More medical aid en route to Cuba

Eighteen months after its launch, the Cuba Vive Medical Appeal for Cuba has raised more than £190,000 and will hopefully surpass £200,000 by the end of the year.

Two 40ft containers of life-saving medical aid are due to depart in July packed full of much-needed resources such as catheters, tracheostomy equipment, syringes, needles, surgical scrub, colostomy bags, wheelchairs, Zimmer frames, crutches, and specialist operating theatre supplies including eight operating beds.

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Watch messages of thanks from doctors and health workers at Havana’s Oncology Institute

Cuba Vive fundraising marked by UNISON

Hundreds of delegates, members of the national executive, regional secretaries and General Secretary Christina McAnea took part in a photo-call at UNISON conference in June to celebrate the incredible success of the Cuba Vive appeal and to further promote it amongst UNISON’s members.

CSC also held a busy fringe meeting which heard eye-witness reports from young members who had taken part in this year’s May Day Brigade.

Full report and photos

Plus reports from the CSC fringes at GMB and Unite the Union conferences.

A celebration of trade union internationalism

Tickets for the 2025 RMT Garden Party on 11 June sold out in advance, and those lucky enough to get one enjoyed a balmy summer’s evening at the RMT’s Maritime House in Clapham with food, drink, dancing, and music from legendary Cuban violinist Omar Puente and his salsa band Raíces Cubanas.

A great platform of speakers reminded people of the aim of the event – to raise money for medical aid for Cuba and awareness of the impact of the US blockade.

Full report and speeches

Your solidarity is not taken for granted – AGM message for CSC supporters

“We are in solidarity with Cuba, just as Cuba is in solidarity with just struggles around the world,” said CSC Chair Kevin Courtney as he opened CSC’s Annual General Meeting in June. With Cuba facing a particularly challenging period, the renewed attacks from a second Trump presidency featured heavily throughout as CSC members and affiliates discussed how to build and strengthen the solidarity movement in the coming months.

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ICAP’s 65th anniversary celebrated

2025 marks the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). CSC celebrated this important anniversary during the AGM and screened a specially recorded message from Fernando Gonázlez Llort, one of the Cuban Miami Five heroes and current President of ICAP who conveyed his “great affection to all members,” thanking them for their “decades of unwavering and steadfast support.”

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Watch the message from Fernando

26th July celebrations in Derbyshire, Oxford, Brighton, Sheffield, Glasgow, and Aberystwyth

CSC groups across the country are celebrating the anniversary of the 1953 storming of the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on 26 July with events across the country.

A walk in Derbyshire, garden parties in Oxford and Brighton, picnic in Sheffield, curry in Glasgow and film screenings in Aberystwyth.

See the CSC events page for full details of these and other local and national meetings and socials