Internationalism Always

From its beginnings, the Cuban revolution prioritised internationalism, from supporting Angola’s fight against apartheid in the 1970s to sending 1,500 medical workers to Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. As Fidel Castro once said, ‘To be internationalist is to pay off our own debt to humanity. Whoever is not able to fight for others will never be able to fight for himself.’

In turn, groups aiming to show solidarity with Cuba have grown up around the world. The first formed after the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. By the mid-1960s, youth organisations globally were invited to Cuba to form Labour Brigades assisting in the construction of schools and agricultural work.

The flagship brigade was the Venceremos (‘We Shall Overcome’) Brigade from the USA, which arrived in November 1969 made up of over 200 American brigadistas from groups including Students for a Democratic Society, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Young Lords. The journey wasn’t without risk: just the previous year, Stokely Carmichael, SNCC chairman and originator of the now iconic rallying cry ‘Black Power!’, had had his US passport confiscated by the authorities for having visited Havana as a guest of Fidel Castro. For that reason, the first Brigadistas travelled down to Mexico City and then over to Cuba on a converted cattle ship. Once there, they participated in sugar harvests across the island.

Like the modern brigades, early visitors also participated in cultural events organised by ICAP, including concerts, art shows, and educational talks. Brigadistas met Cubans from all walks of life and learned how the revolution had transformed their lives. Brigades from across the world have been visiting ever since.

As Rigoberto Zarza Ross explained to me, ICAP’s role is to maintain ‘and strengthen relationships with the peoples of the world,’ including solidarity groups, associations, intellectuals, and individuals. ICAP also assists visitors to Cuba, informing them of the country’s priorities and hoping ‘to encourage feelings of peace and need for peace internationally.’ Rigoberto stressed that ICAP’s mission is to ‘promote the Cuban reality internationally’ and reciprocate expressions of solidarity with Cuba. The organisation also supports various ‘just causes,’ he added, including the liberation of Western Sahara, Palestine, and Puerto Rico.

ICAP’s headquarters, located in a Catalan-style Art Deco mansion in Havana, formerly belonged to Manuel Carvajal, the Marquis of Avilés. Like many grand colonial buildings in Havana, it was repurposed for revolutionary purposes. Our ICAP guide summed it up well: in Cuba, ‘If you leave, you lose,’ and your loss becomes the gain of the Cuban people.

Cuba Sí, Bloqueo No

Following a partial thaw under Obama, the US blockade against Cuba was significantly tightened under Trump, a situation Biden did not reverse. Amid the resulting economic hardship, ICAP has taken on the added responsibility of receiving aid, including medical supplies and art materials, as part of its ‘material solidarity’ efforts.

As well as building bonds of solidarity, these visits expose the damage the blockade has caused. The impact is staggering. Many inside and outside Cuba describe it as genocidal, designed to stifle the Cuban people and serve as a warning to any nation considering alternative economic paths. In 2009, Amnesty International called for an end to the blockade, describing it as ‘highly detrimental to Cubans’ enjoyment of a range of economic, social, and cultural rights, particularly affecting the most vulnerable.’ In 2018, the UN put the damage at $130 billion over 60 years.

Walking through Havana, the scars of economic warfare are visible everywhere. Each dilapidated or unfinished building serves as a reminder of the silent, bureaucratic struggle being waged. Reading about post-revolutionary cities, one often learns about the tension between the anticipation of the people and the dilapidation around them. The blockade means Cuba is still in the midst of that revolutionary anticipation: since the US failed to confront it head-on during the Bay of Pigs invasion, it has instead kept Cuba in stasis, trapped in that moment before the celebrations can truly begin.

Every brigadista I spoke with was outraged by the historic crime being committed against the Cuban people. Despite the hardships, however, revolutionary optimism was palpable. A key word we learned from our ICAP guides was resolver, meaning ‘to solve’. In Cuba, it captures the spirit of a nation striving to make the revolution work despite the lack of essential equipment caused by the blockade. In various workplaces, we witnessed this resolve first-hand.

