Rise Up with Cuba peoples of the world!
Editorial, La Tizza
“They injured me. Long live Cuba!” 1st Colonel Lazaro Evangelio Rodriguez (1)
“The air forms a tornado and in it, tied, are death and love…” Silvio Rodriguez Dominguez, “Prelude to Giron.”
After the imperialist’ invasion of Venezuela, past January 3, that tore President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from the bosom of their people, the fascist pack of Cuban-American politics has once again salivated for Cuba.
The end of the Revolution is uncorked, once again, in the hope that the toast will not remain only in the hangover.
The fall of 32 Cuban heroes, in fierce and unequal combat against the butchers of Yankee dispossession, does not anticipate — as some think — the defeat of Cuba. Their sacrifice announces something else: the activation of the mambisa fiber, which is the mother fiber of the homeland: "whoever tries to appropriate Cuba, will collect the dust of its soil flooded with blood, if he does not perish in the struggle." (2)
At this point when Yankee aircraft carriers are stalking the coasts of Cuba, when rumors of enemy air raids hover over the character and consciences, what remains to be explained?
With the naval blockade of entry of fuel, crowning the meticulous system of economic warfare aimed at collapsing our country, what questions remain to be answered? Now that international law shows as never before who has the right and between whom it is disputed...When almost all "non-aligned" governments, or those with "progressive" rhetoric, look the other way…When the blocs of the supposed integration, (3) the alliances, the forums, the mixed commissions and congresses evade the practical and material commitment to Cuba and offer, at most, declarations of their consternation and impotence. Who to turn to first if not to the peoples to confront this imperialist siege that intensifies the more alone and abandoned to its fate is Cuba?
The fields are demarcated. On the one hand, whether or not they sympathize with the Cuban government, whether or not they are communists, living in Cuba or wherever, believing in any God or none, there have been those who understand that the Homeland is threatened, and that we must close ranks. These days the differences between patriots are worthless. To insist on them today, with the beast in front of us, is a crime against the homeland.
On the other hand, the opportunists have positioned themselves, without the possibility or desire to hide or disguise their intentions, backed as they feel by the empire that organizes them. It is preferable that this be the case: it saves us from unmasking them and allows us to move directly to confrontation.
In the decisive hours, when all mist dissipates and the light allows us to see better, it has become clearer for whom the prospect of aggression against Cuba is not cause for anguish, indignation or rebellion, but an opportunity to beg.
The representatives of the Cuban-American fascist right — with their pathetic branches in Latin America and Europe — beg Emperor Trump to win them the power that they have not had the audacity or courage to conquer by themselves, and then to complete the revenge on the people who made the Revolution, and who have never respected them.
They can't even feel ashamed to be seen celebrating a possible military aggression or asking for Cuba to be governed by a gringo viceroy, by a renegade of his filial origins disguised himself as Cuban when the South Florida lobby demands it.
No one will be able to be scandalized when we call them "anti-Cubans" or "nationless." But on the sidewalk of opportunism not only the MAGA-Cubans walk. The arc of opportunism moves from Batista's heirs to Carlos Prío's moral executors. Those who take advantage of this moment of extreme danger to our homeland far from closing ranks with it go around begging — they believe that they demand, but in reality they beg — from the Cuban State some perks, some economic favor, some concession, some quota of power, as if power could be begged — or given away! —. What are those? Opportunists, too! Because today no particular or group agency should be above the survival of our nation.
The problem of the Yankee imperialists is not with the Cuban government; it is not with this or that characteristic of public administration; it is not with existing inequality or poverty. Their problem is not with "the situation of the Cuban people," but with the fact that neither the country nor that situation — despite the costs of their tenacious and failed blockade — belong to them. The problem of the Yankee imperialists is not one of names, it is of content. Reason why there was a "Republic" in Cuba: of them; "Freedom": to obey them; "Democracy": so that their servants would take turns in the feast of the national rent. They are not concerned about whether we do capitalism or socialism — as demonstrated by their offensive being at the time of the greatest enthronement of private property in Cuba.
