No. 34
May 22, 2026
Stand with Revolutionary Cuba!
• Hands Off Cuba!
All Out to Defend Revolutionary Cuba
and Its Leaders!
• Cuba Condemns the
Despicable Accusation Against
the Leader of the Revolution
• Cuban President Denounces U.S. Political Manoeuvre to Justify Military Aggression Against Cuba
• Union of
Young Communists Calls for Day of Celebration on
Raúl Castro's 95th Birthday
• Brutal Effects of U.S. Fuel Blockade
Stand With Revolutionary Cuba!
Hands Off Cuba!
All Out to Defend Revolutionary Cuba
and Its Leaders!
The Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist) condemns the latest provocation and threat
against Cuba by the Trump administration. The unfounded
accusations and indictment against Cuban revolutionary leader
Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and other defenders of the
revolution the United States has been unable to turn into
anti-Cuba agents, coincide with the arrival in the Caribbean of
the USS Nimitz
aircraft carrier which the Trump administration is using to
threaten Cuba and get the polity to cower under threat of
invasion. CPC(M-L) denounces the escalating threats of military
aggression against Cuba to topple its government and calls on
all Canadians and Quebeckers to step up actions to stand with
Cuba, defend the right of the Cuban people to choose their own
government and for an end to the blockade and all U.S.
interference, as well as the closure of the Guantanamo naval
base and detention centre and the return of Guantanamo to Cuba.
CPC(M-L) calls on the Canadian government to act responsibly opposing the U.S. threats and its attempt to strangle Cuba by depriving it of oil and basic necessities and to support Cuba's sovereignty.
CPC(M-L) calls on Canadians and Quebeckers to take the U.S. threat of military aggression against Cuba seriously and demand that the Canadian government not conciliate with U.S. sanctions and take a stand against the attempt to pin the "terrorist" and criminal label on a Cuban leader as a pretext for military action to bring down a government whose only "crime" is to defy all U.S. threats, defend its sovereignty and uphold the dignity of the Cuban people.
All Out to Defend Revolutionary Cuba and its Leaders!
Hands Off Cuba!
Edmonton, April 19, 2026
Cuba Condemns the Despicable Accusation
Against the Leader of the Revolution
Thousands of Cubans fill the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune
to show their support for Raúl Castro and the Cuban Revolution,
May 22, 2026.
The Revolutionary Government condemns in the strongest terms the despicable accusation by the United States Department of Justice announced on May 20 and proclaimed for several weeks against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution.
The United States government lacks the legitimacy and jurisdiction to carry out this action. It is a despicable and infamous act of political provocation, based on the dishonest manipulation of the incident that led to the downing, in February 1996, of two aircraft operated by the Miami-based terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue over Cuban airspace, which repeated violations of Cuban airspace for hostile purposes were of common knowledge.
Furthermore, the U.S.
government distorts other historical truths about the event it
uses as a pretext. It omits, among other details, the numerous
formal complaints filed by Cuba during that period with the
State Department, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
regarding more than 25 serious and deliberate violations of
Cuban airspace committed by the cited organization between 1994
and 1996, in blatant transgression of international law and U.S.
legislation itself.
It also ignores public and official warnings issued by Cuban authorities about the inadmissibility of such violations of its airspace and alert messages conveyed directly to the President of the United States about the seriousness and possible consequences of such transgressions.
Cuba's response to the violation of its airspace constituted an act of legitimate self-defense, protected by the Charter of the United Nations, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the principles of air sovereignty and proportionality.
The United States, which has been a victim of the use of civil aviation for terrorist purposes, does not and would not permit the hostile and provocative violation of foreign aircraft over its territory and would act, as it has demonstrated, with the use of force.
The inaction of the U.S. government in the face of the warnings issued by Cuba at the time, revealed its complicity in the planning and execution from its territory of violent, illegal and terrorist actions against the Cuban government and people, a recurring and systematic practice since the triumph of the Revolution to present day.
It is highly cynical that this accusation is made by the same government that has murdered nearly 200 people and destroyed 57 vessels in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, far from the territory of the United States, with the disproportionate use of military force, for alleged links to drug trafficking operations that were never proven, which qualify as extrajudicial executions, in accordance with International Law, and murders, according to U.S. laws themselves.
This spurious accusation against the Leader of the Cuban Revolution adds to the desperate attempts by anti-Cuban elements to construct a fraudulent narrative in an effort to justify the collective and ruthless punishment against the noble Cuban people, through the strengthening of unilateral coercive measures, including the unjust and genocidal energy blockade and threats of armed aggression.
