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International Convoys Deliver Aid to Cuba as Russian Tanker Moves to Defy US Oil Blockade
"People are looking at Trump's siege of this island with horror," said convoy organizer David Adler. "They understand... if it's successfully applied on a small, peaceful island nation like Cuba, they could be next."
Mar 19, 2026
As the United States strangles Cuba with an economic blockade, a convoy of activists from around the world is seeking to break it by traveling to the island with more than five tons of humanitarian aid.
The “Nuestra America Convoy” began arriving on the island on Wednesday with more than five tons of desperately needed supplies valued at more than $570,000.
Progressive International, the transnational left-wing organization that organized the campaign, said on Thursday that it had already delivered several tons of medical supplies to hospitals around Havana. They included cancer drugs, antibiotics, pain medication, surgical materials, and treatments for chronic conditions.
Attempts are also underway to directly defy the US oil blockade. On Wednesday, The Guardian reported that a sanctioned Russian tanker had set sail for Cuba with more than 730,000 barrels of crude oil and was expected to make landfall on March 23. Cuba has not imported any oil since January 9.
The activists arrived in Cuba days after the island was roiled by a total blackout amid the American blockade, which has effectively cut off 90% of its fuel imports—disrupting everything from medical care to food harvesting to garbage collection.
President Donald Trump enacted the blockade in January via an executive order, threatening to place tariffs on any nation selling oil to Cuba in a bid to cripple the island's economy and force regime change, after more than 60 years of a crushing US embargo.
As the crisis on the island escalated this week, the president threatened to take the island outright, saying he could "do anything I want with it."
"The consequences of the US blockade are lethal, for newborns and parents, for the elderly and the sick," the organizers of the convoy said. "That is why we are mobilizing by air, land, and sea in solidarity with the Cuban people."
The project began as a small flotilla, but has morphed into a much broader effort and attracted support from well-known public figures, including former UK Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Other famous faces, including the Swedish humanitarian and climate activist Greta Thunberg, the journalists Ryan Grim and Owen Jones, the left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, and the Irish rap group Kneecap, are also expected to travel to Cuba as part of the convoy.
More than 120 activists from at least 19 countries touched down with the convoy's first delegation at Havana's airport on Wednesday. But they are just the first of several groups expected to arrive in the coming days.
Several more vessels from Mexico are expected to arrive on the island on Saturday, carrying "food, medicine, and essential supplies." In total, activists with the effort hope to transport 20 tons of aid.
"When we first put out this call to respond to the aggravated humanitarian crisis on the island, thousands of people heard that call," said David Adler, the co-coordinator of Progressive International.
"People are looking at Trump's siege of this island with horror," he said, "not only because it has disastrous consequences... but also because they understand that this really barbaric tactic of a siege, if it's successfully applied on a small, peaceful island nation like Cuba, they could be next."
The activists involved in the effort have said they took inspiration from the Global Sumud Flotilla that attempted to break Israel's siege of Gaza with humanitarian aid last fall. However, the effort to provide aid to Cuba is very different.
Whereas the ships attempting to enter Gaza were intercepted by the Israeli military, activists entering Cuba are unlikely to face physical danger, as the blockade is not being enforced militarily and the Cuban government has welcomed their arrival.
(Video by The National)
Nathan J. Robinson and Alex Skopic, editors of the American left-wing magazine Current Affairs, who are traveling to Cuba as part of the convoy on Friday, said in an article published earlier this week they were outraged by the lack of action taken by the US government and other governments around the world, especially since it's "perfectly legal to bring humanitarian supplies to the island."
"The fact that it’s fallen to a handful of activists to carry out this work should bring shame to every elected official, everywhere in the world, who hasn’t launched a ship full of supplies to Havana," they said. "If this mission becomes a big enough international news story, perhaps more governments can be pressured to do exactly that."
"Beyond food, medicine, and energy infrastructure, this mission sends a message. As Americans, we want to make it crystal clear that the Trump administration does not speak for us, and we’re sickened by what Trump and [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio are doing to the Cuban people in the name of US foreign policy," they continued. "We’re determined to do what we can, and we’re going to make sure the people of Cuba do not stand alone."
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People Across Global South Condemn 'Imperialist' US-Israeli War on Iran
"No to war, no to regime change, no to oppression," said one South African labor federation.
Mar 03, 2026
People, groups, and governments across the Global South this week condemned the US-Israeli war on Iran, which one prominent international progressive organization slammed as "devoid of any legal justification."
The attack on Iran sparked large protests in countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, and Turkey, with demonstrators taking to squares and streets to condemn what many called a war of imperialist aggression waged by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
In South Africa—which is leading a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—labor, leftist, student, and Muslim groups are among those denouncing the war.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) issued a statement Tuesday proclaiming, "No to war, no to regime change, no to oppression."
"History has taught the global working class a bitter lesson: So-called 'interventions' in the name of democracy have left behind destruction, instability, and suffering for ordinary people, never liberation," SAFTU asserted. "From Iraq to Libya, from Syria to countless other theaters of intervention, it is workers and the poor who pay the highest price."
"The future of Iran belongs to its people, not to Washington, not to Tel Aviv, and not to foreign intelligence agencies," the federation stressed.
