CPI(M) Delegation Carries Medicines to Cuba Amid US Sanctions

The delegation led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has left for Cuba carrying life-saving medicines for the Cuban people, who are struggling under US sanctions. The CPI (M) team maintains a long-standing political solidarity with Cuba, which is a socialist country. The team will attend the Fidel Castro Centenary Colloquium, marking the 100th birthday of Fidel Castro.

According to a post made by the party on social media pages, the medicines are primarily for the treatment of cancer and heart disease. The delegation will also visit a heart hospital and a children’s cancer treatment centre.

The delegation comprises CPI(M) Politburo member Vijoo Krishnan, Central Committee member PK Sreemathi, Karnataka state secretariat member Meenakshi Sundaram, Chhattisgarh state secretariat member Dharmaraj Mahapatra, Kerala state committee member N. Chandran, All India Agricultural Workers Union general secretary B. Venkat, and Central Trade Union Fraction member Anil SS.

The team will also tour worker-peasant cooperatives, a social project for the disadvantaged, the Fidel Castro Centre, the Che Guevara Centre, and historic sites associated with the Cuban Revolution before returning on August 19.

Cuban Crisis

Cuba has been struggling with frequent electrical grid collapses, which have become a potent symbol of the island's broader economic woes as fuel shortages, aging infrastructure and chronic underinvestment leave millions ​vulnerable to increasingly frequent blackouts.

US has imposed sanctions on an array of Cuban entities ​and people, including the island nation's president, as it ​seeks ⁠to intensify pressure on Cuba's communist leaders. The sanctions followed the United States' declaration of a national emergency this year that would impose ⁠tariffs ​on any country that supplies oil to ​the island, a move that has resulted in frequent power outages.