Havana, May 18 (Prensa Latina) A shipment of approximately 1,600 tons of food and personal hygiene items from Mexico and Uruguay arrived in Cuba today, in a gesture of solidarity amid the tightening of the US blockade.

Photo: Abel Rojas (FotosPL)

The Mexican ambassador to Cuba, Miguel Ignacio Díaz, reported that this is the eighth shipment of solidarity aid for the Cuban population and highlighted that the action responds to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s commitment to supporting the Cuban people in the face of the economic blockade imposed by Washington.

The aid comes from both the Mexican government and civil organizations, unions and social groups that organized from the Zócalo in Mexico City.

Uruguay joined the initiative by accepting Mexico’s invitation to ship its donations on the same vessel, given the difficulties some countries face in getting their aid to the island.

For his part, the Cuban Minister of the Food Industry, Alberto López, expressed the deep gratitude of the Cuban people to the government of Mexico, headed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, as well as to the government of Uruguay, for this humanitarian gesture.

“Each of these food items represents the affection and closeness of the Mexican and Uruguayan people towards Cuba, and they will be received with the utmost responsibility and respect, with the commitment that they reach those who need them most: our children, our elderly, and our most vulnerable homes,” the Cuban official stated.

López stressed that the products arrive at a time of great economic hardship, aggravated by the intensification of the criminal blockade that the country suffers from the United States government, and constitute a true example of international solidarity.

“From the bottom of our Cuban hearts, we express our deepest gratitude for this humanitarian gesture, which will be remembered as a true example of brotherhood between our nations. Thank you very much, Mexico; thank you very much, Uruguay. Your help is a life-giving embrace of hope for Cuba and the world,” the minister concluded.

Uruguay’s ambassador to Cuba, Juan Andrés Canessa, highlighted that the donated powdered milk is being delivered within the framework of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Mexico.

He added that the fund, created in 2023, demonstrates the continuity and urgent need for regional integration and solidarity.

“This is part of the broad solidarity that the Uruguayan people are showing towards Cuba,” said the diplomat, who thanked Havana for receiving the donation and Mexico for facilitating logistical support.

The welcoming ceremony was attended by officials from the Communist Party of Cuba, Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva, and several ministers from the Caribbean nation.

ode/mks

May 15, 2026 — Belly of the Beast

For decades, politicians in Washington and Miami have claimed to speak for the Cuban-American community, creating a narrative to justify a policy of regime change through economic starvation.

But a growing movement of Cuban Americans is pushing back.

In the latest installment of our series U.S. Voices Against the Blockade, we meet Justine Medina, a Cuban American who grew up in Florida, the epicenter of anti-Cuba rhetoric.

Justin Medina is a barista and Cuban-American activist opposed to the embargo imposed by the U.S. government on Cuba, the island she considers her other homeland.

After multiple visits to Cuba, she says conditions have worsened: food shortages, scarcity of medicine and constant blackouts that make daily life harder.

According to Justine, this war, which has lasted 66 years and has intensified over time, only causes more suffering for the people. “I grew up hearing criticism of the Cuban government,” says Justine, who was raised in Florida. “But I also learned that the embargo should end.”

U.S. Voices Against the Blockade is a new series featuring Americans who oppose U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Watch Episode 3 to hear from Cuban-American activist Justine Medina and stay tuned to meet other U.S. activists who oppose the embargo.

Watch our video with Justine HERE.

Vatican City, May 17 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban ambassador to the Holy See, Leyde Rodríguez, highlighted today that the recent Holy Mass in the Vatican for the peace and development of his country demonstrated the positive bilateral ties.

• May 17, 2026

Regarding the liturgical celebration that took place on the night of May 15 at the Roman Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the diplomat told Prensa Latina that “we consider it an act of solidarity with the Cuban people in the difficult humanitarian conditions they face,” following an escalation of the aggressive policy of the United States.

Rodríguez noted that at the Holy Mass for Peace and Development in Cuba, officiated by Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the current context of threat against the territorial integrity of the island was denounced, given the aggressive nature of American imperialism.

