In the Face of Washington’s Threats, U.S.-Cuba Solidarity Strengthens

“Conga! Long live May 1,” shouted Zacarías Lavish. “Viva!”

“This is Lavish. I’m here in Cuba for my second time,” said Lavish, a young activist visiting Havana for International Workers’ Day. “This time, for May 1.”

“A legendary day to stand in solidarity with the Cuban labor movement,” Lavish continued. “One that so many Americans look to as a beacon of hope for what labor standards can be in America. Honored to be here for International Workers Day.”

“Today I’m a barista before we go marching,” Lavish said while preparing for the day’s events. “They’re getting ready. We’re almost at the Malecón and you can see groups are gathering already. The moon is still out. It’s beautiful.”

“I’m Josué Benavides, a researcher at the University of Havana, and I work in the field of solar photovoltaic energy,” explained Josué Benavides.

“I’ve been coming ever since I was very little,” Benavides recalled. “My mom used to bring me with the people from her workplace, and now I come as a worker myself.”

“International Workers’ Day started in 1886 in Chicago,” Lavish stated. “People were killed because of demanding the most simple of labor standards.”

“May 1 is not an official holiday in the U.S.,” opens the report.

“All of us have more in common with an everyday Cuban person than any one of these oligarchic parasitic class people in the United States,” Lavish declared.

“And then you see today the dignity of the Cuban people,” he continued, “and how America’s blockade, which is just war crime after war crime, is another example of the United States and its imperialist regime standing against everyday working-class people when all they want to do is live and have access to the most basic of things.”

“May Day in Cuba is celebrated a little differently than in other places,” Benavides explained. “Particularly this year, it’s more about rejecting possible foreign intervention and threats.”

“This is a moment of enormous pressure,” he added. “The situation we’re going through is really tough, and I have no interest in someone coming here to drop a bomb where my neighbors live, where my family is, where kids study. That doesn’t work for me. So that’s also why I’m here.”

“Everybody got different vibes depending on what the labor union is or what the energy of the job is,” Lavish said while walking through the crowds. “They got the vibes. Conga! Look at the granny!”

“At one point in the parade, there’s a lot of celebration,” Benavides noted. “But there’s another part where there’s a moment of indignation, of demanding rights in the face of a certain external pressure that is now at its peak.”

“Normally, May Day is in the Plaza de la Revolución,” Lavish explained. “This year it’s in front of the U.S. embassy because of the atrocities that the United States imperialist, white supremacist, racist regime is doing to these beautiful Cuban people.”

“There’s going to be a main event, I assume,” Benavides said. “And then we pass by the side of the U.S. embassy, yell a few things at those people, and keep moving.”

“The Cuban people always surprise you,” Benavides reflected.

“The vast majority in Cuba want to live in peace,” he continued. “They want things to get better economically. But they want no part of any kind of intervention.”

“In Cuba, there’s a deteriorating situation,” Benavides acknowledged. “A growing impoverishment of the population, a decline in living standards, in quality of life.”

“There are even people dying because of the oil blockade, because of the tightening of sanctions,” he said. “But it’s not a failed state. It hasn’t collapsed.”

“How many years of revolution? Sixty-seven,” Benavides added. “The last seven years have been a brutal deterioration. That’s true. But come on, what about the other sixty?”

“Because what they’re trying to shove down my throat, into my eyes and ears, is that Cuba is a failed state, that the system has been failing for decades,” he emphasized. “And that’s just not the case.”

“A contradiction that Cuban socialism itself has to resolve is how to develop in spite of the blockade,” Benavides stated. “How to move forward despite all that?”

“That is the Cuba I want,” he concluded. “The Cuba my comrades also want. And that is the Cuba we are going to fight for, and that can only be achieved with sovereignty.”

“Excuse me!” Lavish called out as he approached people in the crowd. “I came to May Day alone. Such a beautiful event right now. And I would love to actually connect with some local Cuban people about their experience out here right now. So let’s make it happen.”

“Sorry, brother. Hi, my name is Zacarías,” Lavish said as he greeted Benavides. “How are you? Everything good? Do you want to talk to me?”

“We can talk as much as you want,” Benavides responded.

“Actually, what’s your name first?” Lavish asked.

“My name is Josué,” Benavides replied.

“Nice to meet you. A pleasure,” Lavish answered. “How has your experience been here today? Have you been to May Day before?”

“Rarely have I not come,” Benavides said. “I come every year as another celebration of Cuban unity.”

“What do you do here in Cuba?” he asked Lavish.

“The United States hates the labor movement,” Lavish argued. “The United States would rather kill us than allow us to stand up for our own rights and dignity within labor.”

“The monopoly of the Western capitalist imperialist regime blames Cuba every time a Latin American country stands up,” he continued, “because they cannot sleep as long as Cuba and the idea of Cuba’s liberation exists like this.”

“America can’t stand it,” Lavish declared. “So just seeing people out here today celebrating and standing in solidarity with their own government, it’s such a beautiful thing. So it’s a blessing to be here.”

“This year is different,” Benavides explained. “Some other years have also been different because the fuel problem has been an issue for some time now.”

“But this year in particular is very marked by the energy blockade, by the fuel shortage we are facing,” he added, “and that greatly affects people’s transportation.”

“Because of the damn United States,” Lavish interjected.

“Yes,” Benavides replied. “The damn United States.”

“The American people can be very supportive,” Benavides said, “but their government can also be very cruel.”

“It also has highly sophisticated mechanisms of cruelty,” he continued, “very precisely designed to strike, to hurt people where it hurts the most — ordinary people.”

“For everybody to come here is normal?” Lavish asked.

“There are many people who say that the project has less support among young people,” Benavides responded. “That is debatable, because people in Cuba remain very patriotic, regardless of age.”

“Even if they have problems with the institutions, even if they disagree with certain policies,” he explained, “people are still genuinely, deeply Cuban, very patriotic.”

“What people really want is to decide their country’s future for themselves,” Benavides emphasized. “That is fundamental for Cubans.”

“Yes, of course,” Lavish answered.

“Hey brother, amazing talking with you,” Lavish concluded. “It’s a blessing to be here in community with you. I appreciate you brother, and much love. Nice to meet you. Acere!”

“Where are my people?” Lavish shouted into the crowd. “Let’s get moving already.”