ON APRIL 21 Cuba announced that there have been meetings between its Directorate of US Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), at the level of deputy director of foreign affairs, and the US State Department at the level of under-secretary of state.

Deputy Director for US Affairs at Minrex Alejandro García del Toro gave a statement to the Granma newspaper saying: “Eliminating the energy blockade against the country was a matter of the highest priority for our delegation. This act of economic coercion is a punishment. This economic coercion is an unjustified punishment for the entire Cuban population. It is also a form of global blackmail against sovereign states, which have the sole right to export fuel to Cuba in accordance with the principles of free trade.”

It can only be hoped that this is a diplomatic breakthrough and not another outing for the sham negotiations that often characterises those held during the US war against Iran.

Since the illegal and brutal US invasion of Venezuela on January 3 this year and the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, Cuba has been systematically starved of oil by the US, causing a serious and widespread crisis in Cuba.

Public transport has ceased to run, hospitals are unable to perform the most basic operations, rubbish is piled in the streets as there is no fuel for dustcarts and there are country wide electricity blackouts.

Russia has sent one tanker with oil with more said to follow but it’s clear that many countries have been intimidated by the Trump gangster gang into not sending oil, or, in the case of Venezuela, the US has effectively assumed control of oil production and has no intention of resuming supplies to Cuba.

The oil blockade of course comes on top of the “el bloqueo” — the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba operational since October 1960 that was further tightened in the 1960s and 1990s.

The blockade even extends to corporations from third party countries that may choose to do business with Cuba but will then find any business conducted within the US subject to legal sanction.

This extraterritoriality is of course unlawful and shows that US gangsterism against Cuba has a long history.

Trump has rebranded the Monroe Doctrine dating from the early 19th century that set out that the Americas were the preserve of US imperialism and any new imperial expansion by European powers would not be tolerated.

The so-called “Trump Corollary” has seen the US proposed takeover of Greenland and as far as Cuba is concerned, no opposition to the oil blockade from the Starmer gang in Downing Street (even though it does performatively oppose the older blockade measures at the UN).

Humanitarian support for Cuba is coming from many places — the EU has released €2 million to support aid logistics; Caricom is sending powdered milk, baby formula and medical supplies; Mexico has sent 1,000 tonnes of food aid and Brazil is increasing its aid effort.

In Britain the Cuba Vive (Cuba Lives) medical aid appeal organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign — with strong support from a range of British unions, particularly the public service union Unison — has been phenomenal in getting aid to Cuba. In February this year it shipped 23 tonnes of powdered milk and in March, 24 tonnes of rice and lentils.

Trade unions around the world have been forthright in their support for Cuba and against Trump gangsterism.

On January 28 TUC general secretary Paul Nowak met the Cuban ambassador to Britain, Ismara Vargas Walter. The ambassador thanked Nowak for British unions’ historic opposition to the US blockade and expressed her gratitude to him for signing the “Urgent Appeal for Peace and Sovereignty in Cuba and Latin America,” joining more than 100 British MPs and numerous public figures as a prominent trade union leader in supporting this important initiative promoted by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in defence of peace, sovereignty and social justice in the region.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions were co-signatories to a letter published in the Irish Times that said: “For decades, the US has ignored annual UN resolutions, supported by Ireland, condemning its illegal blockade of Cuba. The latest actions by the Trump administration represent a significant escalation of its attempts to destabilise the government of the country by starving its population.

“The Cuban government has accused Trump and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, of ‘psychological warfare’ against its people and has called on the international community to provide urgent humanitarian assistance.”

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing unions mainly from the global South, launched a Solidarity Week with the Heroic People of Cuba, from April 16-22.

In Africa, which has many ties with Cuba, the regional organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation said it expresses firm solidarity with the people and workers of Cuba.

“We stand with them in the face of hardship and external pressures that threaten livelihoods, dignity and social stability … ITUC-Africa calls on the international community to end its dangerous silence and speak up for international law and order … Workers across Africa stand shoulder to shoulder with the Cuban people, workers, families and government in their struggle for dignity, justice, peace, freedom and social progress.”

In Cuba, the unions organised in the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba marked their resistance to the US aggression on May Day, saying: “Faced with the growing threats from the US government, reinforced by the executive order of January 29 that added an energy blockade to the already tightened economic, commercial and financial siege imposed on us for more than 65 years simply for wanting to build a dignified, sovereign, and independent nation, nothing is more important and decisive today than working united and rising as a country.

“In this context, the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba and its national unions … call for the celebration of May Day, International Workers’ Day, under a cardinal and mobilizing idea: the Homeland is defended.”

On May 1, the day of international workers’ solidarity, we need to pick up the call made by unions and their members in Cuba and around the world: Hands off Cuba! Peace and sovereignty in Latin America!

Adrian Weir is vice-chair of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

Follow CSC on Twitter/X @CubaSolidarity and Facebook www.facebook.com/CubaSolidarityCampaign. Donate to the Cuba Vive medical aid appeal here cubavive.org.uk.

This article first appeared on Labour Outlook labouroutlook.org.