Latin America Resists: reports and speeches from Adelante:Latin America Conference 2025
Campaign News | Thursday, 13 February 2025
The 20th Latin America conference took place under the shadow of a new Trump administration which had recently deported thousands of people to Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia, imposed trade tariffs on Mexico and renewed threats against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Hundreds packed in to Hamilton House on 8 February to hear how the region is resisting the attacks. More than 55 speakers including diplomats, academics, politicians, trade unionists, and activists spoke at over 20 seminars and three plenaries.
Country seminars focused on Cuba, Colombia Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and Honduras, while others gave a Latin American perspective on the rise of the right, debt, vulture capitalism and climate change.
The opening plenary had a live relay into an overflow room indicating the popularity of the conference which had sold out weeks in advance. The Cuban and Venezuelan ambassadors and Colombian consul-general reflected on the first few weeks of the Trump administration.
Cuban ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter called on Latin America “to reject policies that placed narrow interests above the common good.”
“This moment demands that we rethink our regional alliances and strengthen our economic and cultural exchanges. Culture is more important than ever,” she said. “Culture is the first thing that superpowers try to erase from the hearts and minds of our people in order to make us disappear and to make us behave like puppets.”
Vijay Prashad, director of the Tricontinenal who had recently co-authored the book On Cuba with Noam Chomsky said that research for the book had shown them that the main thing that US governments hate about Cuba is their defiance. “They hate the defiance of the region, the defiance of the governments of Mexico and Venezuela. They have to get rid of defiance because it can be contagious.”
Of the many varied and informative seminars throughout the day, the three Cuban sessions had standing room only as attendees squeezed in to break out rooms. Marking the 50th anniversary of Operation Carlota, the first Cuba seminar explored the country’s contribution to the liberation struggles in Southern Africa and the dismantling of apartheid. Carlos Rafael Rodriguez from the Cuban embassy recalled memories of his father who had volunteered alongside tens of thousands of Cubans in the fight against South African troops in defence of Angola.
In the Cuba Vive health seminar, Dr Imti Choonara, a retired paediatrician with years of experience of working with Cuba, explained how the island’s world renowned health indicators had been achieved, and how they were now under threat from the intensification of the blockade.
Latin American solidarity with Palestine was an ongoing theme throughout the conference. A special session, Viva Palestina-Latin America stands in Solidarity, heard from Marwan Yaghi, political officer at the Palestinian mission. Marwan, from Gaza, described the anguish of witnessing the genocide of his people over the last 15 months, including the loss of 44 of his own family members.
Now a further 20,000 people had been displaced as “settler terrorists rampaged across the West Bank, burning villages, torching farmland and killing Palestinians with the full protection of the Israeli occupation army,” he said.
Although the end game was obvious, to remove the Palestinian people from their land, Marwan assured the audience that: “We are not going anywhere. We won’t allow another Nakba.”
He concluded a moving speech by urging everyone: “Do not stop. Do not waiver. Keep pushing. Keep fighting. Keep demanding. For Gaza, for the West Bank, for all Palestine, for justice, for liberation, and for a free, free Palestine.”
The highlight for many was hearing from Dr Aleida Guevara, daughter of the revolutionaries Che Guevara and Aleida March. Her participation in the Latin America Conference was the last event of a busy schedule for Aleida which had seen her speech to more than a thousand people at Cuba and Palestine rallies in London, Sheffield and Liverpool. At the conference she spoke in almost every plenary and Cuba seminar too.
Not officially on the panel for the Operation Carlota seminar Dr Guevara asked to make a contribution from the floor about her time volunteering on a medical mission in Angola. They were the “two most difficult years” of her life, but ones that had taught her much she said. “Angola taught us a lot of things, it taught us to fight against racism and colonialism and we returned to our roots,” she explained. “Because even if you see me as a white person, I do have black genes and I am very proud of that. Angola united us as a people.”
In the Palestine fringe Aleida said that although she spoke about Palestine all over the world, as a paediatrician she would rather be close to Palestinian children and hoped to realise that dream one day.
She had the audience in the final Cuba seminar laughing when she offered to volunteer to build Donald Trump’s Mexico border wall, as long as it went further north as far a New Mexico, as that should be Mexican territory she declared. More seriously she saw the US president as “a worry” for Cuba since he was “surrounded by dangerous people who spout poison, and he will do everything he can to harm us.” Aleida didn’t know what Trump had planned for Cuba, but hoped that he hadn’t “forgotten about the Bay of Pigs, because the Cuban people have learnt to live in dignity. Nobody is going to walk over us.”
Closing the conference Jeremy Corbyn MP, thanked Aleida for the work she did travelling all over the world to build solidarity for Cuba, and congratulated the conference organisers for the many years of work increasing understanding and solidarity with Latin America through the event.
There were tough times ahead for both the poorest in Latin America and the USA and he expressed solidarity with those in the US who were standing up for working class solidarity in such difficult times.
Jeremy warned against making any concessions to the far right and racists which would only lead to “dark places.” He finished his speech by paying recognition to the “way that those in Latin America have fought back against the far right and against fascism.”
The Cuba Solidarity Campaign give heartfelt thanks to all the sponsors of this year’s event, as well as the speakers and volunteers who gave their time to make the Latin America such a success on the day, and to all those who worked on the organisation in advance.
Further reports and speeches from the day can be found here:
PRESS REPORTS
Morning Star articles:
Adelante! Trump, Latin America and the world: an inspiring and empowering conference
A new multipolar world or a new cold war? Latin America, China and the rising global South
Latin American Conference hails the spirit of anti-imperialism and self-determination
SPEECHES
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary, Morning Plenary
Ismara Vargas Walter, Cuban Ambassador, Morning Plenary
Ismara Vargas Walter, Cuban Ambassador, Trump: the sequel seminar
Pablo Ginarte, Cuban First Secretary, ALBA seminar
Chris Hazzard MP, Final Plenary
A packed conference for the opening plenary listening to Irene Vélez-Torres, Cónsul General de Colombia
Luke Fletcher AM addressing a seminar
A packed seminar hear about Operation Carlota
Vijay Prasha, Tricontinental director
Cuban ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter
Aleida Guevara leads the audience in the International
Marwan Yaghi, political officer at the Palestinian mission.
