On Saturday the 25^th April the Brighton Branches of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign held a joint meeting to commemorate the anniversaries of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 and the failed US coup attempt against Hugo Chavez in 2002.

Both these anniversaries are of vital importance today amidst heightened US Imperialist aggresion against both the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Cuba. This has seen the illegal kidnapping of Venezuela’s democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cila Flores alongside the murder by bombing of over 100 Venezuelan civilians. While Cuba is currently being put through an inhumane oil blockade which is stopping any oil from entering the island, affecting everything from energy infrastructure to the running of hospitals and food production, which essentially amounts to an attempted mass punishment of the entire Cuban population for the sole crime of deciding their own government and political system.

At the same time Cuba has been threatened with similar crimes committed against Maduro and Flores with Trump openly declaring that legal cases are being prepared against Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel, as well as other South American countries such as Colombia.

This made the timing of this joint meeting essential in order to learn about the current situation in both countries and show our support for their struggle to maintain sovereignty.

We were honoured to be joined by the First Secretary of the Cuban embassy Carlos Rafael Rodriguez who spoke about the failed bay of pigs invasion and the current situation in Cuba. He explained while this is possibly the most dangerous situation that Cuba has faced since the Revolution in 1959, there has been successful attempts to resist the blockade.

Particularly impressive was their ability to rebuild their energy grid just 24 hours after it collapsed as a product of the blockade, ensuring vital services were still able to function despite severe shortages. This confirmed the Communist Party of Cuba’s continued ability to meet the needs of ordinary Cuban’s despite the inhumane conditions forced upon them. One would dread to think of what would happen if a similar fate would face Britain today and whether the British government would prioritise and be able to keep running vital infrastructures which benefit ordinary people.

We were also joined by the National secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign Francisco Dominguez who gave a detailed talk on the history of Venezuela and its own success in resisting agression from the United States, followed by a update on the current situation in Venezuela, reiterating that despite what many commentators in the West have stated, that the Bolivarian Revolution persists in safe hands under Delcy Rodriguez.

While education and learning about succesful anti-Imperialist movements is of great importance for our own work here in Britain, we also understand that practical solidarity is the most important act that us in the Imperial core can take to support those resisting Imperialism.

This is why we were delighted to be joined by a speaker from the Assata Shakur brigade to inform us about their upcoming delegation to Cuba in May when they will be engaging in solidarity work across the island. The Assata Shakur brigade will also be taking 20 suitcases worth of aid supplies over to Cuba.

Our meeting in Brighton was able to provide a further suitcase of much needed aid supplies alongside £400 in cash which will be delivered to the island in May.

A full recording of the meeting will be available soon on this website.