Cargando...As the last days of the year arrive, a vital shipment crosses the Atlantic. It is not luxury goods, but essential resources: a container with 23 tons of powdered milk that will soon reach the port of Mariel. It is direct support from British workers to families in the eastern provinces severely affected by Hurricane Melissa last October.
The shipment marks the close of an intense period of actions by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) in the United Kingdom and British trade unions within the framework of the “Cuba Lives” initiative. The alliance has managed five containers of medical supplies valued at millions of pounds sterling throughout 2025, a period marked by economic suffocation caused by the tightening of the blockade and the impact of weather events worsened by the climate crisis. This final shipment of powdered milk also demonstrates that internationalism is a real practice.
After Hurricane Melissa, which caused significant damage to infrastructure and agriculture in the eastern region, the CSC reacted immediately. In record time, they launched an emergency campaign that mobilized major unions such as UNISON, Unite, NEU, ASLEF, RMT, and many others. The funds raised made it possible to purchase a basic food essential for the nutritional security of children, pregnant women, and the elderly in the affected areas.
Rob Miller, director of the CSC, emphasized the strategic importance of the shipment in the current context: “We hope the donation will bring relief to the people of Cuba at this difficult time. The combined threats of hurricanes and the tightening of the U.S. blockade make international solidarity across borders more important than ever to defend sovereignty and life.”
A Year of Resistance and Support
The year 2025 closes as one in which British solidarity has circumvented U.S. restrictions. In addition to the five previous containers—whose supplies of syringes, wheelchairs, surgical equipment, and oncology medicines amount to millions of pounds—there was also the political battle in the streets and in the British Parliament to demand an end to the U.S. blockade.
The Cuban ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ismara Vargas Walter, expressed gratitude: “This generous donation arrives at a critical moment. As we work to recover from the devastation caused by the hurricane, this container will provide essential food to our most vulnerable sectors. It represents support that breaks through the suffocating restrictions of the blockade and demonstrates the deep ties between the British and Cuban peoples.”
When the cranes at Mariel unload the cargo in the coming days, the largest of the Antilles will be receiving the result of the latest effort by thousands of workers from Manchester, Liverpool, and London. In Washington, meanwhile, they will know that “Cuba Lives and is not alone.”
From the pages of Trabajadores, the Cuban trade union movement extends its thanks. Looking ahead to 2026, the year of the centenary of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, solidarity is reaffirmed as a fundamental pillar in the relationship between the two peoples.
