October 1, 2026
[weekly newsletter about Cuba from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

The Trump administration has spent the first 10 months of this year “starving” Cuba through an oil blockade and a raft of sanctions aimed at cutting the island off from trade and investment.

Now, the administration is targeting U.S. citizens.

This week, we look at the latest assault on Cuba, which restricts students and teachers from traveling to the country on educational programs, makes it illegal for U.S. doctors and scientists to travel to the island for meetings and conferences, and blocks Cuban entrepreneurs from accessing their own money in U.S. bank accounts.

Also:

• Salazar’s Deportation Double Talk
• “Help Me Get Back to My Little Girl”
• The Anonymous Source Playbook
• Cuba Fires Back at Trump at the UN

Duration - 3:30
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Four Democratic lawmakers traveled to Cuba in July to see the human impact of the U.S. economic war on Cuba firsthand.

During the trip, Reps. Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) visited Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.

“We don’t have the resources to perform major surgeries,” Dr. Calixto Hernández told the delegation.

He said the hospital had performed 2,300 surgeries in the first four months of this year — 900 fewer than during the same period the year before.

“Does this make any sense?” Rep. Leger Fernández asked “A blockade that prevents basic materials for health?”

Rep. Leger Fernández also said that infant mortality has doubled since the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on the island in January. “I can't imagine any American citizen wants to say, ‘I want babies to die,’” she said.

“We have to end this war on the Cuban people,” Rep. Ramirez said. “It’s not just immoral. It’s evil.”

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September 20, 2026 [weekly newsletter about Cuba from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

Even as the Trump administration has hammered Cuba with an oil blockade and a raft of unprecedented sanctions, the Cuban government continues to receive hundreds of deportees from the United States, honoring longstanding bilateral migration accords.

But not all deported Cubans are being sent back to the island.

This week, we speak with Yasmany Moreno, a Cuban man who lived in Miami for nearly a decade before the U.S. deported him to the Central African Republic.

Also:

• Cuba’s Black Hairstylists Embrace Their Roots
• Salazar Reverses Course on Trump Deportations
• Rubio Sanctions Cuban Nickel — Again
• Cuban Diplomat Urges Trump to End Economic War
• 45 Organizations Demand House Vote on Cuba Resolution
• U.S. Aid Reaches Cuba — In a Trickle

Duration - 1:11
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) confronted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week over his role in the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” Cuba strategy.

“You cut off all the oil to Cuba," she said. “You’re starving the families, you’re starving the children.”

Since May, Bessent’s Treasury has sanctioned Cuba’s state-owned oil and gas company, fuel distributors and entities that import equipment needed to keep the island’s energy sector running.

“You don’t have to be cruel,” she told Bessent.

Watch Rep. Waters’s full remarks.

Duration - 34:59
[A video podcast about Cuba from the podcast team Cuba Analysis Podcasts]

What does economic warfare look like from inside a hospital?

Cuba Analysis speaks to doctors and patients at Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital about the impact of the US blockade on Cuba’s healthcare system.

Since 2019, successive US administrations have pursued a policy of ‘maximum pressure’ against Cuba. In 2026, Washington intensified those measures, including restrictions on fuel imports and aggressive extraterritorial sanctions. On 29 January and 1 May, President Trump issued executive orders declaring Cuba to be a threat to US national security.

Cubans are dying, not because of a lack of doctors but because of the US blockade. Since 2019, Cuba’s infant mortality rate has risen by 148%, while the survival rate for children with cancer has fallen from 85% to 65%. More than 100,000 Cubans are waiting for surgery, including over 12,000 children. Treatments and surgeries are being delayed; ageing equipment cannot be repaired or replaced; and more than 7,000 shipping containers carrying medical supplies, food, and solar panels are stranded at foreign ports because of the threat of US sanctions and tariffs. Cuba’s latest report to the UN General Assembly calculates that the US blockade has cost the island over $8 billion just between March 2025 and February 2026.

