FOR MORE than 60 years, the Cuban people have lived under a US blockade explicitly designed to create hardship, hunger and desperation.

Today that policy has reached a new and extraordinarily dangerous stage.

Cuba is enduring what amounts to a medieval siege: an attempt by the world’s most powerful country to deprive an island of ten million people of fuel and the basic means of sustaining everyday life.

Can anyone imagine Britain surviving for a month without oil or fuel? Cuba has endured this situation for eight months.

Public transport is on its knees. Havana is currently running a bus service with just over 100 vehicles, rather than the 3,000 needed. But this is not simply about petrol. Fuel powers electricity generation. Without it there is no reliable power for lighting, cooking, refrigeration or pumping water. Schools and hospitals cannot function normally. Life-support machines, incubators for newborns, ventilators and other essential medical equipment become dependent on generators that barely have enough fuel to run.

Aside from the well documented 148 per cent rise in infant mortality, equating to the loss of 1,800 infant lives, from 2018-25, the number of people dying from cancer has risen significantly, now exceeding 70 deaths a day. Among children and young people the cancer survival rate has dropped from 85 to 65 per cent.

The UN resident co-ordinator in Cuba has also raised the alarm regarding 32,000 at-risk pregnant women facing unstable access to prenatal care.

In June the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, warned “children are dying because doctors lack access to essential supplies and medicines.”

This is why UN experts have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and described what is happening as a “silent Gaza.”

We should call this policy what it is: collective punishment of an entire population. Cuba describes it as genocidal. It is barbaric, cruel and calculated — the slow suffocation of a proud people in the hope that suffering and desperation will eventually force political change.

The White House doesn’t just want to destroy Cuba’s economy; it wants to intimidate those who build international solidarity with its people. In July, alongside US solidarity groups, CSC was named in the US State Department report “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” which accused Cuba and solidarity organisations of being part of a vast, global anti-US conspiracy.

We will not be intimidated. We will strengthen our solidarity with Cuba. And we have the chance to do this at TUC Congress this week by supporting the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) fringe meeting and voting for the POA Cuba motion.

British trade unions have already responded magnificently to the US threat.

More than 28 trade union general secretaries have signed CSC’s Urgent Call for Peace and Sovereignty, opposing US economic warfare and threats against Cuba.

Unions have passed motions, lobbied government, sent delegations to Cuba and supported our campaigns. They have also delivered extraordinary practical solidarity.

Branches, regions and individual members across the movement have organised collections, sponsored activities, appeals and fundraising events for the Cuba Vive Appeal.

Together we have raised more than half a million pounds and delivered 14 consignments worth £2.5 million of life-saving medicines, medical equipment and food to Cuba.

We should celebrate that achievement. But we should never lose sight of the obscenity that makes it necessary.

We should not have to run appeals like Cuba Vive. Trade unionists and members of the British public should not have to raise money to replace medicines which Cuba cannot buy because international banks fear US penalties.

We should not have to ship medical equipment across the Atlantic because manufacturers containing US components refuse to sell it to Cuban hospitals.

And British trade unions should not be expected to provide humanitarian assistance while our own government provides virtually none.

For more than three decades Britain has joined the overwhelming majority of the world in voting at the United Nations to end the US blockade.

That vote matters. But voting once a year and then returning home to business as usual is no longer enough.

If the British government believes the blockade is wrong, it must act accordingly. It should provide substantial humanitarian assistance to Cuba.

It should defend British companies, banks and organisations from the extraterritorial reach of US sanctions.

And it must unequivocally oppose any US military intervention against Cuba. This is becoming increasingly urgent. The threatening and confrontational narrative against Cuba from the highest offices of the US government has been relentless.  

Trump has stated that he “would have the honour of taking Cuba,” has indicated on numerous occasions that Cuba would be “next,” and publicly threatened to position an aircraft carrier 100 yards off the Cuban coast.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared before the US Senate that he “would like to see regime change in Cuba.” And Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned that the US is “prepared for any eventuality” regarding Cuba during a visit to the illegally occupied Guantanamo naval base.

That is why TUC Congress Motion 76 on Cuba is so important. It calls on the British government to oppose US intervention and provide humanitarian aid for Cuba, and for support for CSC’s campaigns and appeals.

I urge delegates to support it overwhelmingly.

But, just as I am asking the British government to do more than cast its annual vote at the UN, I would ask delegates not to regard passing a motion as the end of our responsibility either.

Take it back to your unions, regions and branches. Raise money for Cuba Vive. Affiliate to CSC. Invite speakers. Join our delegations and solidarity brigades. Write to MPs. Demand government action. Build workplace solidarity. Challenge the lies used to justify this blockade.

We cannot stand by and watch the people of Cuba being slowly starved of fuel, medicines and essential supplies by the US government. The Cuban people need humanitarian assistance now. But above all they need the policy creating this humanitarian crisis to end.

At one of the most difficult moments in Cuba’s history, solidarity must mean action.  

Kevin Courtney is chairing the CSC End the Siege on Cuba fringe meeting from 5.30pm on Monday September 14 in Room 1D of the Brighton Centre. Open to all TUC Congress pass-holders. See cuba-solidarity.org.uk for full details.