They are worried that we are the ones doing things here, not them. They are irritated that we dare to be ourselves and that we have discovered the secrets of our identity: to exist, we must be against them, the Yankee imperialists. There is no other way. This is why nation and anti-imperialism are presupposed. Why social justice and freedom are stitched together on the same flag.
Social media activists, rebellious and iconoclastic in the face of the victim, but always cautious and well-behaved in the face of the aggressor: why do they demand a willingness to negotiate from Cuba? What should and how can Cuba negotiate with a murderer who lives under constant ambush by his retinue of persecutors?
With their eyes on our heads, "understand each other," "dialogue," "negotiate" are recommendations that, in reality, sound a lot like "surrender." In the midst of the sharp ideological struggle that accompanies this battle for the survival of an entire people, we must prevent that fear masquerades as reason. This last one should be recommended, in any case, to the spiritual leaders of cowardice for whom life and death are credited in a video game that they program from the safety and comfort of their engine room.
Those who have rushed to demand reforms from the Cuban government, with the vain hope that they will forgive us for the revolution we made—even though dignity cannot survive the "favor" of such "forgiveness"—should know that the revolution had to be socialist in order to be one of national liberation. That was the only historical way in which the idea that obsessed Cuban patriots for more than a hundred years could be realized, an idea that Diego, the character in "Strawberry and Chocolate," summarized perfectly: "I don't want the Americans, or anyone else, coming here to tell us what to do."
The will to achieve sovereignty for the enslaved individual and the nation has marked the history of Cuba for two centuries. An identity that has forged its path against all odds, that has struggled to exist against the grain of powerful, corrosive forces of yesterday and today. The gendarmes of the "turbulent and brutal North that despises us" assert themselves insofar as they possess, insofar as they subjugate, insofar as they destroy, insofar as they buy and sell, insofar as they plunder. We Cubans, on the other hand, assert ourselves insofar as we are, not what they have wanted to make of us, but what we have chosen to be for ourselves.
The animosity towards Cuba hides the terror that our promise provokes in them, as besieged and incomplete as it is un-renounceable.
The defeat of that promise, the definitive acceptance of a colonial and subordinate position, would be nothing less than the suicide of the nation: the death of what Cuba has been, not just since 1959, but for more than 150 years.
There is no possible compromise with imperialism. Its existence and ours are antagonistic and will continue to clash. The aggression of U.S. imperialism toward Cuba—its blockades, its institutional forms oscillating between the stick and the carrot, its blackmail of the rest of the world—has only two paths to disappear: the complete defeat of that imperialism or the complete surrender of Cuba. The bilateral relationship between the two states does not exhaust such a dilemma; it is embedded within it.
Faced with this scenario, the leaders of the Cuban state, in order to lead the nation and fulfill their sacred duties to it, cannot be prey to hesitation or weakness. Granting the initiative to the enemy—external or internal—would not bring peace or stability, but defeat.
Defending sovereignty requires political will, strategic clarity, and firm leadership: or, to put it in other terms we know well: "challenging powerful dominant forces... fighting with boldness, intelligence, and realism."
The ongoing naval blockade and tariff blackmail imposed on third parties, which prevent the arrival in Cuba of essential oil supplies needed to sustain daily life, deepen an imposed and planned crisis scenario. In this context, our ability to manage the limited room for maneuver becomes a matter of national security. Simultaneously, an uninterrupted sequence of psychological operations is being deployed, designed to generate fear, anxiety, despair, and the illusion of a bright national future under U.S. tutelage. This combines rumors and vague threats with artificial intelligence projections of how prosperous and beautiful our cities would look if this 67-year "ordeal" were to end.
Cuba is not "next" on the list; it has always been first. From Honduras in 2009 to Venezuela in 2026, passing through Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia, the weakest links in the chain were targeted with a well-known ultimate goal: to isolate and suffocate the Cuban Revolution. The imperialist intervention in Venezuela was not only against that nation, but against all of Latin America and the Caribbean, and especially against Cuba. This was not an excess or a deviation, but the culmination of a regional strategy.
