Cuba is set to receive oil for the first time in 2026, following the March 31st arrival at Matanzas Bay of the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin with over 730,000 barrels, or 100,000 tons, of crude oil. The tanker and its owner, the state-owned company Sovcomflot, have had sanctions on it since 2024. Late last year, the Trump administration announced severe tariffs on any country selling oil to Cuba and, after the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, prevented Venezuelan ships from reaching the island. All of this on top of decades of sanctions put the island into a severe fuel shortage, an attempt to strangle and starve the population. The delivery of the Russian tanker is a much-needed event and pokes a hole in the U.S. blockade of Cuba, but much more remains to be done.

Also in March, the Nuesta America convoy to Cuba brought people from around the hemisphere and the world to Cuba in solidarity, bringing with them aid including solar generators and solar panels to help Cuba advance its renewable energy infrastructure in the face of the blockade. Our guest today was part of the Youth Brigade of dozens of organizers who went to Cuba, where he met, exchanged and stood together with Cuban youth, building bonds of solidarity. We’ll now welcome Phill Campbell, an organizer and member of Artists Against Apartheid to the show.

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