Hospitals are a case in point. Surgeons in one hospital we visited were disinfecting surgical gloves because the blockade makes it nearly impossible to import them. Nonetheless, Cuba’s healthcare system remains world-leading: there is a doctor for every community, and house visits are standard. One doctor explained that ‘Diagnosis relies on a multidisciplinary team and includes physical and mental health as well as social workers,’ meaning it’s not just the individual being treated in isolation, but a whole family. Remarkable breakthroughs have ensued: Cuba was the first country to stop mother-to-child HIV transmission in 1997, and it has developed a vaccine that slows the growth of lung cancer. During Covid-19, Cuba was unable to import ventilators or vaccines, so they built their own ventilators and developed five separate vaccines.

Cuba’s medical capacities have also aligned with its internationalism to produce major contributions to global healthcare. The Cuban Ministry of Health reports that nearly half a million Cuban medical professionals have served in 164 countries since 1960, making the country the world’s largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Guatemalan academic Henry Morales highlights that Cuba dedicates 6.6 percent of its GDP to ODA, the highest ratio in the world. His research shows that between 1999 and 2015, Cuba carried out 1.4 billion medical consultations, performed 10 million surgeries, and saved nearly 6 million lives.

On cooperative farms, meanwhile, brigadistas prepared organic planting beds manually due to the lack of tractors and fertiliser. Cuba has adopted principles akin to permaculture, aiming to minimise the need for external inputs and reduce waste. It would be reductive to attribute these approaches solely to necessity, however; post-revolution, a scientific and ecological worldview emerged which sees the environment and its inhabitants dialectically, and therefore holistically. Each aspect is in constant relation to every other.

This view informs many aspects of public life, from the focus on preventative medicine to the tree-planting projects and the concerted digging of ponds and lakes to increase biodiversity. Research published in 2018 found that Cuba had the second-largest net rate of forest regrowth over the previous 20 years, making it the only country in the Caribbean and Central America to have increased its forest coverage.

Amistad y Solidaridad

Perhaps the most powerful moment during of visit was a speech at the IMSCAI on the final day. The focus of the session was trade unionism. The conference room was packed with delegates made up of miners, doctors, train drivers, farmers, and many more — workers from across the world of many races, religions and political orientations brought together by the belief that capitalism is not the only way, and bound in solidarity after two weeks of working, eating, and sleeping in close quarters. The excited murmurs between speeches were a swirl of dozens of languages. Speaking delegates condemned imperialists and warmongers, and shared tales of national struggles and workplace victories.

A delegate from Mexico took to the stage. ‘A Cuban can be born anywhere in the world,’ he declared. ‘There can be billions of Cubans across the globe… When men and women believe they are not slaves, they will never be slaves!’ His words electrified the room, and he continued: ‘The Empire’ — a term he used to refer to the US, as Latin American socialists often do — ‘will never defeat Cuba. Cuba will never surrender.’ His passion intensified as he linked Cuba’s struggle to the broader horrors of imperialism worldwide. ‘Denounce what is happening in the Congo,’ he urged. ‘The Empire is after resources. The same is happening in Palestine!’ As he neared the end of his speech, his final rallying cry echoed through the hall: ‘Love your life. Defend your life… We are either Cubans or we are allies of the US government!’ The crowd erupted in applause, and a cry of ‘Viva Cuba!’ rang out — to which the hall responded in unison, ‘Viva!’

The strength of feeling in the room at that moment attests to the fact that, after 60 years of solidarity visits and brigades, the lessons of the Cuban revolution are as relevant as ever, and the need to defend it against imperialism remains pressing. We must defend Cuba not just for the Cuban people, but as a symbol to the world of what is possible. Rigoberto described how we in Britain can support the Cuban revolution: ‘Readers can get involved in CSC, support their activities, and come to Cuba as brigade members.’ You don’t need to share Cuba’s ideology or be a socialist, he said; if you defend Cuba’s right to exist free from the blockade and US coercion, ‘everyone is welcome.’