Cuba and the lessons of history
Luciano Vasapollo
(Professor Economy & Statistics, Universitá La Sapienza, Rome)
April 22, 2026
The blockade is not only economic. A narrative is being constructed that exempts the siege from responsibility and attributes all difficulties to alleged internal failures.
There is a lesson that history constantly repeats, but that many pretend to ignore: you cannot negotiate with imperialism without paying a price. And often that price is the loss of sovereignty, dignity and independence.
This is dramatically demonstrated today by what is happening in Iran. The military and political pressure exerted by the US and its allies is part of a long historical sequence: those who gave in, those who accepted compromises, were progressively dismantled.
From Iraq to Libya to Syria, the script is always the same. The illusion is that we can negotiate on equal terms. The reality is that we are entering a cycle where negotiation becomes surrender, and surrender becomes subordination.
It is no coincidence that, in the Iranian case, the resistance has produced a different result than in other scenarios. When a country does not surrender, when it maintains the capacity to respond, the balance is broken.
It is not a question of glorifying war, but of recognizing a political fact: peace is not built on capitulation.
We note that the same scheme is applied against Cuba. In this case, the strategy is slower but equally fierce: a criminal economic blockade, intensified in recent years, which seeks to suffocate the population and undermine a political project that has lasted for more than sixty-five years.
The objective is clear: to force the surrender of an island that has chosen an autonomous path, has asserted its sovereignty and continues to promote a socialist transition process based on internationalism.
A concrete, not rhetorical, internationalism. We saw it in Italy during the pandemic, when Cuban medical brigades arrived in Lombardy and Piedmont, providing aid where others had failed. We see it today with hundreds of doctors and nurses present in Calabria. "Doctors, not bombs": a position that says much more than a thousand statements.
And this is precisely what Trump wants to attack: not just a government, but an alternative model. A model that guarantees fundamental rights – housing, health care, education – and that continues to be a benchmark for many people in the world. Faced with this situation, the answer cannot be ambiguity.
It is necessary to continue to provide political support to the Cuban Revolution and to provide concrete assistance to its population, which is currently under unsustainable pressure. International solidarity initiatives, such as the Our America convoy, are heading in this direction: medicines, humanitarian aid and presence.
But another battle is also necessary: that of information.
Because the blockade is not only economic, but also related to the media. A narrative is being constructed that exempts the siege from responsibility and attributes all difficulties to alleged internal failures.
For this reason, it is essential to relaunch counter-information capable of restoring the veracity of the facts and explaining what Cuba really represents in today's world.
Because this issue is not just about Cuba or Iran. It's about everyone. It is about the right of peoples to choose their own destiny. And history, once again, teaches us that those who surrender to the empire lose everything. Those who resist, at least, retain their dignity.
Labyrinth
https://www.lahaine.org/mundo.
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