03/06/2026
NO WAR ON CUBA: SOUTH AFRICA MUST ACT NOW
STATEMENT BY THE FRIENDS OF CUBA SOCIETY (FOCUS) AND PARTNERS*
On 3 June 2026, people across the world mark the Global Day of Action for No War on Cuba. The Friends of Cuba Society (FOCUS) and partners* join the call with urgency and conviction. We do so at a moment of escalating danger for the Cuban people and for the principles of sovereignty, international law and self-determination that South Africa has consistently claimed to defend.
The recent indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro by the United States regime has no legal basis and is a transparent pretext for escalating aggression. This, alongside the intensification of the US’s economic war on Cuba, the tightening of fuel restrictions with the blockade of oil shipments, the unwarranted designation of Cuba as a state sponsoring terrorism, and increasingly open discussions of forced leadership change in Cuba. These are not isolated developments; they form part of a long-standing strategy to bring Cuba to its knees through economic warfare, political coercion and, ultimately, the threat of military intervention.
South Africa cannot remain silent.
Our country has rightly earned international respect for its principled opposition to genocide, collective punishment, occupation and violations of international law. The same commitment that led South Africa to take action at the International Court of Justice in defence of the Palestinian people must guide our response today. Principles are not principles if they are applied selectively. They are tested precisely when powerful states seek to exempt themselves from the rules they demand of others.
The Cuban people have endured more than six decades of blockade, sabotage, terrorism and economic aggression because they chose a sovereign path of development. Today, Cuba faces a severe humanitarian crisis: hospitals struggle with fuel shortages, food systems face enormous strain, and ordinary people carry the burden of policies explicitly designed to create hardship and social catastrophe and collapse. This is collective punishment.
As South Africans, we have a particular responsibility to speak.
Cuba stood with the people of South and Southern Africa when many of the world's most powerful governments stood with apartheid. Cuban internationalists fought and died on African soil. Cuban doctors, teachers and engineers contributed to building a more just world. Cuba's solidarity was given freely, without expectation of repayment. It was the Battle of Cuito Carnavale that delivered a decisive blow to South Africa’s regional dominance, and our former President Nelson Mandela described it as the turning point in the struggle against apartheid.
To remain silent now would be a betrayal of Cuba, and of our own history.
At the same time, we must reject the rising Afrophobia/xenophobia that seeks to divide the poor and working class, and pit our people against one another. South Africans know, or should know, that our liberation was made possible through international solidarity. The attempt to turn ordinary people against migrants, refugees and other nations of the Global South serves only those who benefit from division. Imperial forces have always sought to exploit genuine social and economic hardships by directing popular anger away from systems of exploitation and towards vulnerable communities. We must not allow that strategy to succeed.
FOCUS and our partners, therefore, call on the South African Government to:
• Publicly and unequivocally oppose any military intervention, regime-change operation, or further escalation against Cuba
• Condemn the indictment of Raúl Castro as a political act designed to create a pretext for further aggression
• Raise the situation of Cuba urgently at the United Nations, the African Union, BRICS and all relevant multilateral forums
• Expand diplomatic, cultural, academic and economic cooperation with Cuba as a tangible expression of solidarity
• Work with international partners to challenge the blockade and all measures that restrict Cuba's access to fuel, food, medicine and essential goods
• Mobilise a broad coalition of governments, social movements, trade unions, faith organisations and solidarity networks in defence of Cuban sovereignty.
What is being tested in Cuba and Palestine is whether powerful states can use starvation, sanctions and coercion to overturn the sovereignty of nations that refuse to submit to their demands. If such actions are normalised in Cuba, they will be deployed elsewhere. The principle at stake belongs to all of us.
South Africa must choose whether it will stand with international law, sovereignty and solidarity, or whether it will remain silent while another nation is punished for exercising its right to determine its own future.
The time for statements of concern has passed.
South Africa must act now.
No war on Cuba.
End the blockade.
Defend sovereignty.
Advance international solidarity.
¡Viva Cuba libre! ¡Viva la solidaridad internacional!
*LIST OF ENDORSING PARTNERS, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:
1. Action for Conflict Transformation (ACTION)
2. African Water Commons Collective
3. Ahlul Bait Foundation of South Africa (AFOSA)
4. BLAC - Bishop Lavis Action Community
5. Bonteheuwel Development Forum - BHDF
6. Cinema Solidarity
7. Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu Headquarters Braamfontein)
8. Generosity for Humanity
9. Housing Assembly
10. Mothers For Gaza
11. Movement For CARE
12. People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD)
13. Palestine Solidarity Campaign - South Africa
14. Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
15. Qibla
16. Salt River Heritage Society
17. Save Our Sacred Lands
18. South African Healthcare Workers For Palestine
19. UCT Alumni for Palestine
20. Women’s Assembly Movement.
The call for progressive organisation and individual endorsement remains open. An updated list of supporters will be released via FOCUS platforms on the first of each month. Organisations and individuals can add their support here: https://forms.gle/YPKX6TNosrw8FFtU6
