Socialism

A new Welsh electoral landscape puts Plaid Cymru within reach of power

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Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru. PA Images/Alamy

Anwen Elias, Aberystwyth University and Elin Royles, Aberystwyth University

Plaid Cymru’s electoral hopes for May’s Senedd election are high. Polls suggest the party is competing with Reform UK to emerge as the largest group in the next Welsh parliament, putting it, for the first time, within reach of leading a government in Wales.

This marks a striking shift in Plaid’s electoral fortunes. At the first election to what was then the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, the party won 28.4% of the vote. That remains its strongest performance to date in what was widely described at the time as a “quiet earthquake” in Welsh politics.

Since then, Plaid has struggled to match that breakthrough in devolved elections. From 2011 onwards it has consistently been the third-largest party in the Senedd, behind Welsh Labour – which has led every government since devolution – and the Conservatives.

Even so, the arithmetic of Welsh politics has occasionally worked in Plaid’s favour. The party entered government in coalition with Labour between 2007 and 2011, and more recently struck a co-operation agreement from 2021 to 2024. But if Plaid ends up leading a government outright after May 7, it would truly set this election apart.

Positioning itself for power

Plaid Cymru’s strategy is to present itself as a credible government-in-waiting. Its focus is less about being a party of protest and more about delivery. In other words, what it would do in office, how it would tackle Wales’s major policy challenges, and how it would represent Welsh interests at Westminster after nearly three decades of Labour dominance.

In February, the party set out its plan for its first 100 days in government. This focused on improving healthcare, raising education standards, boosting the economy and reforming government.

Alongside these priorities, its manifesto calls for further powers to be devolved to the Senedd. These include greater tax powers, justice and policing, rail services and infrastructure, and the Crown Estate, which oversees things like the sea bed and mineral rights in much of the countryside.

Yet there has also been a noticeable change in tone on the party’s long-term constitutional aims. Our research examined how Plaid Cymru covered these issues in the 2021 Senedd election. Compared with five years ago, Welsh independence is significantly less prominent in both its current manifesto and campaign.

The timetable has softened too. There’s no longer a commitment to holding a referendum on independence in its first term of government. Instead, Plaid describes Wales as being “on a journey” to independence. It has committed to producing a policy on Welsh independence but with no referendum timeframe.

By downplaying its long-term constitutional ambitions in this way, and focusing on the more immediate policy challenges facing Wales, Plaid Cymru is approaching this Senedd election as many other pro-independence parties have done across Europe. A similar strategy helped the Scottish National Party win power in 2007 and remain in government for the next 19 years.

A ‘degradation in belief that Labour stood for Wales,’ says Plaid Cymru leader – Sky News.

From polling strength to political power

Strong polling does not guarantee power, however, and Plaid faces several obstacles. Opponents continue to highlight its commitment to independence.

Support for independence among the Welsh public remains relatively low – only 26% of respondents in a recent YouGov poll agreed that Wales should be an independent country. Plaid’s challenge is to persuade sceptical voters that this isn’t the most important issue in Wales for the next four years.

The new electoral system also presents fresh uncertainties. This election will use a fully proportional model, with 96 members elected across 16 constituencies. Success will now depend on broad support across Wales. That’s a test for a party whose organisational strength has traditionally been concentrated in the north and west.

The new system is also likely to produce a more fragmented Senedd, with a wider range of parties represented. That could make post-election negotiations decisive, shaping who is able to lead a government and how stable it is.

Anwen Elias, Reader in Politics, Aberystwyth University and Elin Royles, Reader at the Department of International Politics and Centre for Welsh Politics and Society, Aberystwyth University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage's chasing the racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.

Continue ReadingA new Welsh electoral landscape puts Plaid Cymru within reach of power

Cuba’s victory at Playa Girón and Castro’s legacy inspire renewed calls for global anti-imperialist solidarity

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Article by Nicholas Mwangi republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

US forces captured in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This month’s Anti-Fascist Friday in South Africa commemorated and reflected on the victory at the Bay of Pigs invasion, known in Cuba as Playa Girón, as well as the centenary of Fidel Castro. The event was addressed by Cuban diplomat Jesus Perz and veteran figure of South Africa’s liberation struggle Ronnie Kasrils.

