Cuba Vive – Help us reach £250,000 by the end of the year
Cuba Vive | Thursday, 23 October 2025 | Click here for original article
Two more containers of aid arrived at the port of Mariel in October
The Cuba Vive Medical Aid Appeal has exceeded expectations and raised £220,000 so far -- a testament to the depth of support for the people of Cuba from CSC members, friends and the trade union movement. Thanks to your generosity, hundreds of thousands of essential medical supplies, from syringes to surgical gloves and crutches to surgical scrub, are being used by Cuban health workers to improve and save the lives of patients.
Two more containers have just arrived in Cuba
Two more 40ft shipping containers of urgently needed medical aid arrived at the Cuban port of Mariel at the beginning of October. They are currently being unloaded so the contents can be sorted and distributed across the island.
Some of the items in these latest two containers include:
• Over £30,000 worth of specialist medical PPE to help surgeons and medics keep themselves and patients safe
• Over £200,000 worth of colostomy bags that will alleviate chronic shortages across the island
• 13 specialised operating beds, both manual and electric, which enable patients to be positioned safely to aid operation procedures
• 145 hospital grade mattresses
• 32 wheelchairs
• Over 300 walking frames, pairs of crutches and other mobility aids
• Specialist pharmacy fridges, ultrasound machines and nebulisers
• £25,000 worth of bandages and dressings
• Catheters, syringes, tracheostomy and urology items, oxygen masks and tubing
• Over £50,000 worth of specialist surgical scrub essential in operations helping to avoid life-threatening infections.
Working alongside our partner charity Jacob’s Well, the Cuba Vive Appeal has managed to send over one million pounds worth of medical supplies to the island since the appeal began.
Shipping material aid direct to Cuba is the best way of helping at this time. Blockade restrictions are making financial donations to the island virtually impossible. Another container is now being readied to depart in November with further shipments planned.
Local group summer fundraising
CSC local groups have continued to fundraise for the appeal while emphasising this is ‘solidarity not charity’ and explaining that shortages in the Cuban health service are caused by the ongoing and illegal US blockade.
Members from Cheshire, Derbyshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Sheffield took part in a sponsored walk in the Peak District in July, raising over £1,300.
A further £600 was raised at Derby CSC’s 17th ‘Curry for Cuba’ dinner in September.
Nottingham CSC had around 200 friends at their annual garden party which raised £1,200.
Trade Union support
Trade Unions have continued their support, with large donations received from the National Education Union, ASLEF, UNISON, Unite, and the POA as well as many others (see cubavive.org.uk for a list of all trade union supporters).
In September the TUC put out a call to all delegates to donate to the appeal and even bring direct donations to the CSC stall at their Congress in Brighton. Mariela Kohon, Assistant Director at the TUC, called on delegates to support the appeal, stressing the importance of providing real, practical solidarity in the face of current shortages.
Cuban Ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter, CSC’s Natasha Hickman, and Ella Peters, a participant in the 2024 Young Trade Unionists May Day Brigade spoke in Plymouth on 11 October at the South West TUC Regional Council meeting. Talking about Cuba’s enduring solidarity with Palestine, including training Palestinian medical students, Natasha said that by supporting the Cuba Vive appeal “youare supporting Cuba’s internationalism, ensuring that Cuba can continue training students from the global south and continue its medical brigades which have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”
An NEU education delegation in October, and participants on the Cuba Cycle Experience in November will visit hospitals in Havana and Pinar del Río that have received medical aid as part of the appeal and reports will be posted at www.cubavive.org.
