhetoric portraying Cuba as a national security threat to the US.

Also:

• May 20: Glorifying Colonial History
• The Return of Gunboat Diplomacy
• Supreme Court Sides With Heirs of Nazi-Linked Tycoon
• Fuel For Everyone, Except Cuba
• Shipping Giants Retreat
• Don’t Miss Our Latest Documentary in NYC
• Former Trump Advisor Eyes Cuba’s Mineral Wealth
• Cubans on Rubio: “It’s Not Worth Listening to Him”
• Belly of the Beast Recommends

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47836549

Duration - 1:32
[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Victor Coronado is a U.S. activist with the Hands Off Cuba Committee who traveled to the island in solidarity with the Cuban people.

After visiting the island, he says many people in the U.S. have been given a distorted image of the country. What he found instead, he says, was an organized society where people were respectful, professional and where he felt safe.

According to Coronado, Cuba’s biggest obstacle is the U.S.-imposed blockade.

He argues that sanctions and new restrictions have cut Cuba off from markets, technology, capital and oil, making economic recovery far more difficult. “You can’t run a society without oil,” he says.

U.S. Voices Against the Blockade is a series featuring U.S. citizens who oppose U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

Watch Episode 4 and stay tuned for more voices challenging the U.S. government’s economic war on Cuba.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47804016

Duración - 2:12

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47756896

Brett Wilkins
May 22, 2026

Tens of thousands of Cubans rallied Friday in Havana to denounce the Trump administration’s indictment of former President Raúl Castro and threats to attack the island nation, whose socialist government has been preparing its citizens to defend their homeland and revolution against US aggression.

“No disrespect is shown to the heroes of the homeland!” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said as people flooded the streets outside the US Embassy in Havana. “History and traditions are not insulted without a response! That does not happen in Cuba!”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47764254

Duration - 44:41
[A video podcast about Cuba from the podcast team Cuba Analysis Podcasts]

In the next episode of Cuba’s Analysis podcast, Nina Blodau speaks with US army veteran Zue Jernstedt, who served in Afghanistan before leaving the army and becoming an anti-imperialist activist. Zue has worked as a human rights observer in the West Bank, participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza, and organised with anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) groups in the United States. In March 2026, she met the Cuba Analysis team in Havana during the Nuestra América Global Convoy of international activists who came together to oppose US threats of military aggression against Cuba and to demand an end to the US blockade, recently compounded by a genocidal oil siege.

The conversation connects anti-imperialist struggles in Cuba and Palestine to the US domestic front. Zue discusses how the US military exploits poverty as a recruitment tool, the role of the naval base in illegally occupied Guantanamo Bay as a site for torture, US support for the genocidal Israeli state, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. She reflects on her own political awakening in Afghanistan, where she realised that far from bringing democracy and women’s rights, the US were pursuing its own imperialist interests. This same logic now targets Cuba, she says, not with bombs but with a blockade that starves the population. More recently, Trump has also threatened Cuba with military attack.

Zue contrasts propaganda about Cuba with the reality she experienced on the ground: free universal healthcare, a strong sense of community, and a society which, despite crushing sanctions, still cares for each other.

Her story is ultimately a call to action. She urges international audiences not to remain passive in the face of imperialism: to engage, to challenge, and to disrupt complacency. As she puts it, “We shall overcome – our day will come. It is absolutely inevitable that we rise up.”

Follow us for updates and new episodes: Website: https://www.cubanalysis.org/ Social: @cubanalysis Instagram / Facebook / Telegram / YouTube / TikTok Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/cubanalysisspotify Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../cuba-analysis/id1846065440

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47753927

[More lies and slander from Washington, D.C.]
Published May 23, 2026 9:47am EDT
[An ominous development, although not unexpected. These groups and individuals deserve our solidarity. ]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47756603

Duration - 2:17 [a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Thousands of Cubans gathered at Havana’s José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune on Friday after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Cuba’s former President Raúl Castro over the 1996 shoot-down of two small planes operated by pilots of the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue.

“We had the right to defend ourselves,” said Adalgisa Durán Vargas, referring to repeated warnings Cuba made to the U.S. about repeated provocative incursions into Cuban airspace made by Brothers to the Rescue to provoke a confrontation with the Cuban government.

At the rally, speakers defended Raúl Castro’s historic role in the Cuban Revolution and questioned the legitimacy of the U.S. accusations nearly three decades after the fact.

