Science for the People

In this time of escalated imperialist aggression by the United States and its allies, Cuba faces renewed threat of military aggression, compounding more than six decades of counter-insurgency and illegal blockades led by the United States. It is imperative that we uphold the Cuban people’s fight for liberation, itself situated in a long history of revolutionary resistance. Science for the People stands with Cuba in their struggle against US imperialism, and reiterates the call by the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) to unite to stop US military escalation and the blockade. 

We condemn in the strongest terms the decades-long economic and military blockade against Cuba enforced by the United States and its allies. The blockade has cost Cuba 134 billion USD over more than sixty years (12 million USD daily), and has contributed to severe hunger, healthcare crises, and deaths in Cuba [1]. Despite this long-running, crippling combination of economic/technological sanctions and blockade, the Cuban revolution is ongoing. We see evidence for this in the revolutionary advancements in people-centric science and medicine in Cuba: their commitment to sustainable agriculture, effective training of scientific personnel, leadership in medical education and medical internationalism, and vaccine deployment both domestically and internationally. 

From 1962 onwards, Cuba’s National Immunization Program has successfully eliminated numerous life-threatening infectious diseases, including polio, malaria, measles, and rubella. The number of medical doctors per capita in Cuba (7.5 per 1000 people) is nearly three times that in the United States After the revolution, Cuba’s infant mortality rate dropped and life expectancy rose significantly. Cuba also provides a model for people-centric scientific advancements outside of the medical sphere. The national literacy campaign of 1961 drastically reduced illiteracy in Cubans over ten years of age from 23% to 3%, in just one year. In the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of Cubans trained as scientists and engineers—totaling 1.8 researchers per 1000 people, which is significantly above the Latin American average (0.4) and approaches that of Europe (2.0). As of 2006, Cuba has demonstrated a commitment to sustainable agriculture, with a 95% reduction in the annual use of chemical pesticides compared to the 1980s [2]. As of the mid-2010s, women account for almost half of Cuba’s science and technology personnel. Even with long-running and ongoing oppression by the United States, Cuba provides a beacon of inspiration for what is possible when people and governments create a society where science serves the people. 

Continuing our long history of Cuban solidarity via political education, resource sharing, material aid, and direct visits, we urge SftP members and supporters (as well as all anti-imperialist scientists) to join the global movement for an organized peoples’ struggle against Western hegemony and the US war machine. The core demands of the international No War on Cuba Campaign at present are:

1. An end to all military escalation against Cuba,
2. The removal of Cuba from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list,
3. An end to the economic blockade,
4. The return of Guantánamo Bay to the Cuban people,
5. And normalized relations between the United States and Cuba.

The revolutionary Cuban advancements in science, medicine, education, literacy, and sustainability are currently suffering under the increasing economic and military pressure being applied by the United States. Over 80% of people living in Cuba have spent their entire lives under the blockade, and the US government’s most recent escalation since January 2026 has drastically increased the deliberate starvation of the Cuban people. The island’s historically low infant mortality rate is creeping back up, and its National Immunization Program is now at serious risk because of economic and technological restrictions [3]. Cubans are currently suffering from over 20 hours of power outages daily, and children on the island are no longer receiving their state-subsidized milk rations. Make no mistake: these are the genocidal effects of an inhumane blockade being sustained by the US empire, targeted directly at the Cuban people.

We echo the campaign’s call for an International Week of Action from June 28th through July 4th, and are responding with locating and collecting material aid. Please fill out the survey to get involved and contribute to the supply drive. In addition, please find the linked NNOC resources for organizing your own local events, power mapping, and preparing for a coordinated National Rapid Response. 

Now is the time to act materially for the international movement in solidarity with Cuba and oppressed peoples of the world. We fight in solidarity with Cuba, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and against the US empire, to build a future in which all peoples can flourish in equality and dignity. ¡Cuba sí, bloqueo no! ¡Viva Cuba Libre!

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[1] https://misiones.cubaminrex.cu/en/articulo/cubas-report-2018-resolution-724-united-nations-general-assembly-entitled-necessity-ending#_Toc518654274

[2] Helen Yaffe, We are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World (Yale University Press, 2020).

[3] https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18mDAjPLnC/