Gracias por su solidaridad en 2022! Season’s Greetings and best wishes for 2023
Campaign News | Wednesday, 21 December 2022
The Cuba Solidarity Campaign team wishes you a peaceful break and happiness for 2023. We are grateful for the support that you have given during the last year, and hope you will continue to stand in solidarity with the Cuban people against the criminal US blockade.
This year was the 60th anniversary of the beginning of US sanctions against Cuba and this cruel policy showed no sign of abating as it entered its seventh decade.
However, despite suffering increasing shortages and decreasing income, the country began 2022 with one of the world’s highest COVID-19 vaccination rates, and as the only country to have vaccinated all children over two years old.
The generosity of CSC supporters without doubt contributed to this achievement and in January and July 2022, further consignments of aid from CSC’s COVID-19 Medical Appeal arrived in Cuba.
With the help of our supporters we were also able to respond to the tragic accidents and natural disaster which struck this year. Relief and medical aid appeals were launched to help following the terrible explosion at Havana’s Saratoga Hotel in May, the worst fires in Cuba’s history at the Matanzas oil tanker storage depot in August, and the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in September.
An open letter to Joe Biden was launched in February, and our campaigning against the blockade and Cuba’s inclusion on the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list continued at conferences throughout the year.
The first full year of face-to-face conferences since 2019 saw CSC run stalls and address fringe meetings and delegates at the NEU, CWU, Aslef, FBU, UNISON, Labour Party conferences, Tolpuddle Festival, and the TUC Congress.
We were delighted to bring guests to the UK after a three-year break. In April, Niurka González, General Secretary of Cuba’s National Union of Education, Science and Sports Workers (SNTECD) had a successful and active week at the National Education Union (NEU) conference where she was able to launch the Viva La Educación appeal in person.
The appeal runs until March 2023 and has already raised more than £60,000 to send two containers of educational aid to Cuba in April, which Niurka said would help students and teachers in the face of shortages caused by the blockade. You can donate here.
In June, CSC hosted Elizabeth Ribalta from Cuba’s Institute for Friendship between the Peoples (ICAP) on a nationwide speaking tour which included events promoted by local groups and a closing rally and our national AGM.
Local groups also hosted Canadian author and journalist Keith Bolender in September and throughout the year have organised stalls, meetings, talks, film screenings and fundraising events for appeals and projects. Forthcoming local groups activities can be found on our events page.
Our own tours to Cuba began again in May with over 40 people joining Cubans for May Day celebrations including 31 young trade unionists. In the autumn, teachers and cyclists visited Havana and the western provinces, and at this very moment several CSC members are soaking up the Cuban sunshine on the winter solidarity brigade.
If you want to visit Cuba in 2023, either for the first time, or to revisit your favourite places and see Cuban friends again, why not sign up for one of our tours, brigades or delegations.
In June Her Excellency Bárbara Montalvo Álvarez, the Cuban Ambassador, hosted her first ‘Friends of Cuba’ reception and said she wanted CSC members and supporters to “know that in each Cuban life saved during the pandemic, the solidarity and trade union movement, and many citizens and groups were present in some way.”
Like the rest of the world, Cuba is suffering the aftermath of the pandemic and rising prices; uniquely Cuba bears the additional weight of a suffocating blockade. Cuban-American extremists in Florida are intent on using this economic crisis as an opportunity to crush the Cuban people’s spirit and Revolution. The spectre of a Trump presidency in 2024 hangs over all of Latin America, especially Cuba - still waiting for Joe Biden to undo the extra sanctions his predecessor imposed. Solidarity is critical. The Latin America Conference on 28 January 2023 will give supporters an opportunity to express this, as well as hear the latest information about the current situation.
Throughout 2022 CubaSí magazine and CSC’s website and social media channels have kept supporters, not only in the UK but around the world, up-to-date on Cuba. From reporting on the Family Code to the 30th United Nations General Assembly vote against the blockade.
None of these actions would have been possible without the support of our members and supporters: taking actions, attending online events, donating, and sharing our activities on social media.
Thank you to everyone who reads this update and has supported our work over the year. If you are not already a member of CSC, please consider joining here.
And if you are already a member, and are able to, please donate to help us continue our work in 2023 here.
Once again, thank you for your solidarity and support for CSC during 2022. We wish you and your loved ones a safe and Happy New Year and all the best for 2023.
The Cuba Solidarity Campaign Team
