No War on Cuba!
By Barry Weisleder
The Canadian Network on Cuba held its 12th biennial convention in Toronto, June 5-7.
Some forty delegates, representing over 20 organizations, gathered at the downtown Steelworkers’ Hall to hear reports from officials of revolutionary Cuba and to adopt an Action Plan. The aim of the CNC, in concert with solidarity movements across North America and around the world, is nothing less than to prevent a U.S. invasion of the Caribbean island nation -- which leading activists warn could occur at any moment.
The gravity of the situation prompted the CNC convention to unanimously call for monthly mass demonstrations, and emergency actions as may be necessary, united by the demand “No War on Cuba!” A week of education and solidarity actions occurred from June 28-July 4.
Washington’s decades-long economic war against the socialist republic has sharpened under Donald Trump and Marco Rubio into a policy of siege and collective punishment designed to strangle the Cuban economy and inflict maximum hardship on 13 million people. The hegemon and its imperialist allies are set on a course of starvation to force political capitulation, leading to the liquidation of Cuba’s widely admired social achievements.
As Isaac Saney wrote in his article published in the June 23, 2026 edition of Canadian Dimension: “Against this backdrop, Cuba’s struggle remains what it has always been: the effort to preserve national sovereignty and social justice under extraordinarily hostile conditions. The current measures should therefore be understood neither as a capitulation nor as an abandonment of socialist aspirations. They are better understood as an attempt—whether ultimately successful or not—to navigate a perilous moment in defence of a revolutionary project that continues to face the concentrated hostility of the most powerful empire in history.
The debate over the reforms will continue. It should. But the first question must never be forgotten: what would happen if Cuba did nothing? The Revolution was never confronted with a choice between an ideal socialism and imperfect reforms. It was confronted with the challenge of defending socialist sovereignty amid economic siege.”
Cuba’s revolutionary leadership is grappling with severe scarcities. Like the Bolsheviks’ and their NEP in 1921, it deserves support, not socialist sabotage. Cuba is beleaguered but unbowed. It remains a state where the working class is in power.
As I presented in my report to the CNC Convention,
“For Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action Socialiste, everything that we do is profoundly influenced by the example of the Cuban revolution and by the Fidelista current that has led the country for over 67 years….. We call out the hypocrisy of the Mark Carney Liberal government. Ottawa falsely claims it is a friend of Cuba, yet it fails to denounce Washington’s economic warfare and multiple U.S. threats to seize control of the island nation. Carney even refuses to insist that Air Canada and West Jet resume flights to Havana and opt to re-fuel in Mexico and neighbor Caribbean countries….
“Why is the Canadian ruling class content to be an accomplice of an unprovoked economic war? Unfortunately, the answer is all too clear. It reveals the desperation and weakness of the capitalist rulers, the fallibility of imperialist domination of the global south. The example of revolutionary Cuba is a moral threat to the global system of exploitation and oppression. Cuba has demonstrated, especially before the present heightened and intensified blockade, that a better world is possible. Cuba’s internationalism, its egalitarian example, its very sovereignty poses a moral and political danger to a system that is choking humanity and nature. The Cuban revolutionaries, including Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Vilma Espin and Che Guevara, led millions of workers and farmers to power. They expropriated the capitalists, as Che said, “right down to the nails in their boots….
“The Cubans sent teachers across Latin America and the Caribbean. They sent aid and engineers to earthquake victims in Pakistan. They sent soldiers to defeat the armies of Apartheid in Angola, asking nothing in return. Is Cuba a dictatorship? Yes. It is a dictatorship of the proletariat, an economic democracy. We defend it as one of humanity’s greatest achievements.”
Imperialist Hands Off Cuba! Abajo el Bloceo! Viva la revolucion socialista! Viva Cuba! Venceremos!