Cuba reaffirms its commitment to peace and its firm determination to exercise the inalienable right to self-defense, recognized by the Charter of the United Nations.
The Cuban people reaffirm their unwavering decision to defend the Homeland and its Socialist Revolution and, with the greatest strength and firmness, their unrestricted and unchanging support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader of the Cuban Revolution.
Homeland or Death, We Will Prevail.
Havana, May 20, 2026.
"Year of the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz."
Rally at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune, May 22, 2026
(Photos: Cubadebate)
Cuban President Denounces U.S. Political Manoeuvre to Justify
Military Aggression
Against Cuba
President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez and
other Cuban leaders at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune,
May 22, 2026.
On his X account on May 20, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez posted the following:
The purported accusation against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, just announced by the U.S. government, only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel toward the unyielding resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership.
This is a political maneuvre, devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at padding the fabricated dossier they use to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.
The U.S. lies and distorts the events surrounding the downing of the planes belonging to the narco-terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue in 1996.
It knows full well -- given the abundance of documentary evidence -- that no imprudent action was taken nor was international law violated, as U.S. military forces have indeed been doing with their coldly calculated and openly publicized extrajudicial executions against civilian vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
On February 24, 1996, Cuba acted in legitimate self-defence within its jurisdictional waters, following repeated and dangerous violations of our airspace by notorious terrorists -- a fact of which the U.S. administration at the time was alerted on more than a dozen occasions, yet it ignored the warnings and allowed those violations to continue.
The ethical stature and humanistic spirit of his legacy demolish any infamy that might be attempted against Army General Raúl Castro. As a guerrilla commander and as a statesman, he earned the love of his people, along with the respect and admiration of other leaders in the region and the world. Those values are his greatest defence and a moral shield against this ridiculous attempt to diminish his stature as a hero. [...]
Now they cynically claim that there is no oil blockade against Cuba, that everything our people suffer is the fault of the Cuban Government.
They lie over and over again without any shame, with alarming brazenness, without presenting a single piece of evidence to support their claims.
The blame lies with those who order the closure of all access to material and financial resources.
Or has the executive order of January 29, 2026 been suspended, the one that penalizes with irrational tariffs any country that provides fuel to Cuba?
How then to understand that the Treasury Department continues to restrict fuel shipments to Cuba in its systematic updates?
Only very twisted minds could deny to the world that collective punishment being inflicted on an entire people, which is already turning into an act of genocide.
It has been the practice of that empire to start wars and exterminate peoples on the basis of lies.
Facts, not words, are the responses that Cuba and the world demand.
Lift the Bloqueo and we'll see how we fare.
Provincial representatives present more than 6.2 million signed
forms from the "My signature for the Homeland" movement to the
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, May
19, 2026 as Cuba marks anniversary of the death of José Martí.
(Photos: Cubadebate, Granma)
Union of Young Communists Calls for Day of Celebration on Raúl Castro's 95th Birthday
Cuba's Union of Young Communists issued a call on May 20 for everyone to join in a day of celebration: "On June 3rd, we will celebrate the 95th birthday of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and we will do so with a collective embrace of a man whose heart is bound to this land and whose life's guiding principle is loyalty."
On their Facebook profile the National Bureau of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) urged people to contribute "love and respect from the neighbourhood to the school, from the university to the trenches, to multiply every message, every poem, every song, every story, as a sincere recognition of his human sensitivity, of the one who knew how to mourn Vilma's passing without shame, of the one who led the process of updating the economic model without ever renouncing social justice, of the one who has always promoted peace. What greater lesson could there be for us, those who inherited a country that does not surrender, than this blend of firmness and humanity?"
Their statement also says that "on the centenary of Fidel, his brother in spirit and struggle, we understand that greatness is not inherited, but shown through example. And Raúl has shown every day that unwavering loyalty, unyielding to fatigue or hardship. That is why we love him as the steadfast patriot who teaches us to defend the Revolution, with tenderness and with a rifle, with study and intelligence, with our heads held high and our hands outstretched."
The movement calls upon the creativity of children, teenagers, and young adults to express, through every possible initiative, their admiration and love for an exceptional man like Raúl.
The call to action adds, "May June 3 find us guided by Fidel's memory and encouraged by Raúl's presence; because the new generations are not here to repeat slogans, we are here to demonstrate that loyalty is action. And action is defending what has been built, transforming what is malfunctioning, and multiplying the love we feel for this man who, with one foot in the stirrup, continues to tell us: 'Yes, we could, yes, we can, and yes, we will.'
