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Peoples of African descent in Brazil support Cuba against the blockade
written by Ed Newman June 7, 2026

The National Meeting of the Cultures of Peoples of African Descent concludes its sessions in Minas Gerais with a campaign to donate medical supplies and a firm condemnation of the US economic blockade against the Caribbean island.

More than 500 delegates from Brazil and eight other countries concluded the largest gathering of Afro-Cuban communities this Sunday, June 7, in the municipality of Contagem, demanding an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

After four days of discussions in Minas Gerais, participants in the largest forum in Latin America drafted a proposal of popular demands. This document, intended as a platform for social mobilization, will be presented to the political candidates running in Brazil’s general elections this October.

The closing session became a space for international solidarity, where the donation of essential medical supplies to the Caribbean island was coordinated. Leaders of Afro-Cuban traditions denounced the fact that the shortage of medicines caused by the U.S. embargo is resulting in loss of life among vulnerable populations.

The Cuban delegation expressed its gratitude for the material and spiritual support received in the face of the economic strangulation policies implemented by the White House. The Caribbean delegates highlighted the coordination of Brazilian popular movements that are actively and directly confronting all imperialist aggression.

This organizational network seeks to place social demands against the historical structural religious racism on the agenda of voters in the South American giant. The forum consolidates cultural and political resistance, strengthening the historical unity between the peoples of Latin America and the African continent.

The world rejects the strangulation of the Cuban people

Amid the intensification of economic strangulation measures, threats, and the oil blockade imposed by the Trump Administration, numerous countries have reaffirmed their support for the island’s sovereignty and denounced the White House’s violations of international law. Nations such as Russia and China have led the international condemnation, describing the energy blockade as unacceptable interference and a violation of sovereignty.

In the region, Mexico’s leadership, along with that of other countries, has been fundamental in maintaining the flow of supplies and humanitarian aid, defying warnings of tariffs and direct sanctions issued from Washington.

This multilateral support has been strongly felt in the United Nations General Assembly, where an overwhelming majority of 187 countries, including strong blocs from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, have historically voted against the blockade, leaving the United States and Israel in near-total diplomatic isolation.

Likewise, solidarity groups and unions in European nations such as Spain, Italy, and France have organized aid convoys to symbolically break the blockade, demonstrating that the international community recognizes the measures of collective punishment against the Cuban people as a crime that violates international humanitarian law and the human rights of Cubans.

IMAGE CREDIT: The Fourth National Meeting of the Cultures of Peoples of African Descent concludes in Brazil to strengthen cultural resistance, identity, and the preservation of ancestral traditions of Afro-descendant communities.