Alan MacLeod reports on the internationalist convoy that traveled by land, sea and air to arrive in Havana on Saturday carrying dozens of public figures, including Hasan Piker, Greta Thunberg, Jeremy Corbyn and the Irish hip-hop band Kneecap.
People in Minneapolis hold up a banner in support of Cuba earlier this year. (Ann Wright)
By Alan MacLeod
MintPress News
Amid a crushing (and illegal) U.S. blockade, dozens of public figures, including Hasan Piker, Greta Thunberg, Jeremy Corbyn, and Kneecap are in Cuba to deliver aid to the island.
Traveling by land, sea, and air, this internationalist brigade, known as the Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba, converged on Havana on Saturday in order to defy the Trump administration’s regime change attempts, and show solidarity with the Cuban people.
“Right now, the United States is tightening its siege on Cuba,” said political streamer Hasan Piker, explaining his decision to join the convoy, adding:
“Fuel shipments are blocked. Flights grounded, critical supplies cut off. Donald Trump has even threatened a ‘friendly takeover’ of the island. For Washington, the message is simple: submit – or suffer.”
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is also in Havana to stand up for what she calls “the right of the Cuban people to build their own society, free from siege and economic sabotage.” she added:
“The Trump administration is waging illegitimate wars across the world, killing countless people, deliberately, openly and methodically. The pedophile Trump himself bragged about it, saying ‘there’s an embargo, there’s no oil, there’s no money. There is no anything.’ ”
The Swedish organizer, who was once a media darling but has fallen from favor due to her support for Palestinian liberation, also referenced Cuba’s long history of solidarity with the Global South and with oppressed peoples across the planet.
“Cuba did not stay silent when the world needed it,” she said, noting how the country sends its doctors far and wide to help with pandemics and natural disasters.
She also explained how Cuba stood up to Apartheid South Africa, even when rich countries tacitly supported the racist project. Cuba sent troops to Africa to fight the white nationalist armies, dealing them a crushing military and ideological blow from which they never recovered.
“When liberation movements were fighting for independence from colonial rule across Africa… Cuba stood in solidarity. Not just in words, but in actions, with real material support. Cuba stood up for the world, and now, it is time for the world to stand up for Cuba,” Thunberg said.
Sensing an opportunity, the Trump administration is attempting to crush the Cuban Revolution once and for all. On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump declared the island an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, and declared that any nation selling it oil would receive giant tariffs.
The result has been an energy blackout in the Caribbean nation. With no oil, both public and private transport has ground to a halt. With little electricity, businesses have shuttered and public services have been suspended. Even Cuba’s famous healthcare system is sputtering, starved of the medicines, products, and machines it needs to function.
First boat of a flotilla carrying medical supplies, food and solar panels has reached Cuba to aid the island as a US fuel blockade deepens its energy crisishttps://t.co/ylGMtTSobQ pic.twitter.com/kIM59hXgLI
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 25, 2026
“I think something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly,” Trump predicted. Luis De Jesus Reyes, a Havana-based journalist, was not so sure, however, telling MintPress that, although there are sporadic protests across the country, they are not counter-revolutionary in nature, and are more of an expression of popular frustration.
The Cuban people, he said, are well-educated, and know exactly why they are suffering. But, he said, for Cubans, surrendering is simply not an option.
“The U.S. is suffocating the Cuban people with its criminal and inhumane blockade,” former U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is also joining the convoy, said. “We cannot sit idly by. That’s why we are mobilizing to Cuba, bringing critical humanitarian aid for its people.”
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The humanitarian aid in question consists of tens of tons of urgently-needed drugs, medical supplies, generators, and other essential items.
Other prominent figures traveling to Cuba with the Nuestra America Convoy include Irish hip-hop band Kneecap, union organizer Chris Smalls, Spanish political leader, Pablo Iglesias, and journalists such as Katie Halper, Owen Jones, and Nathan Robinson.
Washington’s obsession with destroying Cuba began immediately after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, which saw Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista.