In Pakistan, at least 23 people were killed during demonstrations across the country on Sunday, including 10 protesters outside the US consulate in Karachi. US Marines reportedly opened fire on a crowd of people who attempted to storm the facility. Eleven others were killed in the northern city of Skardu, where people set a United Nations office ablaze. Two people were also slain in capital Islamabad.
At least nine people have been killed and 50 injured in violent clashes between police and protesters at the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
Hundreds of people had gathered to protest the killing of Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.
Clashes… pic.twitter.com/1QIeRjhL8M
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) March 1, 2026
The Progressive International (PI) cabinet published a statement condemning the war "in the strongest possible terms."
"The assault once again exposes the true character of US diplomacy," the group said. "Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington—mediated by Oman—were little more than a screen behind which the Trump administration coordinated an agenda of [a] 'major combat operation' under the banner of ‘Operation Epic Fury.’"
"Trump has been clear: This is a regime change offensive—devoid of any legal justification let alone authorization," the PI cabinet continued. "Trump has framed these strikes as 'preemptive,' necessary to eliminate 'imminent threats' and to defend national security. Yet Iran has made no immediate threats to the US. On the contrary, it is a long-standing ambition of the US and Israel to wage war on Iran—the lethal consequences of which will be borne by its people."
"Imperialist war does not liberate peoples—it subjugates them," the group added. "The evidence is found in the ruins of Gaza, Baghdad, and Tripoli, where bombs leveled cities and 'democracy promotion' left ashes in its wake."
Siphamandla Zondi, a professor of politics at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, told the Guardian that “this is a war of domination and subordination, therefore it has imperialist undertones and motives" and "makes the world unsafe for all of us.”
The International Migrants Alliance (IMA) issued a statement Monday calling the attack "against international law."
"The bombing in Iran has killed hundreds of people, most of them are children and civilians," the group said. "The aggression is part of the Israel-US renewed war to dominate the West Asia region and plunder their resources... For decades, the United States has armed, funded, and protected Israel’s military actions while destabilizing West Asia through sanctions, interventions, and war. The result is endless violence, displacement, and suffering for ordinary people."
"The ongoing attacks will create new waves of refugees," IMA added. "Families are forced to flee across borders that are increasingly militarized. Imperialist wars create a brutal cycle of forced migration: People are driven from their homes, safety, and future, only to face criminalization, detention, or exploitation as migrants and refugees abroad."
Indian-born academic Amitav Acharya, author of The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West, said in an interview with the Guardian that “many countries in the Global South are going to look for a coalition of powers that will stand up to the United States, as the United States is seen as so aggressive, so imperial."
Protests across India against Khamenei’s killing https://aje.news/nbir8t
[image or embed]
— Al Jazeera English (@aljazeera.com) March 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM
That sentiment was echoed across the developing world. In Brazil, the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) said: "Trump is a threat to the world. This is a criminal violation of Iranian sovereignty and international law."
"To justify the war, the United States lies by stating that Iran threatens the American people and the world," the party continued. "We already know this story: The 'weapons of mass destruction' of Iraq... have never been found. Trump invades Iran to defend American neocolonial interests and to give a message to the world that the American government does not accept the existence of independent countries in the world system."
"Once again, US imperialism and Israeli Zionism elect the path of war and barbarism, bombing civilian facilities and killing innocents," PSOL added. "We demand an immediate end to the bombing and express our total solidarity with the Iranian people."
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We Must Stop This Brutal, Imperialist War!
Marco Rubio made it clear in Munich: the US does not wage war for freedom, but for recolonization—whether in West Asia, or across the Western Hemisphere.
Mar 03, 2026
We, the Cabinet of the Progressive International, condemn in the strongest possible terms the US-Israel military assault on Iran—a devastating escalation that has already killed scores of civilians and propelled the world towards war.
The assault once again exposes the true character of US diplomacy. Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington—mediated by Oman—were little more than a screen behind which the Trump administration coordinated an agenda of “major combat operations” under the banner of ‘Operation Epic Fury.’
Trump has been clear: This is a regime change offensive—devoid of any legal justification let alone authorization. Trump has framed these strikes as “pre-emptive,” necessary to eliminate “imminent threats,” and to defend national security. Yet Iran has made no immediate threats to the US. On the contrary, it is a longstanding ambition of the US and Israel to wage war on Iran—the lethal consequences of which will be borne by its people.
These strikes did not begin today. They are an extension of a longer project to redraw the map of West Asia by force. From Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya to Syria, Yemen to Iran, each escalation is a stepping stone in a broader project to suffocate regional sovereignty in the service of US and Israeli interests. Each has left behind shattered states, displaced populations, and the wreckage of societies that dared to assert independence.
Imperialist war does not liberate peoples—it subjugates them. The evidence is found in the ruins of Gaza, Baghdad, and Tripoli, where bombs leveled cities and “democracy promotion” left ashes in its wake. Marco Rubio made it clear in Munich: the US does not wage war for freedom, but for recolonization—whether in West Asia, or across the Western Hemisphere.
We refuse to remain passive observers of this project to recolonize the planet. From the Cabinet of the Progressive International, we commit to working with members and allies across the world—in their factories and ports, parliaments and courts—to break the war machine that propels our species toward extinction.
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