Cuba
Peoples Dispatch (Manolo de los Santos): Trump’s ultimatum to Cuba: No fuel until Surrender On January 29, 2026, the Trump administration transformed a long-standing campaign of pressure into a blunt instrument of suffocation. With an executive order, it weaponized the US tariff system against any nation, including countries like Mexico, that dares to sell oil to Cuba. The human implications of the fuel blockade are devastating. Hospitals ration electricity, jeopardizing medical care. Families wait for hours for sporadic public transport. Blackouts of 20 hours or more become a daily ordeal. Yet, even in this US manufactured crisis, the resilience of the Cuban people is evident. The fuel blockade is an act of economic terrorism designed to foment hunger, suffering, and instability until a sovereign government abdicates.
Revolutionary Government of Cuba: Cuba condemns and denounces new escalation of U.S. economic blockade The executive order issued by the U.S. President on January 29, 2026, declares a supposed national emergency, under which his government will be able to impose trade tariffs on imports of products from countries that supply oil to Cuba. To justify such extreme action…among them is the absurd assertion that Cuba constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States.
Imperialism is mistaken when it believes that economic pressure and the determination to cause suffering to millions of people will break their determination to defend national sovereignty and prevent Cuba from falling, once again, under US domination. The international community faces the inescapable challenge of determining whether a crime of this nature could be a sign of things to come or whether sanity, solidarity, and the rejection of aggression, impunity, and abuse will prevail.
Cuban President Diaz-Canel: Even with fuel shortages, Cuba will not be defeated by the empire “Surrender will never be an option, and hard times like these must be faced with courage and bravery,” said the Cuban president. The US government “has applied all the pressure they can, and here we are. And that statement, made with such arrogance, debunks the lie that Cuba is a failed state, because they have had to acknowledge that the fundamental cause of the economic crisis the country is experiencing has to do with that pressure, which they themselves describe as maximum.” Regarding the second part of Trump’s comments earlier this month, when he said that with Cuba, the only option left is to “go in and destroy the place,” Díaz-Canel pointed out that this is “a phrase that provokes outrage and popular revulsion because it implies the ruthless massacre of our country.” Díaz-Canel asserted that “when an empire is in decline, it is totally irrational,” and what can be expected from it is “a reaction of arrogance, bullying, blackmail, pressure, coercive measures, violence, slander, and lies.”
Venezuela
Ultimas Noticias: The campaign for the release of Maduro and Flores continues internationally The international campaign “Bring Them Back,” demanding the release of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, is gaining momentum internationally. The movement, driven by social organizations, political parties, and solidarity groups, seeks to raise awareness of the Venezuelan leaders’ case and imprisonment and to pressure for their immediate return to the country.
Jesus Rodriguez Espinoza (video): Trump’s Criminal Assault on Venezuela starts at minute 54. A very thorough summary. Previous speakers were Francisco Dominguez and Maria Paez Victor.
Orinoco Tribune: Diplomatic Rapprochement with the US leads to Release of Frozen Funds for Venezuela’s Healthcare and Energy Acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced that she secured the unfreezing of Venezuela’s sovereign resources, which will allow for significant investment in hospital equipment—including items purchased from the US entity and other countries—as well as equipment for the nation’s electricity and gas industries.
Ultimas Noticias: Trump orders Venezuelan airspace reopened after conversation with Delcy Rodríguez Following a telephone conversation between the acting president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, and her US counterpart, Donald Trump, it was confirmed this Thursday, January 29, that the US blockade of Venezuelan airspace, imposed in November of last year, would cease immediately.
Ultimas Noticias: 79% of the Venezuelan people have a favorable opinion of Acting President Delcy Rodriguez 91% consider it essential to support the president in her government duties, and 94% reject the kidnapping of the presidential couple.
Alan MacLeod on a mind boggling example US Media Propaganda
Seyed Mohammad Marandi: Venezuela and Iran… A shared anti-imperialist struggle
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Upcoming Events:
Monday, February 9, 2:30 pm ET: Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition monthly meeting on zoom.Email NicaraguaSolidarityCoalition@gmail.com for zoom access
Sarah Woodard 2026 U.S. Speaking Tour, March 10 – May 20. To invite her, or to send questions or offers of travel help (e.g., airplane miles), email sarah@jhc-cdca.org. Sarah Woodard represents the work of the Jubilee House Community, a nonprofit she helped form in 1979. She has worked the last 32 years in Nicaragua, with the Center for Development in Central America. The JHC-CDCA continues to respond to local needs, seeking resources to help the poor accomplish what they see as their priorities, particularly in the areas of sustainable economic development, organic agriculture, health care, and education. Now, with the world in chaos, Sarah’s U.S. tour is focusing on educating those in the global north on the amazing realities developing within Nicaragua where the social and political will is aimed at helping the majority of the population, the poorest of the poor. The preliminary tour schedule: https://www.jhc-cdca.org/blog/spring-2026-speaking-tour.
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Delegations to Cuba, Nicaragua:
Cuba – Video: Yes You can Travel to Cuba
Labor & Youth Activists Delegation, April 23- May 3
Building Relations with Cuban Labor May Day Delegation
NNOC 19th International May Day Brigade
May Day in Santiago de Cuba 2026 (download info doc)
Witness for Peace 2026 delegations to Cuba
Friendly Planet delegations to Cuba
Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade
Nicaragua
Casa Ben Linder Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:
7 -15 March 2026: Power & Protagonism: Women in Nicaragua
June 2026: Global Health: Family and Community Health in Nicaragua
July 2026: Solidarity in Action: Nicaragua’s Popular Revolution
October 2026: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
Now offering Spanish classes! Fun and practical language classes at Casa Ben Linder – our model teaches 1/2 day class & 1/2 day practice in a community setting.
This is also available at ChicagoALBASolidarity.org. If you have events to publicize, send them to venezuelaweekly@afgj.org or stansfieldsmith100@gmail.com
Chicago ALBA Solidarity 