On April 17, the Anti-Fascist Friday Forum in South Africa convened at the Forge in Johannesburg, marking two historic milestones: the centenary of Fidel Castro and the 65th anniversary of the victory at Playa Girón. The event was organized as a political intervention linking past revolutionary victories to the urgent tasks of confronting imperialism today. The event was addressed by Cuban diplomat Jesus Perz and veteran figure of the South African liberation struggle Ronnie Kasrils.

“Imperialism is not invincible” – Cuba’s defining moment

Opening the discussion, Jesus Perz delivered a detailed historical account of the events leading up to the invasion, emphasizing the political clarity and mass mobilization that defined Cuba’s response.

“On April 15, United States forces bombarded Cuban airfields to destroy our capacity to defend ourselves on air,” Perz explained. “But instead of weakening us, it prepared our people politically and militarily for what was coming.”

He described how, just a day later, a mass demonstration in Havana became a turning point.

“It was on April 16, during a massive gathering to honor those killed in the bombings, that Fidel Castro declared the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution,” Perz said. “He called on the people: ‘Let us march to the front, let us take up arms, and let us face the enemy with conviction.’”

The location holds symbolic importance. Playa Girón, he said, “Was an area where poor and humble Cubans lived, people for whom the revolution was made. The choice of that site by US imperialism shows clearly who they were targeting, the most oppressed.”

According to Perz, the battle that followed was fundamentally unequal, yet transformative.

“On one side, CIA-trained mercenaries. On the other, workers, peasants, women, Black Cubans, people who had never before held power,” he said. “And in less than 72 hours exactly, the invasion was defeated.”

Read more: Why the US wants to destroy Cuba

He stressed the broader significance of the victory:

“This was not only a military defeat of the United States. It was a defeat of imperialism by socialism. It showed the world that a small nation, organized and conscious, can defeat a superpower.”

Cuban diplomat in South Africa Jesus Perz and renowned South African anti-apartheid activist and veteran of the struggle Ronnie Kasrils. Photo: PAT

From military defeat to economic warfare

Perz explained that after its failure at Playa Girón, the United States shifted its strategy toward long-term destabilization.

“In 1960, US officials made it clear, if they could not defeat the revolution militarily, they would try to suffocate it economically,” he said. “The objective was to create hardship, lack of food, lack of medicine, so that the Cuban people would turn against their own government.”

He drew direct parallels to the present:

“What we are experiencing today is not new. The blockade, the pressure, the attempts to isolate Cuba, these are continuations of that same policy.”

Despite these pressures, Perz pointed out Cuba’s refusal to abandon its principles.

Read more: “This is our Moncada, our Bay of Pigs,” says young Cuban communist leader

“In the 1980s, we were told that if we stopped supporting African liberation struggles, the blockade could be lifted,” he said. “Our answer was clear; no. There is no possibility of abandoning our brothers and sisters in Africa.”

He situated this stance as important to Cuban identity:

“Internationalism is not optional for us. It is how we repay our debt to humanity. Our ancestors came from Africa, our strength, our resistance, our courage are rooted there. To abandon Africa would be to abandon ourselves.”

Kasrils: “The Cuban Revolution shaped our struggle”

Taking the floor, Ronnie Kasrils connected Cuba’s revolutionary experience to Africa’s liberation struggles, drawing from decades of personal involvement in the anti-apartheid movement.

Looking at the Cuban flag hanging on the wall, Kasrils remarked, “The Cuban flag stands for national independence, freedom, and anti-fascism.” “Its meaning has penetrated deeply into the consciousness of our struggle here in South Africa.”

He described how Cuba entered his political consciousness in the early 1960s.

“I had just joined the struggle as a young student after the Sharpeville massacre,” he recalled. “Within the movement, we began singing, ‘Go take the country the Castro way…’ That was the mood.”

Kasrils highlighted the decisive role Cuba played in Africa, particularly in Angola.

“When Angola was under threat from apartheid South Africa, from CIA-backed forces, it was Cuba that responded,” he said. “Not as invaders, but at the request of the Angolan people, to defend their sovereignty.”

He described the impact of this intervention:

“The Cuban presence changed the balance of forces. It was central to the defeat of apartheid’s regional aggression and contributed directly to our own liberation.”