Since then, despite extraordinary hardships, and a 66-year U.S. blockade that the State Department itself described as an attempt to bring about “hunger, desperation and overthrow of government,” Cuba has achieved remarkable successes, including full literacy, a world-class healthcare system, sustainable agriculture, and perhaps the highest standard of living in a poor country anywhere in the world.
Part of the country’s Communist ideology is to help others. Cuban doctors have helped contend with Ebola in West Africa, battled the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe and Latin America, and restored the sight of some 2 million people in 35 countries for free.
They have also trained tens of thousands of foreign doctors for free, on the proviso that they return to their home countries and care for underprivileged communities. This includes dozens of Americans, many of whom spoke to MintPress News for a 2020 article on the country’s famous medical system.
For many around the world, despite the hardships it endures, Cuba stands as a ray of light, an example of what a better world could look like. For the U.S. government, the island is a threat for the same reason; a dangerous idea that must be stamped out.
While it is unclear if Trump will get his wish, or merely be able to make the Cuban people suffer unnecessarily, what is evident is that Cuba is not alone in its struggle.
Alan MacLeod is senior staff writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.
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Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
This , a positive .
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Iran-Russia Oil Cooperation:
The “Axis of Evasion”: Both nations, along with China, operate an alternative energy market, exchanging logistics and banking methods to bypass Western sanctions.
Swap Agreements: They have engaged in “oil-for-goods” swaps since 2014, allowing Russia to purchase Iranian oil in exchange for equipment.
Gas/Oil Deals: In 2025/2026, agreements aimed at Russian investment in Iranian oilfields were pursued, along with deals for Russia to supply natural gas to Iran.
Atlantic Council
Atlantic Council
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While they are competitors, they often operate in tandem regarding logistics to maintain market access, with Russia generally benefiting from higher energy prices driven by, or following, conflicts involving Iranian oil, notes CNBC.
CNBC
CNBC
This was posted in reference to a russian tanker bringing oil to Cuba .
After your friendly incursion . Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba <<
In a "Uniter State" sort of way ? , so trenchant
It is easy to mock those who spend and risk their lives defending the oppressed but who appear to achieve very little. They speak softly but definitely do not carry the big stick so proudly held (behind the back) by self-proclaimed ‘Good Guys’. A previous contribution tries to belittle their efforts using crude analogies. If I wanted an analogy for the current situation, it would be to the methods of the Komodo Dragon – no sucking here, just a simple bite and sit back and wait – no antidote, no relief, no hope. Apply as appropriate.
It was only on visiting Cuba that I began (finally) to realise the horrors of colonisation (including on-going) and slavery. What a truly great country Cuba could become if only it were free to live and progress in peace.
A British MP who has skulked about parliament for decades sucking from the public teat providing zero value; a child groomed by her rapacious parents to be some sort of modern day Joan of arc, child abuse really, and some non entity ‘entertainer’. I am sure the Cubans sighed with relief knowing that the tide must now surely have turned.
How often do the western, especially u.s.- “elites” still have to prove to the world that they are outright severe mass murdering criminals, until it is finally them who get sanctioned??
You can’t undermine the Empire of War Greed and Hypocrisy and expect to get away with it.
Ryan Grim’s interview with Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt (March 24, 2026) after traveling to Cuba as a journalist alongside the “Nuestra América” Convoy is truly a thing of beauty!
It sounds like the US version of Puerto Rico after a hurricane for months afterward.
People forget, because it was deliberately shoved down the “memory hole” by the MSM, that after Hurricane Katrina the Shrub Madministration turned back a Cuban ship full of volunteer doctors and medicine and a Venezuelan ship loaded with fuel for the emergency generators for the hospitals and shelters.
quote”
“They have also trained tens of thousands of foreign doctors for free, on the proviso that they return to their home countries and care for underprivileged communities. This includes dozens of Americans, many of whom spoke to MintPress News for a 2020 article on the country’s famous medical system.”
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The carers of us sheeple , a trade not taught on epstein isle .