The current context of effective solidarity from other governments with Cuba is shameful, in contrast to the solidarity shown person to person and people to people. Mexico remains the sole supplier of oil, and strong pressure is already being exerted to terminate that aid. This scenario cannot be ruled out, given Donald Trump's style, which combines brutal aggression, direct blackmail, and open pressure of various kinds.
China and Russia express support and condemnation through rhetoric, but neither has shown any willingness to share the Cuban people's fate in the face of direct aggression. Symbolic support, strategic calculation, and an island forced to confront the carefully provoked escalation of war almost alone. We expect nothing from external powers. As Antonio Maceo said, "It is better to rise or fall without help than to incur debts of gratitude to such powerful neighbors." We had already learned long ago that in decisive moments, Cuba can only count on its own people.
To this isolation is added the silence of the major diplomatic institutions in the region and the world. These structures exist on paper, but offer no concrete gestures of support capable of altering the course of events.
All those who abandon Cuba to its fate—whether due to geopolitical calculation, diplomatic pragmatism, or simple fear—must understand that they are not neutral and, therefore, become de facto collaborators. Their silence or inaction does not prevent war, but rather clears the path for it from afar. Every gesture that fails to materialize and every instance of delayed support contributes to setting the stage for an invasion of Cuba or a social upheaval, born of popular desperation, that could sweep everything away.
Those who today, through action or inaction, place themselves at the service of aggression against their own country, must understand that there will be no historical or political impunity. People have long memories, and the responsibilities assumed in crucial times are not erased by time or exile.
Committed to confronting the plan to turn Cuba into the Gaza of the Caribbean, we speak first to you, the people of the United States, in all your infinite diversity. To every citizen who can no longer endure the dictatorial madness that governs the White House. To you, who live besieged by the countless problems of a society that is far from being "great again."
We speak to you, who remember each of the wars in which the rich grew richer and the poor poorer, and in which the only thing that returned home—when anything did—were the lifeless bodies of your children. Wars that weren't yours, decided in offices, fought by young men who, to earn a living, were forced to destroy others.
We also speak to the large community of Cubans residing in the United States who are not victims of the hatred of the "historical exile." Many were raised in the humanism and fraternity of our schools and streets, and they are not willing to silently condone aggression against their own people.
Don't let your children go to another war. Don't let them say goodbye only to go and die fighting in Cuba against another people who are not your enemy.
There are many ways to mobilize. We call upon the many academic groups that maintain relations with Cuba, Pastors for Peace, the World Council of Churches, cultural figures, actors, and actresses who have spoken out strongly against the human rights violations and the fascist drift that Trump represents. We also call upon members of Congress and the Senate who have long demanded a change in relations with Cuba, without any intention of submission or warmongering.
To all who feel compelled by this call to avoid certain and inevitable death in the assault being prepared behind their backs: Help stop the barbarity. Stand in solidarity with Cuba.
To the sister nations of Cuba, to solidarity organizations, to all who know that imperialist war never brings democracy or freedom: now is the time for effective, sustained, and visible mobilization, by all possible means, against war and in defense of life. Every country and diplomatic mission must become a stage for fraternity and commitment. Every embassy of the United States must feel the weight of mass solidarity.
If you were ever treated by Cuban medical missions; if you ever learned to read with the "Yes, I Can" method, or if you studied in this land, we say to you: Rise up with Cuba!
Peoples of Africa who, at your call, relied on our soldiers, combatants, doctors, and teachers: the crucial hour of solidarity with Cuba has arrived!
Peoples of the Americas, with whom our destiny was sealed in that final glance of Che: Mobilize now!
Peoples of the world, Cuba offers you a place to fight.
NOTES:
[1] Last words of First Colonel Lázaro Evangelio Rodríguez, who fell in combat protecting the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros.
[2] Letter from Antonio Maceo to the Cuban patriot José Dolores Poyo, director of the pro-independence newspaper El Yara, of Key West, written on June 13, 1884, from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In: https://www.sld.cu/sitios/
[3] Community of Latin American States (CELAC), Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), among others.
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