Read more: Angola’s debt to Cuba is unfinished

Further he said; “[I] had the privilege of being in Cuba in a delegation led by Joe Slovo. We met Fidel Castro in the defense headquarters. He explained the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, how Cuban and Angolan forces dealt a decisive blow that led to Namibia’s independence and impacted South Africa’s freedom. Our freedom was driven by internal forces, but international solidarity was enormous.”

Humanity in struggle

A recurring theme in Kasrils’ remarks was the centrality of ordinary people in revolutionary struggle.

“Fidel said the revolution is of the humblest, by the humblest, and for the humblest,” he said. “When the humblest are armed with consciousness as well as weapons, real change becomes possible.”

He stressed that this principle remains relevant today.

“Revolutionary intellectuals are vital,” Kasrils noted, “but the link must always be with the humblest. They are the ones who stay with you to the end.”

National sovereignty and global struggle

Both speakers discussed the importance of sovereignty in contemporary struggles.

“The most important principle,” Kasrils argued, “is national sovereignty and independence. Without it, nothing else is possible.”

However, he warned against viewing struggles in isolation.

“The connection between Havana and Tehran, between Palestine and Africa, is not accidental,” he said. “These are all fronts in the same struggle against imperialism.”

Read more: Iran shows that sovereignty stems from military self-sufficiency and anti-colonialism, says Iranian professor

Perz echoed this sentiment:

“We are always open to dialogue with any country,” he said. “But it must be based on respect for our sovereignty, our independence, and our dignity as a people.”

With deepening crisis, widening inequalities, and intensifying imperialist interventions, the Anti-Fascist Friday gathering made clear that the anniversaries of Fidel Castro and the victory over the Bay of Pigs invasion are more than moments of remembrance, they are calls to action.

Article by Nicholas Mwangi republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingCuba’s victory at Playa Girón and Castro’s legacy inspire renewed calls for global anti-imperialist solidarity

Answering Trump’s war threats, Cuban workers plan mass May Day defense rallies

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Article by Cameron Harrison republished from People’s World under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

Defense of the homeland will be the central theme of May Day rallies in Cuba this year, in accordance with a call by the country’s main labor federation. | AP

HAVANA—As the Trump administration tightens its energy blockade on Cuba and threatens war and regime change, the Cuban labor movement—along with all of Cuban society—is gearing up for a mass mobilization on May 1. The Workers’ Central Union of Cuba (CTC) and its affiliates have issued a call for this year’s May Day, International Workers’ Day, to “defend the homeland.”

Their labor movement’s call comes at a moment of maximum pressure. On Jan. 29, the White House imposed a total oil blockade on Cuba, cutting off nearly all fuel supplies to the island of 11 million people. Countries that dare to send oil face extreme sanctions. Combined with the intensified economic, commercial, and financial blockade that has suffocated Cuba for more than 65 years, the new measures aim to starve the Revolution into submission.

Now, the U.S.’ economic war is also poised to possibly become a fighting war. On April 15, USA Today reported that the Pentagon is speeding up plans for a potential U.S. military operation against Cuba, awaiting a directive from President Donald Trump as to when they might strike. The threat comes amid recent statements by Trump that “Cuba is next” after Iran and that he will “take” the island.

Cuban workers are not backing down

“Faced with the growing threats from the U.S. government, reinforced by the executive order of Jan. 29, which added an energy blockade to the already intensified embargo that has been imposed on us for more than 65 years simply for wanting to build a dignified, sovereign, and independent nation, there is nothing more important and decisive today than to work together and grow as a country,” the CTC declared in their May Day call.

The labor federation urged workers to celebrate May Day in militant parades and events in every workplace, town, municipality, and province.

“It is a call to defend the country, from the fields, the factories, the classrooms, the scientific centers, thermoelectric plants, hospitals, culture, sports; from every battle trench.”

‘We have not collapsed’

Cuba is facing its worst energy crisis in decades. Before the energy blockade, the country consumed about 110,000 barrels of oil per day, with 40,000 produced domestically and the rest imported from partners like Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia. Since January, that supply has virtually dried up. Only one Russian tanker has reached Cuban ports in three months, covering barely a third of monthly fuel demand.