The doctors we interview explain what those figures means in practice. A radio-oncologist describes reducing daily treatments from 250 patients to just 30, with many travelling 200 kilometres for radiotherapy. A cardiologist speaks about patients waiting years for pacemakers. A nephrologist reports that one-third of the hospital’s haemodialysis machines are out of service. A dialysis patient describes the extraordinary efforts the doctors make to find alternatives when essential supplies are unavailable. We also hear about the psychological toll of the threat of US military action, and the exhausting daily struggle with electricity blackouts, the lack of transport, and rising prices.

Trump and Rubio claim to be acting in the interests of the Cuban people, but their economic warfare is a form of collective punishment, which is illegal under international law. Recently, Rubio admitted the real motivations behind the policy: ‘Every time they create a new mechanism in which they try to get out of the noose, we just close it off.’

The doctors in this report expose the healthcare costs of that policy.

Duration - 1:06
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

At the UN General Assembly this morning, Donald Trump said Cuba was a “failed state” that “will fall,” and immediately after accused the island of providing a haven for foreign adversaries to “threaten America” and cultivating ties with “subversive groups” like Communist Party USA, Antifa and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Trump referenced the 100-page State Department report released in July that accused Cuba of influencing virtually every major progressive movement, organization, protest and activist in the United States over the last 65 years. (Even Belly of the Beast was mentioned in the report).

He also said Secretary of State Marco Rubio “is deep into negotiations with Cuba,” even though Cuban officials have said there is no progress in talks with the Trump administration due to unrelenting U.S. hostility.

Cuba’s UN delegation walked out while Trump spoke.

Duration - 2:04
[weekly newsletter about Cuba from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

In an interview with PBS, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío reiterated there has been “no progress” in talks between the Trump administration and the Cuban government due to unrelenting U.S. hostility.

He said U.S. policy is “collective punishment” meant to inflict economic pain on the Cuban people.

Sept. 10, 2026
[weekly newsletter about Cuba from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

Cuba’s government says the U.S. embargo caused more than $8 billion in damage in a single year.

Its latest report to the United Nations describes surgeons working under the light of a cell phone, a mother worrying about her son’s cancer treatment being interrupted and children waiting for vaccines that are stuck in warehouses.

This week, we look at how the U.S. government's economic war on Cuba affects everyday life on the island.

Also:

• A Senate Candidate Visits Cuba — and Speaks Out
• A Mother Builds the Workplace Her Son Couldn’t Find
• Rubio Sanctions Cuban Bank, Oil and Mining Companies
• US Warns of Health Crisis Its Policies Created

September 17, 2026

Helen Yaffe, professor of Latin American Political Economy at Glasgow University and author of We Are Cuba! How A Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, also joined the meeting online. She described in detail the “tightrope” Cuba is walking with the 176 economic reforms it is undertaking, emphasizing that they must be seen in the context of Cuba as a small island that is dependent on trade. The Cubans also need capital for infrastructure and social welfare, she added.

Yaffe said the new measures “are referred to quite rightly as liberalizing reforms. They are an economic imperative, but they do constitute a political risk.” The challenge, she emphasized, is how to get foreign capital without undermining sovereignty, or the project of building socialism. “Cubans are not for restoring capitalism!” she declared.

By: @cubans4cuba

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DdcQVpVyqst/

End The Blockade of Cuba - panel discussion at Left Coast Forum in #LosAngeles, #California, #USA
Saturday, October 3 @ 9am

Join us at the 4th annual Left Coast forum to discuss the meaning of the new political and economic transformations in #Cuba and the tasks of the #solidarity movement during these pivotal political times.

Panelists include local #labor leaders active in solidarity, who recently traveled to Cuba in a delegation and other prominent activists.

Saturday, October 3 @ 9am
Tickets at leftcoastforum.org (no one turned away for lack of funds). See you there!

