Cuba Vive appeal promoted by TUC during Congress
Campaign News | Tuesday, 7 October 2025
PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote addressing the meeting, alongside Stuart Latham (Thompsons), Kevin Courtney (CSC) and Mariela Kohon (TUC)
During the CSC fringe meeting at TUC Congress in September, long-time Campaign supporter and PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote said that “the re-election of President Trump last November poses a renewed threat to the Cuban people.”
Highlighting Cuba’s support for the Palestinians, Fran said that “even in the face of greater adversity, Cuba has continued to maintain its internationalism” and pledged her union’s ongoing solidarity with the Cuban people.
Speaking on behalf of the TUC, Assistant Director Mariela Kohon spoke of the “generosity and solidarity” that Cuba extended during Colombian peace talks hosted in Havana, which she participated in as an adviser. She condemned Cuba’s continued inclusion on the US ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list (SSOT).
Praising the work of CSC, Mariela called on delegates to support the Cuba Vive Medical Aid Appeal. The TUC promoted the appeal to delegates ahead of Congress, and President Mark Dickinson issued a call for donations of basic medicines from the conference floor. Paracetamol, ibuprofen, folic acid, antihistamines and other over-the-counter items were generously donated throughout the week, which will be sent to Cuba on the next container of aid, scheduled to depart in November.
Micaela Tracey-Ramos, vice-chair of UNISON’s international committee, noted that “seeing first-hand the extent of the shortages” during a UNISON North West delegation to Matanzas in May 2023 had led to the establishment of the appeal. It has now raised more than £220,000.
Speaking of his experience on the 2025 Young Trade Unionists’ May Day Brigade, Thompsons solicitor Stuart Latham described how the trip had given him “a deep appreciation not only of the struggle of the Cuban people but of their enormous achievements in the face of insurmountable odds.”
Stuart told delegates about the frequent blackouts he experienced while staying at the Julio Antonio Mella camp, as well as witnessing first-hand the shortages the Cuban medical system is suffering on a visit to a local medical centre. He described the Cuban Revolution as “a living, breathing thing… proof that another way is possible” and encouraged unions to continue to send delegates to “see the truth for themselves and show their solidarity.”
Having recently returned from Cuba, Ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter emphasised the critical situation facing her country. She stressed that the “profound economic crisis” Cuba is grappling with is one “that manifests not in abstract economic indicators, but in the tangible struggles of Cuban families.” Acute shortages of essential goods, “from food and fuel to the most basic medicines” place “an immense strain on every household and on our world-renowned public services.”
She praised the solidarity Cuba receives from the British trade union movement as “tangible and life-saving,” and the Cuba Vive appeal “a perfect embodiment” of practical support. “On behalf of every patient who has been treated, every doctor who has been equipped and every life that has been saved, I say: thank you.”
In an impassioned speech, FBU National Officer Tam McFarlane sent a message of solidarity from his union to the people of Cuba and said the island, despite its difficulties, “embodies the best values of our movement.”
As former General Secretary of the NEU, CSC chair Kevin Courtney was delighted to announce that the education union had just donated an amazing £30,000 to the Cuba Vive appeal which had helped it to surpass £220,000. He blasted the shameful targeting of Cuba’s international medical missions and the cutting of remittances to the island, measures Kevin described as an “unprecedented assault on Cuba.” He asked why the US persists with a policy of aggression when “Cuba poses no threat to the US or any other nation in the world, other than the threat of a good example.”
Thanks to BFAWU General Secretary Sarah Woolley for chairing the meeting and Thompsons Solicitors for sponsoring the event.
