NEW YORK, May 26, 2026 — As the Emergency Fact Finding Delegation for Mutual Solidarity and Engagement organized by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century’s Pan African Unity Dialogue (IBW/PAUD) prepares to depart for Cuba, I would like to emphatically declare that the masses of Cuban people have suffered far too long from 67 years of selective, punitive blockades and sanctions imposed by the government of the United States. To add insult to injury, the current administration in Washington is inflicting collective punishment on the Cuban people by imposing a blockade on fuel urgently needed to provide electricity for the nation and sanctions on any nation seeking to assist Cuba to meet its essential needs. Collective punishment of a people is a violation of international law. And, as if these brazen acts were not enough, the bellicose regime in Washington is threatening to take military action against Cuba to achieve regime change.
In the face of this lawless and immoral behavior by the U.S. government, IBW/PAUD has assembled a broad-based delegation of influential civil rights, human rights, faith, business, professional and civic leaders and journalists for an Emergency Mutual Solidarity and Engagement Fact-Finding Delegation to Cuba to bear witness to these ‘‘intolerable acts.” We applaud U.S. Congressman Jonathan Jackson and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal for sharing the impact of these acts in a recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times.
Our extensive itinerary is designed for participants to see first-hand the devastating impact of the policies of the U.S. government on the masses of the Cuban people. Our goal is to return to the U.S. with a commitment that these “intolerable acts” will no longer be tolerated by deepening and broadening the Cuba solidarity movement to systematically engage in solidarity assistance through existing channels established by Pastors for Peace. In addition, we will encourage participants to join with the Congressional Black Caucus, civil rights/human rights legacy organizations and progressive faith organizations to demand normalization of relations with the sovereign nation of Cuba.
All blockades must be lifted and all sanctions must end. The milestone Accords presented by President Obama during his historic visit to Cuba to meet with President Raul Castro in March of 2016 must be the blueprint for creating a new nation to nation, neighbor-friendly relationship; a relationship which will be mutually beneficial by finally enabling the people of the United States to take advantage of the amazing advances in medicines and health care developed in Cuba while the people of Cuba can benefit from critical investments in agriculture and industry from the U.S.
Finally, we would like to commend the nations of the Caribbean for defying a President who called Haiti and other Black nations “shithole countries” by pledging to assemble a humanitarian aid package for the people of Cuba. This tangible expression of solidarity is a meaningful expression of gratitude to the Cuban people for the extraordinary contributions to the Caribbean and Africa in the form of scholarships to Cuba’s worldclass medical schools; the thousands of Cuban doctors, engineers and technicians who have rendered service throughout the Pan African world and the Cuban troops who fought side by side with Angolan military in the decisive battle of Cuito Cuanavale which paved the way for the liberation of South Africa!
The Black world owes a debt to the people of Cuba. Hopefully, the African Union will have the audacity to follow the lead of CARICOM and defy the rogue regime in the U.S. by assembling an aid package and challenging the blockade. I am confident that this broad-based delegation will return to the U.S. with a determination to express our gratitude by leaving no stone unturned until the Cuban people are emancipated from U.S. domination and free to fulfill their destiny as a sovereign nation. Our message to the long-suffering Cuban masses is that help is on the way. In the words of the late, great friend of Cuba, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, we have come to Keep Hope Alive!
Dr. Ron Daniels, President,
Institute of the Black World 21st Century,
Convener, the Pan African Unity Dialogue