Corrected website is: www.leftcoastforum.com
h/t: @redadical

#NoWarOnCuba #USHandsOffCuba #OilForCuba! #CubaIsNotAlone #EndTheBlockadeEmbargo #CubaSolidarity #LetCubaLive
#EndSanctionsAgainstCuba #OffTheList
#CubaNoEstáSola #VivaCuba #CubaSí #AbajoElBloqueo #SolidaridadConCuba
#PetróleoParaCuba #news #politics #USpol #US #USA
@cuba

The U.S. says its sanctions are not aimed at depriving Cuba of essential goods. Thousands of stranded shipping containers tell a different story.

Sept. 17, 2026
from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
[shareable 30-day gift article - will get a prompt to sign up for limited-access free account]

Thousands of containers filled with food, medicine and other goods bound for Cuba have been stranded throughout the Caribbean since two shipping giants stopped deliveries to avoid tough U.S. sanctions, according to diplomats, Cuban officials, merchants and others involved in the imports.

The containers stranded in various ports include humanitarian aid, from solar panels to medication to colostomy bags. Dozens of containers of aid purchased by different United Nations agencies are among them.

U.S. sanctions have also hobbled shipments by air, and forced the World Health Organization to scrap planned deliveries of cancer drugs.

Released 9/16 Duration - 3:55
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

The 4th edition of “Lo Llevamos Rizo,” only natural Afro hair pageant, brought together Cuban stylists and their clients to celebrate Black beauty, identity and roots.

For the entrepreneurs involved, it’s a chance to connect despite the challenges of running import-dependent businesses while the U.S. wages economic war on the island.

The event pushes back against decades of beauty standards that treated natural Black hair as something to be fixed or hidden.

Duration - 0:22

[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

“Trying to starve them.”

That's how Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) describes U.S. policy toward Cuba.

During an interview on CNN’s Inside Politics, Giménez said the U.S. wants to “put the squeeze” on Cuba and compares the approach to the U.S. strategy against Iran — where the U.S. has carried out thousands of airstrikes since February.

“Eventually what I think we need to do is leave all options on the table,” he said.

Film showing - Abby Martin’s #film Cuba After Castro and panel discussion (Amazon Teamsters, Black Alliance for Peace, Veterans for Peace, others).

Sponsor - US Hands Off Cuba Committee - Atlanta
Saturday, Sept. 26 6:00 pm
#Atlanta, #Georgia #USA

#EndTheBlockadeEmbargo #OilForCuba #SolidarityWithCuba
#Cuba #news #politics #AltTxt4Me
@cuba

Duration - 9:52
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

“The blockade is warfare.”

That’s how Greg Levi describes U.S. policy toward Cuba after traveling to the island and seeing its impact firsthand.

Levi, a socialist candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, talked with Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández about what he saw in Cuban hospitals and communities, why he believes U.S. citizens don’t know much about Cuba, and why he refuses to stay silent despite the political risks.

He also opens up about his working-class roots, his experience in the U.S. military, his criticism of U.S. democracy and why he chose to run for Senate as an independent socialist.

Duration - 4:40
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

When a mother couldn’t find a place willing to employ her son Liván, who has down syndrome, she decided to create one.

Liva Café in Havana employs people with intellectual disabilities and autism, with support from specialists in psychology and special education. For workers like Livan, Karel and Richard, it’s a place to earn experience, build relationships and show what they can do.

Cuba has long had policies aimed at integrating people with disabilities into the workspace. But as the people in Liva’s story explain, significant barriers remain — particularly when it comes to finding employers willing to give them an opportunity.

Duration - 2:40 
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on Monday denounced the U.S. war on Cuba as collective punishment. He said the blockade punished the people, not the government, and cost the country $8 billion in the last year.

Sept. 3, 2026 [weekly newsletter about Cuba from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

Nearly 1.4 million Cuban students returned to school Tuesday after a long, sweltering summer.

Parents rose before dawn, packed lunches and ironed school uniforms while navigating shortages and hours-long blackouts caused by the Trump administration’s oil blockade.

