By Cheryl LaBash
More than 100 National Network on Cuba delegates and friends rededicated their solidarity with socialist Cuba during its Annual Fall meeting held in Charleston, South Carolina from November 7th to the 9th. The meeting theme “Unity in Action” was hosted by Lowcountry Action Committee, one of the 50+ engaged member organizations of the NNOC.
In a video message, the President of the NNOC’s Cuban partner, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, Fernando Gonzalez Llort highlighted the challenges faced by the people of both the U.S. and Cuba confronting the global crisis in which we find ourselves. He enumerated the extensive damage from recent hurricane Melissa and the effectiveness of Cuba’s civil defense organization designed by Fidel Castro to preserve life.
He emphasized that the main cause of the difficulties in achieving recovery is the criminal economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States government. While the media machine attempts to conceal from the world the political and legal framework that successive U.S. administrations have designed, implemented, and intensified, the people of your country find in you an example of consistency and solidarity.
“The work you do from the United States is essential. Every local resolution passed, every caravan, every brigade, every piece of communication that dismantles the lies, is a decisive blow against the policy of suffocation,” the ICAP President asserted.
Fernando Gonzalez highlighted the following Cuban priorities:
* Intensify the campaign denouncing the blockade and Cuba’s inclusion on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, demanding its immediate end.
* Develop an effective solidarity response that channels aid such as medical supplies, construction materials, and equipment to restore services in Cuba.
* Promote travel to Cuba as a political act and a statement of truth, showing the world the reality of our country.
* Strengthen national and interregional alliances to continue overcoming the impositions of the blockade.
During their opening remarks, NNOC Co-Chair, Onyesonwu Chatoyer, stressed the importance of the NNOC’s work, “Let us be clear about our objectives, our politics, and our history. We are not here to merely resist. We are here to build a unified, strategic, and disciplined force that can win. The work of the National Network on Cuba – from delivering medicine, to forming brigades, to passing resolutions – is a direct contribution to a world beyond imperialism, a world where a sovereign Cuba can continue to thrive and inspire, and where global solidarity is not just a slogan, but a practiced reality.”
To actively engage in the perspective outlined by Chatoyer, one of the NNOC key leaders, the gathering unanimously endorsed a new international campaign to Let Cuban Athletes Compete in the 2028 Olympics! Grant visas NOW for qualifying games of the 2028 Olympics & Para-Olympics that will be launched later in November.
See Belly of the Beast Instagram video
The campaign responds to the report from the Cuban Sports Institute documenting 81 incidents this year affecting athletes, coaches, and officials. The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported “visa issues have affected Cuban athletes in table tennis, basketball, track and field, soccer, triathlon, fencing, volleyball, and softball, as well as officials from the Cuban Olympic Committee, who are unable to attend meetings of Panam Sports, the governing body for sports on the continent.”
The experiences learned in the 9th Continental meeting in solidarity with Cuba held in Mexico City was carried through the weekend where four workshops aimed at expanding solidarity work.
A national growth strategy through NNOC Action for Cuba Committees to organize and mobilize returning Cuba brigadistas;
a material aid strategy to expand the resource contacts and communication across the country. In addition to supporting hurricane relief donations through the Peoples Forum, continuing the Saving Lives Campaign born during the COVID-19 crisis and the Hatuey Project bringing critical pediatric medicines to Cuban children, a workshop discussed building a national ongoing coordination of material aid beginning with filling containers for Cuba as initiated by the LA Hands Off Cuba in partnership with the Pan American Medical Association and Not-Just-Tourists.
A workshop titled: We Are Resolute: Building and Documenting Support for Ending the Blockade discussed concrete areas resolution possibilities in the areas represented including support organizations and individual who could be contacted. A work goal including adding a what to do after a resolution is passed resource on the NNOC.org website.
More than 120 resolutions by elected government and labor bodies have been assembled representing more than 60 million US residents. Most recently the City of Ypsilanti, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois called to take Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists continued its support with a resolution at its 2025 International Convention.
The fourth workshop focused on expanding media coordination. This was a major focus of the recent Mexico conference where coordination was urged over duplication.
Two new member organizations Philly4Cuba and Colorado CubaSi were voted in. Two of five co-chair positions were renewed. Representatives of the Cuban Embassy delivered greetings and participated in a panel discussion.
The weekend’s agenda incorporated solidarity with Palestine and deep recognition of the historic setting of the place the delegates gathered.
The last session of the conference was held on the Atlantic shore in a stirring and fitting conclusion. While drummers set the tone in tribute to Assata Shakur, who died recently, a free woman in Cuba, the memory of the ancestors who arrived on slave ships was also present.
For more information on this event from the perspective of local Charleston organizers see: Charleston, SC: National Network on Cuba fall meeting.
IMAGE CREDIT: Bill Hackwell