The result is devastating, with major cities at a standstill, industry paralyzed, food becoming scarce, and hospitals struggling. Power blackouts have now become routine. Yet the Cuban people, their government, and the Communist Party refuse to break.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel and former President Raúl Castro lead a march in Havana on Dec. 20, 2025. | Marcelino Vázquez / Cubadebate

In an extensive interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected the narrative of collapse.

“What country in the world would be capable, as Cuba has done, of enduring 67 years of sustained aggression from the most powerful nation in the world, with more than 60 years of blockade, with the last six or seven years of an intensified blockade, and now with an energy blockade, and not collapse? We have not collapsed.”

Díaz-Canel pointed to Cuba’s universal healthcare, free education from primary school to university, advances in biotechnology, and a safe society free of drug trafficking and organized crime.

“They are trying to impose a narrative of collapse on us when, through an aggressive, genocidal policy of blockade, they are leading us to live through a complex situation.”

Prepared to defend the revolution

When asked if Cuba is actively preparing for a possible U.S. attack, Díaz-Canel was direct: “Yes, we are preparing for defense.”

He recalled the words of 19th-century independence hero Antonio Maceo: “He will only gather the dust of his blood-soaked soil if he does not perish in the struggle.” Díaz-Canel added, “If you go out on the street now and say the first part of that phrase to a child, an elderly person, a young Cuban, they will immediately complete it. That is how we have been raised.”

Díaz-Canel also dismissed any notion that removing him, which the Trump administration and particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio demand, would break the revolution.

“We have a collective leadership characterized by unity, cohesion, ideological unity, and revolutionary discipline. Removing one person solves nothing. There are hundreds of people capable of assuming that responsibility.

“The United States cannot impose change on us, nor can they demand it. The U.S. government has no moral authority to demand anything from Cuba.”

The Trump administration’s objectives remain murky. While Rubio — himself the son of Cuban migrants — has signaled a desire for regime change, the White House may be pursuing a more “pragmatic” goal: forced economic “liberalization” that benefits U.S. monopolies and billionaires.

According to reports, Washington seeks access to Cuba’s energy, ports, tourism, and telecom sectors, along with larger private enterprise, banking opening, and dismantling of state-owned enterprises.

‘Hands off Cuba!’

International solidarity with Cuba, a principle of working-class internationalism, continues to grow. The World Federation of Trade Unions’ (WFTU) week of action in solidarity with Cuba just concluded, and the international labor federation will continue to organize and mobilize its affiliates and members to stand in solidarity with Cuban workers.

Countries such as Mexico, Russia, China, Vietnam, and Spain have also expressed support for Cuba. More than 100 activists, trade unionists, and even European Parliament members recently arrived in Havana with half-a-million euros in humanitarian aid.

The Communist Party USA has also weighed in, demanding an immediate end to the criminal blockade and Cuba’s removal from the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list. In the party’s May Day call, it declared: “Hands off Cuba! No war on Iran! Cut the military budget! End the forever wars! U.S. imperialism must be defeated!

“The same monopolies that drive down our wages and bust our unions operate internationally,” the party said. “They consciously pit workers of different countries against each other, including in wars, to maximize profits. Our resistance must reflect international solidarity.”

May Day as resistance

For this May Day, the CTC is invoking the legacy of independence hero José Martí, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in his centennial year, and Army General Raúl Castro.

“We invite Cuba’s friends around the world to join us, as they do every year, in celebrating International Workers’ Day,” the CTC said.

“We thank them in advance for their solidarity and for having the courage to share our fate amidst a real military threat, which, far from intimidating us, makes us repeat, with optimism and confidence in victory, the glorious verse of our national anthem: ‘To die for the Fatherland is to live.’”

Díaz-Canel echoed that: “If the time comes, there will be a fight, there will be a battle. We will defend ourselves, and if we must die, we will die.”

But he also held out hope for dialogue. “What both the American and Cuban people deserve is peace—a peace that allows us to have an atmosphere of trust, cooperation, collaboration, solidarity, and understanding. Lift the embargo, and see what we can do.”

As May Day approaches, Cuban workers are preparing to march—not in desperation, but in determination. The homeland, they insist, will be defended.

People’s World is in the midst of its annual fund drive, trying to raise $140,000 by May Day. To support working-class journalism, please consider make a donation or become a monthly sustainer. Thank you.