This week, we take you inside Cuba’s first day of school — and the extraordinary effort families and teachers are making to keep children learning.

Also:

• Portraits of Life in a Country Under Blockade
• Bahamas Won't Renew Contracts of 31 Cuban Teachers
• Expedia Beats Another Title III Lawsuit
• Cuba Says There Are No Talks With US

Webinar - The Struggle Against Racism Within the Cuban Revolution

September 17, 2026 8:00pm EDT
https://tinyurl.com/StandWithCuba

#EndTheBlockadeEmbargo #LetCubaLive
#news #Cuba #politics #racism #BlackMastodon
#Alt4Me
@cuba

Sept. 5, 2026

How to conserve cellphone battery when recharging options are scarce; how to preserve food when the fridge isn’t working; how to cope with the heat when air-conditioners aren’t an option; how to generate power when the whole country has almost none left.

These are the sort of tutorials that have made the Instagram feed of influencer Dayán Marrero indispensable to many Cubans as they try to adapt to the rolling electricity blackouts and fuel shortages that are increasingly part of everyday life...

As the #US-imposed #oil #blockade that is worsening the situation bites ever deeper, Marrero and his compatriots are having to get creative. Farmers pasteurize milk over charcoal fires; commuters ride solar-powered Chinese tricycles; tour guides grind coffee by hand...

Duration - 2:45
[a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Despite a U.S. oil blockade and sanctions, 1.4 million Cuban students returned to school this week after a long, sweltering summer.

Families rose before dawn, prepared uniforms and packed school bags while navigating hours-long blackouts and shortages.

We take you inside Cuba’s first day of school — and the extraordinary effort families and teachers make to keep children learning.

Duration - 59:25 [A video podcast about Cuba from the podcast team Cuba Analysis Podcasts]

In this episode of Cuba Analysis, Helen Yaffe and Nina Blodau speak with Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who has served as the nation’s top diplomat for nearly two decades. They ask him to set aside diplomatic language to describe life in Cuba under the US blockade.

Rodríguez Parrilla outlines the impact of the ‘maximum pressure’ strategy pursued during President Trump’s first administration and the sharp escalation of US economic warfare in 2026, including two executive orders, an oil siege of the island, and an aggressive increase in sanctions threatened against Cuba’s global partners.

The Minister stresses the human consequences of these measures: Cuba’s infant mortality rate has doubled, and some 7,000 shipping containers carrying essential food and medical supplies are currently being prevented from unloading on the island. This continues despite almost unanimous international condemnation of the US blockade at the United Nations, where Cuba has become a symbol of the struggle for self-determination and sovereignty.

Alongside economic warfare, the US government has openly threatened a military attack. The Minister confirms that Cubans take these threats seriously and warns that any US military action would result in a bloodbath on both sides, with devastating consequences for the wider Caribbean. Rodríguez Parrilla rejects outright the labelling of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and as a threat to US national security. He points to lies and fabrications by US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and argues that only ‘a small group of corrupt politicians’ would benefit from the destruction of Cuba.

After almost seven decades of US attempts to force political change in Cuba, why has the policy failed? The Minister reflects on Cuba’s resilience and on the possibility of a future based on dialogue, sovereignty, mutual respect and cooperation between neighbours.

This episode of Cuba Analysis podcast was produced in collaboration with Belly of the Beast Cuba: https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/

Duration - 5:16 [a video on Peertube about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

What does this moment in Cuba mean to the people living through it?

For photographer Moník Molinet, the answer begins with a pause: asking people to stop, reflect, and write down the words that honestly describe their lives. In Havana, amid an increasingly severe social and economic crisis fueled by suffocating U.S. sanctions, she invited people to put their own words to the moment they are living through.

These are their words. Their voices. Their moment.

Words for This Moment is a photographic project by Moník Molinet, created in Havana in July, 2026. The project is a series of 50 portraits, created in collaboration with Belly of the Beast.