"Come on, Cuba! May this 95th be a huge embrace for a dear friend and a leader beyond reproach. Raúl is Raúl!"
Indicting Sovereignty: Washington's Specious
Case Against Raúl Castro and Criminalization
of Cuba's Right to Self-Defence
The recent decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to indict Raúl Castro over the 1996 shoot-down of aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue is not an act of justice. It is a profoundly political maneuver designed to intensify Washington's decades-long campaign against the Cuban Revolution while rewriting the historical record of U.S. aggression against Cuba.
The charges are specious,
historically dishonest and dangerous. More troubling still, the
indictment implicitly legitimizes hostile actions launched
against Cuba from U.S. territory while denying Cuba the
elementary sovereign right of self-defence recognized under
international law.
Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United States has waged an unrelenting war against the Cuban people. This war has taken many forms: invasion, sabotage, biological warfare, assassination attempts, economic strangulation and terrorist attacks. Many of these operations were organized, financed or tolerated from U.S. soil. The human toll has been devastating. At least 3,478 Cubans have been killed and another 2,099 injured as a result of these acts of terrorism and aggression.
Among the victims was Fabio Di Celmo, a young Montrealer of Italian descent who was murdered in the 1997 hotel bombings in Havana orchestrated by anti-Cuban terrorists linked to networks operating from the United States. Yet the architects and financiers of those crimes enjoyed protection in Miami while Washington lectured Cuba about "terrorism."
Perhaps, the most notorious example was the October 6, 1976 horrific terrorist attack on Cubana Airliner Flight 455. In the western hemisphere this was the first and is the only bombing of a civilian airliner during flight. This heinous act, which resulted in the deaths of all 73 passengers and crew on board, stands as one of the most notorious examples of anti-Cuban terrorism carried out by violent counterrevolutionaries. The downing of Flight 455 was masterminded by anti-Cuban terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles -- both of whom had longstanding ties to the U.S. intelligence services.
The indictment of Raúl Castro must therefore be understood within this broader historical and political context. It is not about justice for victims. It is about criminalizing Cuban sovereignty.
The U.S. government and corporate media continue to portray Brothers to the Rescue as innocent humanitarian actors conducting peaceful missions. But even contemporaneous observers rejected this simplistic narrative. Mark Entwistle, who served as Canada's Ambassador to Cuba during the 1996 incident, noted that the organization repeatedly violated Cuban airspace, flying low over Havana and dropping anti-government propaganda. He further situated the incident within the broader reality of violent anti-Cuban exile organizations such as Alpha 66 and Omega 7, groups widely associated with terrorist violence against Cuba.
Between 1994 and 1996, Cuban authorities documented more than 25 serious violations of Cuban airspace by Brothers to the Rescue. Each violation was formally reported to the U.S. State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Cuban officials repeatedly demanded that Washington revoke pilots' licenses, confiscate aircraft, and halt illegal flights originating from U.S. territory. These appeals were ignored.
The provocations escalated steadily. On July 13, 1995, aircraft entered restricted airspace north of Havana and dropped propaganda leaflets. On January 9 and 13, 1996, planes again violated Cuban airspace and scattered subversive materials along the coast. Cuba publicly warned that unauthorized aircraft entering its sovereign airspace would be intercepted and, if necessary, neutralized. Diplomatic Note No. 45 conveying this warning was formally delivered to the United States on January 16, 1996.
Thus, Washington cannot plausibly claim ignorance.
Indeed, evidence later revealed that U.S. officials understood full well that a deadly confrontation was likely. Investigations by CBS4 Miami's I TEAM uncovered classified documents demonstrating that senior U.S. officials knew a shoot-down was "possible" and even "probable." Yet authorities still approved flight plans they knew were false, failed to seize aircraft, and declined to prosecute repeated violations of Cuban and international law.
Under international law, Cuba had the right to defend its airspace and territorial integrity. Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations recognizes the inherent right of states to self-defence. The International Civil Aviation Organization framework similarly recognizes that aircraft used for purposes incompatible with civilian status lose the protections ordinarily afforded to civil aviation.
The aircraft involved were not innocent bystanders accidentally straying off course. Cuban authorities argued -- with considerable supporting evidence -- that the planes formed part of a sustained campaign of provocation involving propaganda operations, espionage, and preparations for sabotage. Cuba also maintained that the aircraft were shot down within Cuban territorial airspace and waters, presenting radar data, transcripts, and coordinates to the UN and ICAO.