Article by Cameron Harrison republished from People’s World under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Continue ReadingAnswering Trump’s war threats, Cuban workers plan mass May Day defense rallies

‘No Patient Deserves This’: Doctors, Nurses Say Trump Blockade Is Killing Sick Cubans

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Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A doctor talks to a patient in the cardiology room of the Calixto Garcia Hospital in Havana on February 12, 2024.
 (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)

“We do everything with love to assist people, but the reality right now is that we don’t have enough resources,” said one Cuban doctor, who added that “the main cause of everything is the USA.”

The Trump administration’s oil blockade of Cuba—an escalation of the 65-year US stranglehold on the socialist island’s economy—is killing Cubans amid a severe shortage of electricity and critical basic medical supplies, doctors and nurses there told reporters this week.

“I can’t tell you how many deaths, but I’m sure there are more than in the same period last year,” Dr. Alioth Fernandez, chief anesthesiologist at William Soler Pediatric Hospital in Havana, told The New York Times in an article published Friday. “I see it in shift handovers, in colleagues’ comments, and in children I’ve operated on.”

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Cuba’s universal healthcare system is internationally known. Its “Army of White Coats” has been deployed around the world, both to provide routine and specialized care, as well as during emergencies such as the Haiti earthquake, Sierra Leone Ebola outbreak, and Covid-19 pandemic in Italy.

Despite decades of success under increasingly adverse conditions, Cuba’s vaunted health system is under tremendous strain, due in no small part to the cumulative effects of generations of US economic sanctions.

“Since I was born, this is the most difficult time, without any doubt,” José Carlos, a resident intern at Havana Cardiology Institute, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday. “We do everything with love to assist people, but the reality right now is that we don’t have enough resources.”

The lack of fuel is limiting ambulance service and keeping many doctors and other medical professionals from commuting to hospitals that are canceling surgeries and discharging patients early. As Common Dreams reported earlier this week, more than 96,000 Cubans—including 11,000 children—are waiting for surgery due to the fuel shortage.

“Everything is hitting us—energy, resources, transportation,” Carlos told the CBC.

When the lights go out, neonatal nurses use hand-pumped ventilators to keep infants alive. Without power, hospitals and clinics can’t administer chemotherapy cycles or dialysis treatments.

“I don’t know how long we can keep going,” Xenia Álvarez, the mother of a 21-year-old man who suffers a rare genetic disease and requires full-time use of a ventilator, told The New York Times.

Shortages of basic medicines and supplies are forcing doctors to substitute medications, delay treatments, or even ask patients’ relatives to find supplies themselves. Antibiotics, painkillers, and medications to treat chronic diseases are scarce, as are gloves, syringes, and diagnostic equipment. Hospital staff also report difficulty maintaining sterile conditions.

While the US government claims that humanitarian goods like medicine are exempt from sanctions, critics counter that the fuel blockade, along with severe restrictions on banking and shipping, effectively block many medical supplies from reaching the island. The Trump administration has also been pressuring countries into expelling the lifesaving Cuban medical teams, sparking widespread outrage and condemnation.

After the Fidel Castro-led revolution that ousted the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, the United States imposed an economic embargo on the island that has been perennially condemned by an overwhelming majority of United Nations member states for 33 years. Cuba says US sanctions have cost its economy more than $200 billion in inflation-adjusted losses.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently admitted that the economic chokehold is meant to force political change in Cuba while simultaneously disparaging the Cuban economy as “dysfunctional.”

Rubio also said that although President Donald Trump is currently focused on the US-Israeli war of choice on Iran—one of seven nations attacked since the self-proclaimed “president of peace” returned to the White House—he would “be doing something with Cuba very soon.”

Trump said earlier this month that he believes he’ll “be having the honor of taking Cuba,” language echoing the 19th century US imperialists who conquered the island along with Puerto Rico and the Philippines from Spain.

In addition to patients, the crisis in Cuba is also taking a physical and psychological toll on Cuban doctors—who, even with a recent raise earn just 100 pesos, or about $2.40, per 12-hour shift. This, in a country in which a dozen eggs cost nearly $10. Many doctors rely upon side hustles to get by.

“Doctors’ pay is just for basic things,” said Carlos. “It doesn’t allow you to buy many things in the supermarket or go to a restaurant or a hotel, or things like that.”