The demonstration unfolded amid Washington’s escalating economic war on Cuba , which includes an oil blockade and sweeping extraterritorial sanctions aimed at companies from other countries.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47723864

May 20, 2026

cross-posted from: https://expressional.social/users/Peter_Link/statuses/116615666865993336

STOP THE US WAR ON CUBA
END THE BLOCKADE
JOIN ACTIONS IN DEFENSE OF CUBAN SOVEREIGNTY
END THE ILLEGAL INHUMANE BLOCKADE. HANDS OFF CUBA!

OIL FOR CUBA. END THE BLOCKADE
WORLDWIDE SOLIDARITY IS KEY

Two new leaflets made by the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee
USHANDSOFFCUBACOMMITTEE.COM

To get a PDF copy:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/RQFR79X4T4#yJjvyxjoYyUQ

#Cuba #news #politics #USpol #protest #Trump #MarcoRubio

@cuba

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47701218

[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast] Duration - 2:04 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a video on May 20 addressed directly to the Cuban people, claiming the blackouts have nothing to do with the U.S. oil blockade.

We took to the streets to Havana to see what people thought of his speech. Most hadn’t seen it.

“It’s just that I despise Marco Rubio so much that it’s not even worth listening to anything he says,” said Lucía Miret, 76, a retired teacher.

Most of those who saw it, rejected Rubio’s claim.

“It’s no secret to anyone that the blockade exists,” said Daimara Pérez, a doctor. “If the blockade didn’t exist then they should let the ships in.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47674137

[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]
Duration - 1:42

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has unsealed an indictment charging former Cuban President Raúl Castro, now 94 years old, along with five other Cuban officials, over the 1996 shoot-down of two civilian aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue in which four people died.

At a press conference announcing the case, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced several key questions about the indictment, including why it took three decades to bring charges against Castro.

“I cannot explain or justify why now as opposed to two decades ago or 30 years ago when it happened,” Blanche said.

He also declined to discuss evidence beyond what appears in the indictment itself.

Another major question remains unresolved: how the U.S. plans to bring the 94-year-old Cuban leader to trial from a country that has no extradition treaty with Washington.

Blanche said the DOJ expects Raúl Castro to appear “by his own will or by another way.”

cross-posted from: https://expressional.social/users/Peter_Link/statuses/116613493040060065

Raising funds for medical aid for Cuba!
Thanks to connections made in Mexico (and thanks to their affordable and accessible meds as well as consistent aid deliveries), we're now able to have urgently needed #MedicalAid sent directly to the National #Healthcare #Workers #Union of #Cuba. 100% of funds raised go towards #medical supplies (purchased at-cost) to be delivered via the frequent aid ships provided by #Mexico 🇲🇽🤝🇨🇺❤️‍🩹

https://chuffed.org/project/medical-aid-for-cuba

#OilForCuba!
#EndTheBlockadeEmbargo
#CubaSolidarity
#LetCubaLive
#EndSanctionsAgainstCuba #OffTheList
#VivaCuba #CubaSí #AbajoElBloqueo #SolidaridadConCuba
#PetróleoParaCuba
#LatinAmerica #Caribbean
#news #politics #USpol
@cuba

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47636476 Duration - 7:32

May 18, 2026

from Helen Yaffe on Facebook:

I was back on France 24 English today to talk about US government aggression against Cuba, including the latest attempts to create support for a military attack with the story about Cuban drones potentially attacking the United States.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47635535

[weekly newsletter about Cuba (with YouTube video links) from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can also be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

May 20, 2026

The Justice Department is set to indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro today over the 1996 shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes — a case that has been a politically charged flashpoint in U.S.-Cuba relations for nearly three decades.

So far, the coverage by corporate media outlets has left out critical context: repeated provocations and incursions, numerous warnings by Cuban authorities, years of violent attacks against Cuba originating from South Florida and the U.S. government’s refusal to restrain an extremist group openly seeking confrontation.

The article below, written by Nicholas Greven, examines the history behind the case, Washington’s double standard on terrorism and why this indictment is about far more than settling a decades-old score.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47600558

On Eve of Raul Castro Indictment, Archive Posts Declassified FAA Documents on Events Leading to Shootdown of Cuban Exile Planes
FAA Emails Foresaw “Worst Case Scenario”
“One of these days the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes”

May 19, 2026

FAA emails, memos, and communications recorded concerns among high-level Clinton administration officials that repeated penetrations of Cuban airspace would eventually lead to a crisis if Cuba acted to protect its territorial integrity from provocative BTTR incursions. “A major fear is the possible downing of a BTTR aircraft by land-based gunfire,” a summary of an August 1995 meeting with White House officials stated.