“The Vatican has expressed its concern about the situation in Cuba and maintains a tradition of condemning the genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against the island, aggravated after the signing by President Donald Trump of the executive orders of January 29 and May 1 of this year,” he stressed.

Cardinal Czerny emphasized in his homily the Vatican’s position in favor of “a disarmed and disarming peace,” which enables development, and that is why this mass had that name, for peace and for development in Cuba, which has always been the objective of our social project,” he noted.

The call of Pope Leo XIV was recalled, that “all international controversies and conflicts should be resolved peacefully, through negotiation and diplomacy, and not through the use of force, and that peace should be the result of dialogue, not wars,” he asserted.

The Holy See, he said, “has been very clear, both in the messages of the Supreme Pontiff and in statements by the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin,” in pointing out that “it is Cuba that must resolve its problems among Cubans” while “it has opposed the use of force,” supporting dialogue and negotiation.

The ambassador stressed that “this first Holy Mass that has been organized reflects the positive diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Vatican, which will celebrate their 91st anniversary on June 7th, characterized by respect, mutual recognition, ethical and responsible diplomacy, with a constructive, frank and direct dialogue.”

“We agree on many issues on the current international agenda, such as respect for world peace, rejection of violence, preventive attacks, the use of force in conflict resolution, terrorism, as well as the need to eradicate poverty in the world.”

Both parties maintain a high level of concern for the preservation of the environment, the fight against climate change and its consequences, an issue that is precisely addressed by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Furthermore, “it is necessary to highlight the importance that both the Holy See and Cuba attach to multilateralism, to the existence of a world order based on international law,” the Cuban ambassador added in his statements to this news agency.

ode/orth

May 5, 2026 — Belly of the Beast

Imani Bashir is a Black American activist from Washington D.C. She visited to Cuba following a radical political tradition, one that includes Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, and Kwame Ture, figures who understood the Cuban Revolution as part of a broader struggle for liberation.

For Bashir, visiting Cuba wasn’t just political, it was personal. Seeing Afro-Cuban people, she says, was seeing people who look like her, who share her history, who have maintained their culture and dignity under decades of sanctions.

Her argument on the blockade is straightforward: Cuba has never been a threat to the United States. It has never put U.S. safety, its food supply, or resources at stake. “It has only been the other way around,” she says.

And on the U.S. government’s stated concern for the Cuban people: “I absolutely don’t think that the United States government wants to help the Cuban people, because the United States government doesn’t want to help the American people.”

U.S. Voices Against the Blockade is a series featuring U.S. citizens who oppose U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Watch Episode 2 and catch up on all previous episodes in the series.

May 9, 2026 — Belly of the Beast

As Washington doubles down on its economic war on Cuba, one young activist from Minneapolis packed his bag and flew to Havana. Lavish came not despite U.S. aggression, but because of it, to show solidarity with the Cuban people.

On International Workers’ Day, Lavish was joined by Josué, a young Cuban researcher who has been attending May Day marches since he was a child. The two come from different worlds, but found common ground in Havana.

​Watch our video with Lavish and Josué.

Chicago-born rapper Vic Mensa visited Cuba for the first time recently, and saw for himself the effects of the U.S. government’s economic war on the island.

Belly of the Beast’s Liz Oliva Fernández took a walk with him around Havana, where they talked about race, resistance and the pain inflicted by U.S. sanctions.

“From an American perspective, the pain of the world is often out of sight, out of mind,” he said.

Cuba didn’t just move Vic Mensa politically. It moved him personally, as a Black man, as a father as someone who carries both America and Africa inside him.

“What I like the most about this experience is seeing that there are Black people on this planet who can’t be broken,” he said.

Washington, May 8 (Prensa Latina) Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez reaffirmed that Cuba will safeguard its independence and stated that it “will exercise its right to legitimate self-defense to the very end, with the massive and overwhelming support of the people.”

In an interview with the American media outlet ABC News, the Foreign Minister was clear: “Cuba does not represent a threat to the United States: not to its national security, not to its foreign policy, not to its economy, not to the American way of life.”