Breakdowns and burnout are on the rise.

“I’ve seen doctors cry,” one physician, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told Reuters. “With this crisis, they cry. They’ve stopped working, they’ve become depressed. You can see it on their faces.”

Despite the worsening situation, Carlos told the CBC that he does not want to leave Cuba, and blamed the US for the crisis.

“The main cause of everything is the USA,” he said. “I have no doubt about that.”

Some do want to leave, blaming their own government as well the US embargo for Cuba’s suffering. Others are taking things one day at a time.

“We don’t know what will happen,” a nurse who gave only her first name, Rita, told the CBC, “so we just keep working.”

The mounting—and preventable—deaths in Cuba are prompting renewed calls for the US to lift sanctions on Cuba.

“No patient deserves this. Trump’s cruel Cuban blockade is killing people unnecessarily,” National Nurses United, the largest US nurses’ union, said on social media Friday. “Depriving Cubans of essential resources needed to sustain life and health is an unconscionable violation of human rights. Nurses say: End the blockade now!”

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) also weighed in during a Thursday floor speech in which she said that “Cuba poses no threat to us, yet we are strangling an entire nation with economic warfare.”

“Families are going without food. Water systems are failing. Hospitals are struggling to stay open,” she continued. “These tactics are designed to suffocate an island into submission. Make no mistake: This unconscionable suffering is occurring because Trump is trying to force regime change.”

“Hands off Cuba,” Omar added. “End the blockade now.”

Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue Reading‘No Patient Deserves This’: Doctors, Nurses Say Trump Blockade Is Killing Sick Cubans

‘As much as the United States would wish otherwise, Cuba is not alone’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/much-united-states-would-wish-otherwise-cuba-not-alone

 Activists wave Cuban and Palestinian flags from the vessel Maguro, arriving from Mexico with humanitarian aid as part of the “Nuestra America,” or Our America convoy, in Havana Bay, Cuba, March 24, 2026

Over 100 MPs call on PM to oppose Trump’s oil blockade on Cuba

MORE than 100 MPs have voiced “grave concern” over Donald Trump’s Cuba oil blockade, calling on PM Sir Keir Starmer to oppose the US president’s “collective punishment” of its civilian population.

Ministers were urged to reject Washington’s threat to slap tariffs on any other country that ships fuel to the island after it kidnapped Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

The US has blocked Venezuelan oil supplies to Cuba’s socialist government, which said last week that it had not received any ​fuel in three months. 

Your Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Green, SDLP, and Lib Dem MPs have now signed an early day motion by Labour MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr Steve Witherden.

Mr Corbyn told the Morning Star: “The aim of the criminal and inhumane blockade by the US is clear: to starve the Cuban people into submission. They will not succeed.

“As much as the United States would wish otherwise, Cuba is not alone.”

They collectively called on the government to reject the “unjustifiable” sanctions and US claims that Cuba poses an “extraordinary” threat.

…

Socialist MP Richard Burgon, who was in Cuba this weekend delivering humanitarian aid with an international delegation, said: “In Cuba I saw the cruel consequences of Trump’s total ban on fuel entering the country, including its impact on the ability to provide healthcare to those in need. 

“Cutting off fuel to an entire country is an inhumane attempt by Trump to strangle the Cuban people into submission. It is illegal and it’s putting lives at risk.

“The UK rightly votes against the US blockade at the UN each year, but that must now be matched with action. It should follow Spain’s example and provide emergency humanitarian aid.”

Green Party parliamentary leader Dr Ellie Chowns said: “Trump has intensified his threats against Cuba following the collapse of the island nation’s energy grid under a US-imposed oil blockade, declaring just yesterday that he believes he will ‘take’ the country and ‘could do anything [he] want[s] with it. This cannot continue.”

Cuba Solidarity Campaign director Rob Miller said his group is delighted with the number of MPs who have signed the motion, saying: “Together they represent over seven million UK constituents. 

“We now hope the UK government will move quickly to send humanitarian support to Cuba, a country with which we have had full diplomatic and friendly relations for over 120 years.”

…

Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/much-united-states-would-wish-otherwise-cuba-not-alone

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

Continue Reading‘As much as the United States would wish otherwise, Cuba is not alone’