Osnay Miguel Colina Rodriguez's address to TUC Congress 2026
Campaign News | Thursday, 17 September 2026
Osnay Miguel Colina addressing TUC Congress 2026
On Wednesday 16 September 2026 Osnay Miguel Colina, General Secretary of Cuba's trade union confederation (Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, CTC) addressed TUC Congress in Brighton. You can read his speech in full below or watch it here.
Comrades at the TUC Congress,
I am here on behalf of the Cuban Workers’ Federation, the CTC, to continue a history that began many years ago: the history of workers who recognise one another as comrades, even when they work in different countries and face different realities.
Comrades have stood here before representing the Cuban trade union movement, and they found what I value today: a trade union movement that understands that class solidarity knows no borders.
Cuban workers are living through extremely difficult times, but also through a time of resolve and profound love for our homeland. We demonstrate that commitment by supporting the construction of socialism and the transformations our country needs.
We are living through an extraordinarily difficult situation, and once again we must denounce the true culprit: the Government of the United States and its policy of blockade and economic strangulation.
Since 2019, the United States has unilaterally imposed hundreds of coercive measures against Cuba and has intensified the economic, energy and financial siege against our people. Indeed, since 2019, 240 measures have been imposed to tighten the blockade, alongside further coercive measures and financial and energy persecution.
Between March 2025 and February 2026, the economic damage caused by this policy exceeded 8 billion US dollars. The accumulated damage now amounts to more than 178 billion US dollars.
Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is.
At the same time, we reaffirm our humanist, internationalist and solidarity-based commitment, and our aspiration to live in peace and to build a society with everyone and for the good of all.
In this situation, the Government and the workers are seeking alternatives to ease these difficulties, promote research and find solutions with the active participation of our people.
Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro called on us to emancipate ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts. And that is precisely what we are doing in this year in which we celebrate his centenary, convinced that only those who struggle achieve victory.
Defending the homeland means defending the lives and dreams of our children and young people, our families, our independence and sovereignty; rejecting terrorism, genocide and interference; and building a better world through solidarity, peace and love.
Cuba does not surrender. The homeland must be defended.
Today I want to speak to you especially about Cuban workers.
In recent months, Cuba has suffered a severe crisis in its electricity system. When the power goes out, it is not simply a question of losing electricity: transport, water supplies, production, and the preservation of food and medicines are all affected.
We are not talking simply about statistics. We are talking about human lives: patients in hospitals, workers struggling to reach their workplaces, and families fighting to preserve food for their children.
But I want to emphasise something to this Congress:
Cuban workers are not simply victims of this crisis.
They are the people who keep hospitals open, maintain essential services, produce food, repair facilities and seek solutions under extraordinarily difficult conditions.
Cuba’s resistance also has a working-class face: millions of workers who continue to keep a country going under enormous economic pressure.
People may disagree with our political system. But no political disagreement justifies imposing measures of economic strangulation that punish an entire people and put the lives of millions at risk.
You know this well, because this very Congress has denounced for years the extraterritorial application of the blockade, which also affects British banks and companies. The TUC's current Cuba motion likewise calls for opposition to the “extraterritorial application of U.S. sanctions”.
Amidst this storm, Cuba continues to stand for cooperation and solidarity. Our greatest strength is the certainty that another, better world is possible.
That is the Cuba I represent: not a Cuba asking for pity, but a Cuba that resists with dignity.
To resist does not simply mean to endure. It means to work, to create and to seek alternatives.
Cuba is working to transform its energy mix, increase food production, strengthen energy sovereignty and create jobs.
The sun cannot be blockaded.
And in that resistance, your solidarity has ceased to be a word and has become a reality.
Cuba Vive, supported by British trade unions and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, has now raised more than half a million pounds and sent major consignments of assistance to Cuba, including medical equipment, food and medical supplies.
This is what trade union solidarity means to us: workers helping workers, not simply in words, but through practical action.
Thank you to the TUC, to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, and to every trade union and every worker who has contributed. What you are doing has concrete, human consequences in Cuba.
Solidarity is not a one-way street. Cuban workers also understand what it means to stand up for other peoples when they are in need.
We demand that same dignity for the Palestinian people, who have the right to peace, to self-determination and to full respect for international law.
Comrades,
I will conclude with three requests.
First, that the brotherhood between the CTC and the TUC remains alive and grows ever deeper.
Second, that practical solidarity, such as Cuba Vive, continues to grow. We need to turn political solidarity into practical solutions.
And third, that this international trade union movement remains steadfast in defending international law, sovereignty, and the right of peoples to determine their own destiny, and in calling for an end to unilateral coercive measures.
Because when the rights of one worker are attacked anywhere, the rest of us workers have a responsibility.
On behalf of the Cuban working class, my most sincere thanks to you, comrades.
Let us globalise peace and solidarity, sowing seeds of hope.
Let us struggle together for a better world!
¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Thank you very much.