“It appears that the United States government has chosen a dangerous path; a path that could lead to unimaginable consequences, to a humanitarian catastrophe, to genocide, to the loss of Cuban lives and young Americans; it could also lead to a bloodbath in Cuba,” he said.

Rodríguez stated that there has been no progress in the talks with the United States and dismissed the recent demands from the Donald Trump administration regarding political and economic reforms. “I can tell you that I see no progress,” he emphasized.

The Cuban foreign minister reiterated his willingness to engage in dialogue “on a wide variety of bilateral issues,” but emphasized that issues related to Cuba’s political system or internal affairs “are not on the table.”

Rodríguez refuted the false pretexts used by the Trump White House to justify a possible military aggression against Cuba, something “prohibited by international law,” he noted.

In recent weeks, the hostility of Trump and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has escalated with constant threats of future actions against the island “very soon”.

Trump has referred – with the mentality of a 21st-century conqueror – to “taking control of Cuba almost immediately” and threatens to deploy US aircraft carriers near its shores to, supposedly, force a surrender.

Since assuming his second term in the White House on January 20 of last year, President Trump has doubled down on his stance against Cuba. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order reversing belated but progressive measures taken by his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

Biden, who during his four years in the Oval Office remained in line with Trump’s policy towards Cuba, decided a week before the end of his presidency to remove the country from the unilateral and arbitrary United States list of alleged sponsors of terrorism.

Thus, in a cascade, the provisions arrived one after another, all destined to strangle the Caribbean nation with an unprecedented strengthening of the longest economic, financial and commercial blockade in history with the objective of overthrowing the Cuban Revolution or, that is, regime change.

He attacked remittances (they were suspended from January 31, 2025); he increased the persecution of Cuba’s international cooperation in the area of ​​health through pressure campaigns that made some countries give in, which abandoned that humanitarian program.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has also intensified its pursuit of the island’s financial operations; it ended the humanitarian parole program; it suspended visas for cultural, sports, and scientific exchanges; and in an unprecedented move after 23 years of suspension, Trump activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

On January 29, a year after his return to power, he signed an executive order declaring a national emergency regarding Cuba under the false argument that it constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

As a result, an energy blockade was imposed on the island, and punitive tariffs and secondary sanctions were threatened against any country, company, or shipping company that attempted to sell oil to Cuba, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of third-party states.

On May 1, Trump published a decree that expands his government’s unilateral coercive actions against Cuba, which are an extension of those announced in January, although he did not mention any specific entity or person at that time, but yesterday the Secretary of State revealed the Cuban entities and people included in this registry of penalties that demonstrates its extraterritoriality.

A recent vote (51-47) in the United States Senate rejected a Democratic initiative on war powers to limit possible military operations that Trump could order against Cuba without the authorization of Congress.

ro/dfm

Santiago, Chile, May 7 (Prensa Latina) Juan Andrés Lagos, a member of the Political Commission of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), warned that a military aggression by the United States against Cuba would mean a declaration of war against all the peoples of the continent.

By Carmen Esquivel

In an interview with Prensa Latina, Lagos referred to the recent statements by US President Donald Trump, who threatened to take over the island and announced the deployment of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln to its shores.

“I believe the Cuban people will resist on all fronts and to the bitter end,” the political leader said. Lagos considered it important for the UN to play a more prominent role in prevention and for organizations like the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to join forces in that direction. He recalled that governments like those of Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have already warned about the consequences of aggression, and Chile should also speak out because a military intervention would set a precedent that will affect us all in the future.

“Defending Cuba is defending the entire continent,” he stated.

Elsewhere in his interview, the CCP leader also addressed the new executive order signed by Trump, which includes more coercive measures, even of an extraterritorial nature, because they affect not only the country, but also companies that do business with Cuba.

I think this is a crime against humanity, an attempt at extermination, and it is important to characterize it as such because of the direct impacts on the survival of a people, he denounced.

He explained that there are many elements that demonstrate this, citing among them the impact on health, food, transportation, and energy.

For the writer and political analyst, the role of solidarity, including that of the American people, is very important to stop this escalation and maintain the region as a Zone of Peace.

npg/car