#unblockcuba2021

BREAKING NEWS: A first-hand report from Cuba by Lars Bertling, Russell McClain and Sharon Black, reporters for Struggle-La Lucha, members of the Socialist Unity Party and representatives of the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly, participating in the 31st IFCO/Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan.

Havana, Nov. 16 — It was an all day ordeal on Monday, Nov. 15, on the U.S. side. We waited in grueling airport security lines and spent hours checking in. Two of our representatives barely got their passports. We had to get up at 5 a.m. and drive to the passport office in Miami and keep our fingers crossed.

But when we got to Cuba it was all worth it.

On landing our spirits soared and our energy returned. Cuban people and their leaders were waiting at the airport, along with a bevy of news media. Our group was literally the first delegation to travel to the newly opened Cuba, which had been closed to international visitors because of the pandemic. Nov. 15 was the opening of schools and services in Cuba and is also a day celebrating the anniversary of Havana.

By Leticia Martínez Hernández

The Red Bandanas are "a communion of those of us who feel and think about the homeland. We are black and white, students and workers, free women and men. We are artists, campesinos and guajiras, from the countryside and the city, from fields and towns. We are of different genders and sexual orientations, believers and non-believers."

They describe themselves as "social network activists, members of projects, collectives and civil society organizations, who on the basis our own self-organization and self-convocation seek to express ourselves."

Several collectives and civil society leaders came together via Telegram to organize an anti-imperialist action, as Cuba enters a new normality, to demonstrate their opposition to the unconventional warfare methods being used to disrupt the peace in Cuba and the continuing blockade, along with their support of all emancipatory struggles.

By Cheryl LaBash

I arrived on Wednesday. On Thursday, a nice doctor came by to check on my health. She impressed on the person I am renting from, who lives just down the hall, that there are stiff fines for both of us if I violate the quarantine. 

The fine is not what keeps me in the apartment. Every day, I watch the COVID-19 report. Eighty-six new cases, most in Havana, many from visitors. Respect for the Cuban medical system that has controlled the virus and avoided most deaths, without a vaccine, keeps me inside.

Lars Bertling, Russell McClain y Sharon Black, tres reporteros de Struggle-La Lucha, miembros del Partido Socialismo Unido y representantes de la Asamblea del Poder Popular de Baltimore están participando en la 31ª Caravana de la Amistad USA-Cuba IFCO Pastores por la Paz.

Habana, 16 de noviembre — Fue dificultoso todo el día el lunes 15 de noviembre en el lado estadounidense.  Esperamos en las agotadoras filas de seguridad del aeropuerto y pasamos horas registrándonos. Dos de nuestros representantes a duras penas obtuvieron sus pasaportes.  Tuvimos que levantarnos a las 5 a.m. y conducir hasta la oficina de pasaportes en Miami con la esperanza de obtenerlos.