The posting comes as the U.S. Department of Justice prepares to indict Cuban leader Raul Castro for his role in the downing of the BTTR planes. At the time, General Castro served as minister of defense and was the highest officer in the military chain of command in Fidel Castro’s government. The documents offer a detailed historical context in which the aerial violence against the civilian aircraft occurred.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47584370

The shift comes as administration officials struggle to convince the Cuban regime to make major economic and political changes. 05/18/2026

[horrible, but informative article]

The Trump administration has been dancing around the question of whether it will carry out military strikes against Cuba. I am told it is increasingly willing to take such a step.

That’s a significant escalation from a few months ago, when officials were primarily focused on using economic and diplomatic pressure to squeeze the communist regime in Havana.

A U.S. official and a person familiar with the administration’s discussions on Cuba told me that President Donald Trump and his aides have grown frustrated that the U.S. pressure campaign, which includes starving the island of fuel, has not led Cuba’s leaders to agree to significant economic and political reforms. So they’re taking the military option more seriously than previously.

“The mood has definitely changed,” said the person familiar with discussions

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47553632

Duration - 23:36 [a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

When her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Cuban scientist Teresita Rodríguez set out to find a way to help her. At the time, her colleagues at Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology, were developing a medication for neurodegenerative diseases, so she joined them. Teresita's Dream follows the journey she took and how one daughter’s love might change the way we treat Alzheimer’s around the world.

Set in the heart of Havana against the backdrop of Cuba’s world-class biotech sector and the relentless challenges posed by intensifying U.S. sanctions, this documentary is a powerful story of scientific innovation, love, hope and resilience.

Teresita’s Dream is not just a film. It is a call to reimagine global health and to stand in solidarity with those pushing for solutions against the odds.

Teresita’s Dream is produced by Belly of the Beast, a groundbreaking U.S.-based media outlet that tells Cuba’s untold stories through hard-hitting journalism and stunning cinematography.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47443378

May 15, 2026
[weekly newsletter about Cuba (with YouTube video links) from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can also be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

For over seven million people in the United States, Alzheimer’s is a slow erasure of memory, identity and connection. As pharmaceutical giants charge staggering prices for treatments that offer limited results with dangerous side effects, a potential breakthrough has emerged from Cuba, a country subjected to more than six decades of U.S. economic warfare.

Our latest documentary, Teresita’s Dream, tells the story of how a Cuban scientist, amid sanctions and scarcities, has developed an Alzheimer’s medication that could “change the world.”

Also:

• Talks in Havana, War Drums in Miami
• Rubio's Cynical Aid Charade
• 40 Years After Jesse Jackson's Havana Visit, His Son Returns
• Cuban Americans: "Rubio Doesn't Speak for Me"
• "Monsters Against Their Own People"
• Who's Spying on Whom?
• "No Military Solution": UN Chief Slams U.S. Sanctions
• As War on Cuba Escalates, Companies Settle Lawsuits
• Rising Gas Prices as Russian Tanker Stalls

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47401742

Duration - 2:36

At a time when the U.S. government’s economic war on Cuba is intensifying, U.S. lawmakers Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) traveled to Havana in early April.

At the Martin Luther King Center, Jackson paid tribute to his father, Jesse Jackson, recalling his historic 1984 visit to the island, when he met with Fidel Castro and helped usher in a rare moment of dialogue between Cuba and the African American community.

Jackson spoke of a generation of people in the United States shaped by the country’s continuous wars, and called for a different path forward — one rooted in dialogue, mutual respect, and human connection.

“It’s my prayer that the historical and political differences that divide us would not be used to deny our children the kind of future they deserve,” said Jackson.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47401296

May 15, 2026

Cuba’s top diplomat in the United States on Friday underscored the inviolability of her country’s sovereignty amid tenuous negotiations with the Trump administration and mounting fears that the US is planning to criminally indict a former Cuban president and possibly invade the island to abduct him.

“We have reorganized the whole country, the healthcare system, the education system, the transportation system, to keep the basic services running,” Torres Rivera told The Hill. “But it doesn’t mean that they are running normally. They are running under huge stress.”

Still, “a serious country that respects yourself... won’t put on the table your political system or your internal order that the people of our country decide in a sovereign way,” she stressed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47357758

John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, is the highest-ranking official in the Trump administration to visit the country.
May 14, 2026

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47357061

Duration - 2:38
[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

May Day in Cuba was more than a workers’ celebration this year. Many marched with a clear message: no U.S. intervention.