Serious questions also surrounded the U.S. handling of evidence. The Key West naval radar station reportedly erased records only fifteen days after the incident. The United States withheld portions of audio recordings from investigators, omitting crucial six-minute segments related to the planes' location and movements. Witness testimony used in official reconstructions was itself disputed and in some cases never independently verified.
These are hardly the foundations for a credible criminal prosecution thirty years later.
Rather, the indictment reflects the intensification of the Trump administration's openly declared objective of regime change in Cuba. Following Washington's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, President Donald Trump ominously warned that "Cuba was next." The charges against Raúl Castro are therefore not merely retrospective legal claims; they are instruments of geopolitical warfare.
Predictably, ordinary Cubans recognized the indictment for what it is. Retired legal adviser Rosmery Peña defended Cuba's actions, stating plainly that if Cuban airspace was violated, the country had every right to take whatever measures were necessary to prevent further incursions. Construction worker René Sierra declared that Cubans would resist any external aggression, while retired justice ministry official Agustín Sanabria rejected the fantasy that Cuba could be destabilized through externally orchestrated pressure campaigns. These reactions reflect a deeper historical memory forged through decades of resistance to U.S. hostility.
Washington's indictment also exposes a glaring double standard. The United States has repeatedly asserted for itself an expansive doctrine of self-defence, justifying military interventions, drone strikes, assassinations and invasions around the world in the name of protecting national security. Yet when Cuba acts to defend its own sovereignty against repeated provocations launched from U.S. territory, it is branded criminal.
This hypocrisy is not accidental. It reflects the imperial assumption that the United States alone possesses legitimate security interests, while nations resisting U.S. domination are denied the rights accorded to sovereign states under international law.
The campaign against Cuba has never fundamentally been about democracy or human rights. It has always been about punishing a small nation for asserting independence, rejecting U.S. domination, and pursuing an alternative social project rooted in social justice, international solidarity, and anti-imperialism.
The indictment of Raúl Castro is therefore not simply an attack on one individual. It is an attempt to delegitimize Cuba's right to exist as a sovereign nation capable of defending itself against aggression.
Far from advancing justice, the charges normalize the very terrorism and destabilization that Cuba has endured for more than six decades. They signal to violent anti-Cuban networks that hostile acts launched from U.S. soil may continue with political protection from Washington.
History, however, will not validate this latest act of coercion. The Cuban Revolution has survived invasion, sabotage, assassination plots, economic siege, and terrorism. It has endured because millions of Cubans understand that beneath every U.S. campaign lies the same enduring objective: the destruction of Cuban independence itself.
Isaac Saney is a Professor and Cuba and Black Studies Specialist in Black African Diaspora Studies and History, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. He is also a member of the executive of the Canadian Network On Cuba.
Brutal Effects of U.S. Fuel Blockade
On May 18, prior to the announcement of the fraudulent indictment against Army General Raúl Castro, Cuban Foreign Minister and Political Bureau member Bruno Rodríguez asserted, "Cuba neither threatens nor desires war." Cuba "defends peace and is prepared to confront external aggression in the exercise of its right to self-defence, recognized by the UN Charter," he said and added,"Without any legitimate excuse, the U.S. government is building, day after day, a fraudulent case to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and the eventual military aggression."
In related news, on May 20, Cuba's Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, informed the population that Cuba has no remaining stocks of diesel or fuel oil, with only limited domestic gas production available. In his warning that the country has run out of diesel and fuel oil, he emphasized that U.S. sanctions and restrictions have left the island's power system in crisis. Pointing to the fact that shortages have led to blackouts of up to 20 to 22 hours in parts of Havana, he described the national energy situation as "critical." "The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have absolutely none; diesel, of which we have absolutely none -- I am being repetitive -- the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown," de la O Levy told state TV.
President Díaz-Canel stated that this dramatic worsening has a single cause: "the genocidal energy blockade that the U.S. subjects our country to, threatening with irrational tariffs any nation that supplies us with fuel." Díaz-Canel explained that the spokespeople for the U.S. regime are trying to portray to the world that Cuba's problems are a direct consequence of mismanagement by the Cuban government when in reality they are the result of perverse U.S. measures intended to push the people's shortages and hardships to extreme levels. That is why they adopted an executive order that completely blocks fuel supplies to Cuba and another that persecutes and penalizes those who trade or invest on the island. It is a perverse scheme whose main objective is to inflict suffering on the entire Cuban people, to hold them hostage and turn them against the government, the President stated. "Our response remains the same: always open to dialogue on equal terms, we will continue to resist and build, increasingly convinced that it is up to us to overcome enormous difficulties through our own efforts, united as a nation, and resolute in facing the toughest challenges," Díaz-Canel said.
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Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca