Episode 170
Hands off Cuba delegation w/ Rachell Tucker and Maxine Roboles - Ep 170
Jovanni is joined by Rachel Tucker and Maxine Roboles, who recount their recent delegation trip to Cuba. They delve into Cuba's history, including its resilience against US sanctions, its noteworthy contributions to global medical and liberation efforts, and the lifestyle and struggles of its citizens, alongside observing Cuba's socialism, experiencing Cuban culture and hospitality, and the implications of their military backgrounds on their perspectives.
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Transcript
this is Fortress On A Hill, with Henri, Danny, Kaygan, Jo
Speaker:vonni, Shiloh, Monisha , and Mike
Speaker:welcome back everyone to another episode of Fortress on the Hill, a podcast about
Speaker:US foreign policy, anti parallelism, skepticism, and American way of work.
Speaker:I'm Giovanni, your host.
Speaker:Thank you for being with us today.
Speaker:Cuba is a nation of 11 million people located just 90 miRoboles
Speaker:off the coast of the United States once a defacto US colony.
Speaker:After the Spanish American War in 1898, Cuba reclaimed it sovereignty in 1959.
Speaker:Through Revolution transforming a society, economy, and political
Speaker:trajectory, the defines put the island at odds with the United States, a global
Speaker:superpower that has long view Latin America as its sphere of influence.
Speaker:Despite its size, Cuba has played an outsized role in history.
Speaker:It defeated a US backed invasion at pig of the Bay of Pig.
Speaker:Stood at the center of the Cuban Missile Crisis and sent troops to
Speaker:support liberation struggRoboles abroad.
Speaker:Most notably in Angola, where forces help defeat apartheid South Africa,
Speaker:securing independence and hasting the fall of white minority rule.
Speaker:At home, Cuba built a renowned medical system developing groundbreaking vaccines
Speaker:and treatments, including for lung cancer and HIV transmission from mother to child.
Speaker:it was the only country in the Americas to produce five COVID-19
Speaker:vaccines and Cuba doctors were among the first responders in Wuhan, China
Speaker:with the innovative dengue vaccine.
Speaker:Yet for over 65 years, Q has endured punishing US sanctions
Speaker:designed to triple its economy and to stabilize its government.
Speaker:They have also had to resist sabotage, outright terrorism and cognitive warfare
Speaker:designed to seduce their people to turn them against their government.
Speaker:Despite this grassroots movements in the United States, like hands off, Cuba have
Speaker:gathered delegation and medical campaigns in solidarity with the Cuban people.
Speaker:Today we're joined by two returning guests who recently traveled to Cuba
Speaker:with one such delegation, Rachel Tucker and Maxine Roboles They share their
Speaker:firsthand experience and insight into ongoing campaign for US Cuba policy.
Speaker:Rachel Tucker is a Cuban American living in San Antonio.
Speaker:She was a member of the Imperialist Army from 2002 to 2011.
Speaker:Rachel is a founding organizer of Oppressed revolutionary for workers'
Speaker:power, and she is also an organizer for Above Face Veterans Against the War.
Speaker:welcome back, Rachel.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:Happy to be here.
Speaker:Maxine Roboles is from Lare, Texas, a Navy veteran middle school teacher.
Speaker:An activist who tries to learn from orgs to educate and
Speaker:attempt to fix her community.
Speaker:Welcome back, Maxine.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Appreciate you.
Speaker:So ladies, how are you guys doing today?
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:Okay, so let's get to it.
Speaker:Tell us about Cuba.
Speaker:What motivated you to join this delegation?
Speaker:How did your experience compare to the reality you encountered in Cuba?
Speaker:I found out about this delegation through Rachel.
Speaker:So she's literally the only reason I was able to experience this and learn so much.
Speaker:So I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker:Yeah, no that, that means a lot.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And I'm happy you went because it was a great trip and we got to know
Speaker:each other and a little bit and everything, especially in a free land.
Speaker:This was my third time going to Cuba and we went with a delegation
Speaker:uen US hands off Cuba committee.
Speaker:and then we were part of the mission also was to deliver medical supplies.
Speaker:And so essentially it was a delegation of about 60.
Speaker:And Texas took about eight different people, two of us being veterans.
Speaker:And yeah we delivered about 60 bags of medical equipment to the trauma hospital.
Speaker:Khali still in Havana and.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm always happy and down and honored to go to Cuba because that's,
Speaker:that's where my roots are from.
Speaker:And every time I go I learn something new.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And Giovanni, you were the one that introduced me to Rachel, so it's all
Speaker:connect for me it, it is just like all these people, like putting me where
Speaker:I'm supposed to be to, learn as much as I can to be the person I am and like,
Speaker:I guess a lot of us look for a place in the world, and each one of these
Speaker:steps, I think is leading me there.
Speaker:So thank you to you.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:So when you were asked to join this delegation, were you like Cuba?
Speaker:Hell yeah.
Speaker:Or were you like I don't know, 'cause there's so much things and whatnot.
Speaker:How are you?
Speaker:Yeah, at first I was like Cuba what are these people into, like you start
Speaker:talking to some of y'all, and it's no, like you've been brainwashed.
Speaker:And as soon as I hear that, like I know I've been brainwashed and so many other
Speaker:things that it was like, okay, like what else have I been lied to about?
Speaker:And you want to peel that onion, no matter how stinky and how much you
Speaker:cry, like you want to peel it back 'cause you wanna see what's there.
Speaker:And that's what this delegation was for me.
Speaker:Rachel, any thoughts?
Speaker:You say you've been there three times.
Speaker:Every time you go there, you learn something new.
Speaker:Yeah, no, it was great to be there with, Maxine and Kiara.
Speaker:Because like we each brought, I. Something for each other to look at
Speaker:that we wouldn't focus on if we were just, in our own individual experience.
Speaker:And yeah, this time around it was a little different because it was a
Speaker:union delegation of youth and labor.
Speaker:And we spent the first half of the trip with the CTC, the central
Speaker:for Cuban labor of Cuban workers.
Speaker:And we learned, I learned a lot about labor.
Speaker:I think like overall experience, I know we'll get further and further into it, but
Speaker:just being in the US 'cause it had been like three years since I had been back.
Speaker:It really it was like a recharge, a recharge to, to continue
Speaker:fighting here in the United States.
Speaker:And to fight for Cuba and to fight for our own liberation as well.
Speaker:And so that, that's really what it was for me.
Speaker:It was just like a a vault in the chest and in the brain of just like this don't
Speaker:forget, and not that I do forget, but it's just, it gets hard here in the US and and
Speaker:that's, it's necessary to have and I'm lucky to be able to have that recharge.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I myself went to Cuba in 2015.
Speaker:Shortly after the Obama announced a time with Cuban relations.
Speaker:That's when us opened travel to Cuba, not only for delegations or humanitarian
Speaker:reasons, but to, for leisure, et cetera.
Speaker:But I went on a delegation also.
Speaker:And yeah.
Speaker:And, but when I got to Cuba, I was, I've learned, I've read so much about it,
Speaker:about Cuba since I was a teen, actually.
Speaker:So I think my first paper on Cuba, I was in ninth grade.
Speaker:And my English teacher, I remember she, she wrote on the top, she gave
Speaker:me an A and she wrote, a great essay.
Speaker:A good essay, thank you for, talking about a topic.
Speaker:So much, so misunderstood by, by, by most America.
Speaker:Something like, something to that effect, but yeah, I've been looking into Cuba,
Speaker:studying Cuba for a long time, and when I finally got to Cuba, it was like I
Speaker:had been there long before, that's the feeling I've had, but yeah, you say you
Speaker:guys went on a delegation to supply to bring much needed medical aid supply.
Speaker:Can you walk us through the process of delivering the medical
Speaker:supply to the Havana Hospital?
Speaker:And what interactions or moments stood out during this effort?
Speaker:So
Speaker:we got the majority of the.
Speaker:Medical supplies from an organization that basically focuses on preparing
Speaker:suitcases full of medical equipment, and then whoever's going to Cuba connects
Speaker:with them and then they get the BAG
Speaker:Do you wanna get into that?
Speaker:Since I'm in Laredo I had to get someone in San Antonio
Speaker:to get the bag from Houston.
Speaker:So they were able to do that and they brought it to the airport.
Speaker:So there's different ways, like even if you're not in the city that has the
Speaker:suitcases, they accommodate so that the medical suitcases being delivered.
Speaker:It's possible for these people because they really do need it.
Speaker:Like even the stuff that we took it's a variety of different things.
Speaker:Like I didn't.
Speaker:Know what I was expecting, what was gonna be in the suitcase.
Speaker:But I was part of the team that had to like sort them and stuff like that.
Speaker:So we got to see what was in each suitcase.
Speaker:And it was just so many different things, but the way they take it whatever they're
Speaker:lacking, like now, they'll be able to go and report back to help the people
Speaker:that needed those things and have been waiting and praying or whatever it is
Speaker:that, that they get that, so that was a really good feeling, like knowing
Speaker:that you're really helping people.
Speaker:And it's sad that we have to do this 'cause there shouldn't be a need for
Speaker:people to bring in medical supplies, like when we can just order something
Speaker:online and it gets delivered, but even that, like peeling those layers
Speaker:back and understanding how bad these people have it, like how bad the Cubans
Speaker:have it and how resilient they are.
Speaker:'cause for me, socialism was like a bad word.
Speaker:You don't say that.
Speaker:You don't know.
Speaker:You're not a socialist, you don't say that stuff.
Speaker:But now understanding it and seeing them like even with something that we
Speaker:take for granted headache medication, tylenol that we take for granted, like
Speaker:with something huge for them, so it, it opened my eyes to a lot of things.
Speaker:And essentially like when we delivered the medicine, like the medical bags,
Speaker:it, I mean it was at the only trauma hospital in Havana and we spoke to a
Speaker:doctor, Dr. And she was, detailing like how the blockage like really affects
Speaker:the, them getting the supplies that they need in order to treat their.
Speaker:Patients.
Speaker:And this is a country that sends doctors all over the world that
Speaker:has Elam and trained people from students or youth, like from all
Speaker:over the world to in the highest tech medicine and the best practices.
Speaker:And yet they still struggle to get the materials.
Speaker:And it was really amazing to deliver these bags.
Speaker:And once we did of course it became a photo op.
Speaker:And so it was all the 60 bags put one on top of the other
Speaker:and it was like a giant wall.
Speaker:And then, they were the ones that the staff the doctors, nurses, all of them are
Speaker:the ones that took it inside and, they're very thankful for us doing this for them.
Speaker:But, it's a small gesture compared to the amount of need that they have.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They've pretty much been in the cutting edge of medicine.
Speaker:They have world class medical system, pretty much equal or more advanced
Speaker:than a lot of first world countries.
Speaker:They have more doctors per citizen than the US have doctors per citizen, for
Speaker:example, the medical system covers all.
Speaker:And yeah, one of the things that I remember, I recall recently, I know
Speaker:in the intro I mentioned that they developed five COVID-19 vaccines.
Speaker:However they lacked the resources to develop syringes.
Speaker:So they have to buy syringes in the market.
Speaker:That's one of the things that the Biden administration, did with blocking the
Speaker:delivery or the purchase of syringes.
Speaker:So they won't be able to vaccinate their populations, talking about coldhearted,
Speaker:and it's crazy 'cause one of the stories that they told us while we were there,
Speaker:was like how amazing one the service was.
Speaker:And two, like during one of the hurricanes when power went out they
Speaker:needed people to volunteer, like to manually give oxygen to people.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:that were in the hospitals, so then they were like that, they put the call
Speaker:out, to see how many people they would be able to get to volunteer to do this.
Speaker:They had enough people to last three days to keep these people alive.
Speaker:Like over the, every single life is precious.
Speaker:No, no matter, no amount of money or whatever.
Speaker:Like every single life is so much more valuable than that.
Speaker:And they were able to keep these people alive.
Speaker:It's just incredible.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I'm thankful you said that because that story was told to us by one of
Speaker:the Dominican union teachers that had been there 12 times and he was really
Speaker:recognized and he was just crying.
Speaker:Because essentially it was like, not being able to get
Speaker:oxygen because of the blockade.
Speaker:and the other thing that was really incredible because in the United States,
Speaker:like COVID has disappeared, and it almost like never happened in Cuba.
Speaker:Like they have studied it.
Speaker:They are still studying their response to it.
Speaker:They're still learning from it.
Speaker:we talked to a biomedical scientist I'm probably getting ahead of
Speaker:myself here, everything's connected.
Speaker:But this biomedical scientist, he was retired and he briefed us at the
Speaker:University of Havana, and he was just really talking about what it means.
Speaker:To develop these vaccines, right?
Speaker:Like the HIV vaccine you were talking about Giovanni, the five COVID vaccines,
Speaker:including like the one, only one in the world for children under five.
Speaker:And the diabetes and anti amputation vaccines, the lung cancer vaccine.
Speaker:And like they've been able to do all of these things because they
Speaker:have the political will to do it.
Speaker:They have the government that's basically for the people that, that
Speaker:really pushes them and gives them the sovereignty they need as researchers
Speaker:and developers of medicines and technology to to do this for the people.
Speaker:And he called it basically being a good diplomat, a scientific
Speaker:diplomat and, it was just incredible.
Speaker:'cause the way he presented it was with such passion.
Speaker:And so because he did it for the love of his people and yeah
Speaker:I could go on about that guy.
Speaker:Going back to just remembering Maxine's, the early comment about before she
Speaker:went to Cuba, socialism was a bad word.
Speaker:We here in the United States being rated into believing that, they've
Speaker:been, they've been drilling our heads from the cradle to the grave, that is
Speaker:a bad word, but people don't really understand what it really means.
Speaker:Socialism, a root word is social.
Speaker:That's a good word.
Speaker:Social.
Speaker:It's society, social, right?
Speaker:And that's when they use where the means of production, the economic means
Speaker:of production is used for a social good versus in capitalism, the means
Speaker:of production is used for profit.
Speaker:That's a big difference between the two, just recalling my dad, for example,
Speaker:my dad's Dominican and he repatriated back to the Dominican Republic.
Speaker:He retired here in the United States and went to Dominican Republic.
Speaker:Dominican Republic is a capitalist country, just like United
Speaker:States and adopts a lot of the ways of the United States.
Speaker:And it has a healthcare insurance industry, in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker:my dad is a retiree from the United States military.
Speaker:He retired was contracting and yada.
Speaker:But anyway he went back to Dominican Republic and he had heart issues and he
Speaker:was hospitalized and he used Tricare.
Speaker:Tricare he uses Tricare International, where you have to pay out of pocket first
Speaker:and then have to ask for reimbursement.
Speaker:That's the Tricare, that people outside the United States
Speaker:But anyway, his experience.
Speaker:they were trying to intubate him and all jazz.
Speaker:'cause he was having heart issues and everything.
Speaker:Then when he got better, they put a security guard right outside his
Speaker:front door to make sure he doesn't leave before he pays his bill.
Speaker:he was pretty much detained in his room until he came out to five, $6,000
Speaker:in US dollars, for the treatment that he received in the republic.
Speaker:put a watchman there to make sure he doesn't leave, talk about the contrast.
Speaker:Talk about, healthcare for profit versus healthcare for the social good.
Speaker:We've been brainwashed because even the care, one of our
Speaker:friends she got dehydrated.
Speaker:So we got to see the medical.
Speaker:Staff in action, and they had already told the they had told us this story
Speaker:about this guy going to the hospital and supposedly the cab driver being like,
Speaker:oh, I'll just wait out here for you.
Speaker:And he's no I don't know how long it's gonna be and this and that.
Speaker:'cause our weights are like four hours for the emergency room, but like within
Speaker:20 minutes she was hooked up to an IV from the time we got there, like to the
Speaker:it would let in Roboless than 20 minutes.
Speaker:And that, that was all about the patient, like super quick and and the
Speaker:United States would never do that.
Speaker:It was incredible to see it.
Speaker:Right on.
Speaker:Right on.
Speaker:Let me, let's move on.
Speaker:So while you were there, you guys took an opportunity also
Speaker:to participate in workshops.
Speaker:And you guys spoke to different presenters in this on this workshops.
Speaker:And you guys talked about.
Speaker:Cuban achievements, the impacts of the blockade.
Speaker:And you guys heard a lot of stories.
Speaker:Can you share some of those?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So one of, one of the things that I wanted to mention, like right off the bat, but
Speaker:of course I didn't is the framing of the work, of the internship that we went to.
Speaker:One of the secretaries of the whole CTC of the Cuban labor umbrella, basically
Speaker:told us the amount of sacrifice that they made for us to be participating in.
Speaker:In this internship where they applied through the state, a waiver so
Speaker:that we wouldn't suffer blackouts.
Speaker:And, many of the delegates, were just like, damn I feel like a hypocrite because
Speaker:we're going around a bus and we haven't suffered a blackout and this and that.
Speaker:And it's just like they do this sacrifice because of the work that we need to do
Speaker:back home in the belly of the beast.
Speaker:And to build solidarity movement to lift the blockade, to get 'em off
Speaker:the state sponsor with terrorism list and to just build solidarity.
Speaker:And so I really appreciated her framing it that way because it just shows
Speaker:like you're not here to be a tourist.
Speaker:You're here because we need you to do this work.
Speaker:And we'll train you and we'll give you what we have, not what's left
Speaker:over, like in a very Cuban way.
Speaker:And so yeah we met people from the global Federation of Unions.
Speaker:Which is an international umbrella for different unions to get together
Speaker:and really work on internationalism anti imperialism and just solidarity.
Speaker:We visited their headquarters in Havana that I guess has been there since 1968.
Speaker:And they opened up another one in Chile.
Speaker:That was really cool.
Speaker:We also learned how essentially every job in Cuba is organized, right?
Speaker:They all have unions, and I think that's, correct me if I'm wrong, Maxine, but I
Speaker:think they said that 0.2 or 0.02 of the population is not in a union which is.
Speaker:Absolutely crazy.
Speaker:Because here in the United States and in it's, it, I don't even know how much
Speaker:it is, but in Texas it's like Roboless than 10% I think are in a union.
Speaker:And it just really shows like the organization of the society from the
Speaker:workplace to, to the neighborhood to the, to like the government.
Speaker:So for me, like the most humbling part was our first day I think it was called.
Speaker:And we had to take showers Yeah.
Speaker:And flush a toilet with buckets, so that was like super humbling.
Speaker:For us, like everything that these people did to get the food for us.
Speaker:'cause even that, like their food was delicious.
Speaker:We also know that they were making a sacrifice to make
Speaker:sure that all of us ate first.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:So that was like, that was the first wow moment for me.
Speaker:We even got to wash our clothes in the bathtub, in the buckets, and hang them
Speaker:up in our room and stuff like that.
Speaker:So that was an experience in itself to humble us and remind
Speaker:us how much we take for granted.
Speaker:Even being able to flush our toilet we take for granted.
Speaker:And then being able to see the different people from all the different
Speaker:countries and then learn about all the different struggRoboles that they are.
Speaker:Are fighting in their countries, and it gave me like this epiphany moment, if as
Speaker:kids we're taught about like our place, our city, or our district, and we became
Speaker:experts and all that, and the good and the bad, and then we actually went to college
Speaker:and talked to other people about that.
Speaker:Like the stuff we're doing essentially as old adults right now, we could be doing at
Speaker:a kid level and fixing this stuff, because I just learned about the Mauche who've
Speaker:been fighting in Chile, for the ancestral lands, and even that I'm still watching
Speaker:videos on it now because it's horrible.
Speaker:Like how much we're not taught, but how much these people from
Speaker:these countries are taught about what really happens in our country.
Speaker:'Cause even them, they were schooling me and they were like, no, but it's not
Speaker:because of that, it's because of this.
Speaker:And I was like, no, but, and then they would school me and I was like, oh my
Speaker:goodness, I still have so much to learn.
Speaker:So being in spaces able to learn from people who aren't talking
Speaker:just to make you feel bad and make themselves look how much I know.
Speaker:Like they really want you to learn so that you can help fix whatever it is
Speaker:that's going on in your part of the woods or whatever you wanna call it.
Speaker:So being in community with people who want to do good, just to do
Speaker:good, to figure this out together, was a really good experience for me.
Speaker:No, most definitely.
Speaker:No, me too.
Speaker:'cause I had never taken showers buckets before.
Speaker:So that was the first, and I've told you, I miss, I miss that, that like
Speaker:cold water to just wake me the hell up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's bone strong.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Love float.
Speaker:But one, because we did have a lot of people that we talked to and part
Speaker:of that internship, there were eight other different countries there.
Speaker:So Panama,
Speaker:those, there was delegation from from several countries.
Speaker:I heard exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so yeah, we, that's we talked a lot and learned a lot from them.
Speaker:And then one of the things that really stuck out to me was we had
Speaker:little breakout groups one day.
Speaker:Where we visited with different unions from different sectors.
Speaker:And I visited with the Ministry of Education, science and Sports, and
Speaker:that was just like really amazing because I just learned so much about
Speaker:the way that they organize themselves in education and the way that they
Speaker:follow social emulation, which is like healthy competition between schools.
Speaker:So it's a concept by brought up by che where it's
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's like instead of giving people I don't know, incentives, rewards,
Speaker:it's healthy competition between peers to be the best that they can, to
Speaker:produce the, be the most that they can.
Speaker:And then they'll have awards or whatever at the end, recognitions
Speaker:at the end of the semester.
Speaker:But that's how they motivate each other, right?
Speaker:In order to do what's best for them, but more so what's best
Speaker:for the collective for everybody.
Speaker:And they, we learned essentially that they have over 60,000
Speaker:schools that they take care of.
Speaker:And they were like of course that there's maintenance issues, but there's
Speaker:maintenance issues in the United States.
Speaker:Here in San Antonio.
Speaker:Our kids don't have AC in the summer, and many times.
Speaker:And so it really puts things into perspective.
Speaker:They, I don't know those ladies.
Speaker:It was all women that were representing the union of the Ministry of Education.
Speaker:And I don't know, it was just really flooring, like the dedication
Speaker:that they had to their community and to ensuring that all of the
Speaker:teachers were taken care of.
Speaker:And that burnout, doesn't really affect them as much as it does
Speaker:here in the United States.
Speaker:They'll have real conversations about how they're feeling
Speaker:and how the teacher's doing.
Speaker:And so that was just really beautiful.
Speaker:So how many countries were there representatives within those delegations?
Speaker:Do you recall?
Speaker:I think it was eight.
Speaker:'cause it was Panama, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, United States Brazil.
Speaker:Ua.
Speaker:From Mexico.
Speaker:Oh, Mexico.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's a lot.
Speaker:That was a lot of delegation.
Speaker:Most of 'em were made up of unions.
Speaker:Public sector and private sector unions.
Speaker:We met one guy from Colombia that he's in the union of sugar cane workers.
Speaker:And that one is a private sector union.
Speaker:And he was saying 'cause one of the things that everybody in the world is
Speaker:struggling with is a development of ai.
Speaker:And so he was basically explaining to me that they're really fighting
Speaker:the automation of their work.
Speaker:and then for just transition as well, because one machine can basically take
Speaker:over 180 jobs and, what do they do with that amount of unemployed people?
Speaker:What, how can the government step in, and demand that just
Speaker:transition training, retraining.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So I wanna move on to your veterans lens.
Speaker:Both of you are veterans.
Speaker:I wanna know how has your military service influenced how you
Speaker:approach this delegation mission and understood Cuba's resilience?
Speaker:Like for me.
Speaker:I really wasn't gonna mention that I was a veteran while I was there.
Speaker:But like other people started talking and stuff like that, we got a chance
Speaker:to go to a place called Uni where like adults, whatever it is that they do in
Speaker:life, they teach these kids for free.
Speaker:There's no, no fear or anything like that.
Speaker:Sometimes they have to pay for food, all the time out of
Speaker:their own pocket and stuff.
Speaker:We were able to watch the documentary Cuba and Africa at this place.
Speaker:They had the showing.
Speaker:And after the documentary, all these elders start to stand up and
Speaker:I'm like, dude, what's going on?
Speaker:And they're like oh.
Speaker:'cause the documentary was on the liberation of Angola.
Speaker:Like how the Cuban people, even though they were.
Speaker:Having their own shit in their country or their own stuff in their country.
Speaker:They volunteered to go and liberate these people not to take gold or money or make
Speaker:a profit off of these people in the war.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:They just went to go liberate these people.
Speaker:So after this documentary, I was already crying, and then the elders
Speaker:stands up and I just lost it, like in my head, you know what I mean?
Speaker:This stuff happened like in my grandparents' time, and here are
Speaker:these elders standing up, like these people are still alive.
Speaker:These people can still tell their story, but the US is still lying to us.
Speaker:And it was hard to come to terms with the brainwashing, like how we've been.
Speaker:Spoonfed this capitalistic lie this whole time.
Speaker:And we go to these countries and we kill these people who could
Speaker:probably be our fucking friends.
Speaker:But because of capitalism, like we're taught that these are our
Speaker:enemies and it's us or them, and we make a choice to join the military.
Speaker:When these people volunteered to liberate a whole country it was a tough pill to
Speaker:swallow, but then talking to some of the combatants, some of the women combatants,
Speaker:learning how they didn't have to deal with the rape culture that we have to
Speaker:deal with, that they felt more protected.
Speaker:And even being in Cuba you feel this, like you're not in any danger.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:So talking to them about that and then understanding that you join the
Speaker:military and whoever's listening to this you join the military, you do
Speaker:these terrible things, not knowing what you're really doing, but once you do
Speaker:know better, what is it that you do?
Speaker:And that was one of the messages that they gave me.
Speaker:And I took, because you have to make amends with what you did.
Speaker:And if you're still wallowing in pity and not trying to do anything to do good or
Speaker:better for your people or those around you then what are we doing with life?
Speaker:And I had a lot of those questioning, what am I doing with my life moments there.
Speaker:It was, I'm grateful for the experience.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's, that was good that you got to see.
Speaker:So I was in high school when it was announced that.
Speaker:Mandela was free from prison, right?
Speaker:I was in high school.
Speaker:It was in 94.
Speaker:I remember.
Speaker:And the context, the way we were taught, here in the US right?
Speaker:I went to school in Virginia, is that, it was a freedom fighter.
Speaker:It was all about non-violence and, 'cause right shortly after Mandela was freed.
Speaker:The government of South Africa fell.
Speaker:So that was it.
Speaker:This guy Mandela was in prison for 28 years.
Speaker:Now he's free.
Speaker:And his South African government fell and now everybody's free and everybody's
Speaker:happy and everything like that and democracy here and there and blah, blah.
Speaker:But what we're never told is that the United States was supporting the
Speaker:South African government, the South African government played a role.
Speaker:Israel plays Now in West Asia, the South African government, United
Speaker:States was army to the teeth, the South African government.
Speaker:And they pretty much had an enclave.
Speaker:They pretty much carved themselves a little empire in South Africa.
Speaker:They were trying to dominate Angola they colonized Namibia et cetera.
Speaker:And what the Cubans did, they deployed, there was a revolutionary government
Speaker:in Angola that defeated the Portuguese.
Speaker:And then they declared the independence and the South Africas invaded.
Speaker:And what the Cuban government did was sent troops there to repel that
Speaker:invasion and not only repel that invasion it defeated the South African
Speaker:government twice in two battRobRoboles
Speaker:In two key battRobRoboles And right after that defeat, the South African withdrew.
Speaker:Once they withdrew, that's when everything started crumbling.
Speaker:That's when they felt all the pressure.
Speaker:That's when they had to a liberate Mandela.
Speaker:And then shortly after, boom a fell.
Speaker:And one of the stories I heard about the Cuban African expedition, is that
Speaker:they have black Cuban commanders, leading, white Cuban troops.
Speaker:And the South Africans see that because the South African
Speaker:army was an all white army.
Speaker:they would see black commanders leading white Cuban troops to battle, and that
Speaker:was demoralizing factor for them, they were being defeated by black commanders.
Speaker:And at the same time The black population of the area, which they were made to
Speaker:believe white supremacy, that white was superior to them, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker:They got to see people that looked like them defeating
Speaker:the all white army in battle.
Speaker:So that was like a chain effect right there that precipitated the
Speaker:fall of the regime in South Africa.
Speaker:Rachel, you have any thoughts?
Speaker:No, it's just so inspiring.
Speaker:And the fact that this time around, like the first time I went to Cuba,
Speaker:we met with a panel of veterans from various different struggRoboles
Speaker:including the 1959 revolution.
Speaker:And this time around it was just like, It was really incredible because, we
Speaker:had seen Cuba in Africa and we had seen some of them that were in the film, I
Speaker:believe, talk to us and then they're talking to us about why they did it and
Speaker:how they think about their experience today years later, like the majority
Speaker:of them are in their seniors now.
Speaker:and how they're still involved and they still give back to their community.
Speaker:It was mentoring whatever youth space, community space.
Speaker:And they did it for the people.
Speaker:And even though it wasn't there in Cuba, like they felt it in their
Speaker:hearts that like, for real, if I'm not free, then nobody's free.
Speaker:If you're not free, then I'm not free.
Speaker:And they really live it, they live it and they continue to do in all
Speaker:of their internationalist missions.
Speaker:there was a period in the film where a couple of them get
Speaker:detained by the apartheid regime.
Speaker:And they got tortured and they got separated.
Speaker:And the thing that they knew that they each were alive was because they started
Speaker:singing and they could hear each other.
Speaker:And it's very, moving because we thought we were joining a force for good.
Speaker:Sorry.
Speaker:And it's not at all force for good.
Speaker:And, They did what I enlisted to do.
Speaker:And anyways they didn't look at it sideways and be like, oh, you're
Speaker:like an imperialist fascist.
Speaker:But no, like Maxine said, they're very loving and they understand.
Speaker:They understand like their biggest enemy, right?
Speaker:And they understand like the amount of brainwashing that
Speaker:it takes to enlist youth.
Speaker:And that's exactly like the same propaganda that they continue to
Speaker:fight against for the continuance of their own liberation.
Speaker:But yeah, I.
Speaker:We even got interviewed by the newspaper about our experience.
Speaker:I think that they were just like, wow, okay, so we got vets and
Speaker:they're not just regular vets.
Speaker:They're anti-war vets that are here, and, one of the conversations I had
Speaker:with one of the vets from Angola, one of the women, and I was like, oh my God.
Speaker:Like how was it?
Speaker:And she was so proud of her experience.
Speaker:And I would tell her like, I wish I had that.
Speaker:And she's you will in other ways, or something like that.
Speaker:And so it was just really eyeopening of the amount of love that goes into
Speaker:fighting for everyone's liberation,
Speaker:exactly.
Speaker:Indeed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was also the only country in the global south to deploy troops across
Speaker:the ocean to defend the sovereignty and freedom of another country, of
Speaker:the global south, so let me move on.
Speaker:We're getting there near time.
Speaker:Rachel, you are a Cuban American.
Speaker:How do your Cuban American identity shape your experience this time versus
Speaker:the other two times that you went?
Speaker:And also as someone connected to United States and Cuban culture,
Speaker:how do locals react to your presence and what conversations, challenge
Speaker:or deepen your understanding?
Speaker:So it's just really great 'cause it's, it is, it does feel like home.
Speaker:And like when I say I'm Cuban American to them, or I'm Cuban
Speaker:the first thing that they ask is like, where are your parents from?
Speaker:And then I tell 'em, and then they're like you
Speaker:you, you have like mabe blood.
Speaker:But yeah.
Speaker:The, my, my Cuban identity this time around it people at least in, in the
Speaker:union internship, they were really interested in knowing the experience
Speaker:and like what it is for me to come back.
Speaker:What it's like I don't know to fight for Cuba in the us what it's like and.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Basically one of, one of the big things that this time around
Speaker:was different is that we got to speak with university students.
Speaker:We spent a lot of time at the University of Havana and got briefed by the
Speaker:Federation of Students and the young Communist and like even the director
Speaker:of the university and it was, we got to speak directly with students.
Speaker:And so that was a really interesting conversation 'cause they were the student.
Speaker:I was Luis, the student that I was speaking with was like really
Speaker:interested in being Cuban in the us.
Speaker:Because.
Speaker:He'd heard so many things and this and that and I was really interested
Speaker:in just growing up in Cuba, right?
Speaker:And so you're getting to have that experience of where, he's getting
Speaker:free education to, be a lawyer.
Speaker:and meanwhile I had to join the military.
Speaker:So we were just exchanging like these experiences mainly not being Cuban
Speaker:American, but having the ability to speak to him in his language
Speaker:is always like super liberating.
Speaker:'cause you can have whatever conversation and we can
Speaker:understand each other very well.
Speaker:And he was telling me about how due to the blockade and high inflation, even
Speaker:though many graduate all that graduate basically leave there with a job which
Speaker:is different from the United States.
Speaker:And that just really blew my mind because I was like that is a well planned society.
Speaker:You leave there with a job, but because of high inflation, essentially, they
Speaker:have had to start a side hustle.
Speaker:And so I know I'm not talking that much about Cuban identity, but all of
Speaker:conversations in Spanish, and so that really was really important because
Speaker:his side hustle was singing and dancing, but through social justice
Speaker:and his persona is a trans woman.
Speaker:And with all that.
Speaker:It really got me to see an aspect of Cuban expression, of Cuban youth of how Cuban
Speaker:life is at the university at this point.
Speaker:As far as identity goes, my parents were not happy that I went.
Speaker:I would tell people this and they're like, oh my gosh.
Speaker:Like, how does that still exist that hatred of your people?
Speaker:At this point I know more about Cuba because I've been than my parents
Speaker:because I've been to the island more times than they have since they've left.
Speaker:Last time my mom went was in 70.
Speaker:In the seventies sometime.
Speaker:And so she has no, I, they have no idea of what it is today, and
Speaker:they have no interest in learning.
Speaker:And so for me, like I just ask all the questions, soak it all up, and, prepare
Speaker:for the continued fight back here.
Speaker:Knowing that, of course, like my Q identity, I've had to forge
Speaker:myself, like myself with the help of my parents and all of that.
Speaker:But being pro revolution is something that it's something that
Speaker:I've made it my own little project.
Speaker:Sorry, that was really long-winded.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Appreciate that.
Speaker:You, Maxine, you are a Mexican American.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And in Latin America, I don't know if you know this, but Latin
Speaker:America, Mexican culture has had for decades, like near hegemonic.
Speaker:Influence, right?
Speaker:Whether it's through music, food, movies the arts, everybody in
Speaker:Latin America knows about Mexico.
Speaker:I think more people know about Mexico than Mexico know about them, so because,
Speaker:and I saw one, the reason I bring that up because I saw a video of you teaching
Speaker:youth how to do Rito and how was, your Heritage offer parallels or contrast
Speaker:when, reflecting on Cuban history, culture and, and how US policy impacts
Speaker:them, and your own experience, as living as a Mexican American in United States.
Speaker:Like for me, growing up, my parents and my grandparents didn't teach us Spanish.
Speaker:They didn't want us to go through what they went through.
Speaker:Like my mom went to school in Chicago and she got hit.
Speaker:So they didn't wanna through that.
Speaker:So when I got to Laredo, which is mostly Spanish speaking, I wasn't Mexican enough.
Speaker:And then I joined the military, and I had a commander who was like, I don't
Speaker:understand you with that thick accent.
Speaker:English was my first language, so I wasn't American enough.
Speaker:But being in the culture, like going to Cuba and not really thinking that
Speaker:we had stuff in common, but something as simple as a. brings us together.
Speaker:Like when I gave that grito, one of the women from Angola looked at me and
Speaker:then we spoke afterwards and they got a picture with me and her because she
Speaker:said when she heard that she goes, that took her back to Angola because that
Speaker:was one of the things that they had taught them to do was do the that way.
Speaker:So that for me was one experience with being in their culture.
Speaker:And not only that a personal experience for me was when we did that the first
Speaker:boy that got it, I wanted a picture with him and I was like, what's your name?
Speaker:And they told me that his name was Mateo, which was my twin brother's
Speaker:name, and he was taken from us in 2014.
Speaker:So to be there and experience that was another emotional experience for me.
Speaker:But it's insane how like our culture can bring us together, but
Speaker:the us is so like pushing being American in us that like little by
Speaker:little we start leaving all that.
Speaker:Even for me growing up, they wanted me to be American so bad that we didn't
Speaker:celebrate Cinque de Mayo or the 16th of September, or anything like that.
Speaker:We didn't learn any of the traditions or eat a lot of the traditional
Speaker:foods like flan and stuff like that.
Speaker:We didn't grow up with that stuff because they didn't want us to
Speaker:go through what we went through.
Speaker:My grandparents thought it was bad enough being Mexican, it
Speaker:was worth being indigenous.
Speaker:So even that I'm trying to find my roots right now to see what tribe we
Speaker:come from and stuff like that, but I think it, it's so important that.
Speaker:No matter where you come from, no matter how many cultures you
Speaker:have, and you decide who you are.
Speaker:One and two, never disappoint your ancestors, for all the
Speaker:struggRoboles that they have.
Speaker:Or forget about all the struggRoboles that they have because at the end of
Speaker:the day, like you might not understand what they're saying in a song, but
Speaker:you can still dance to those beats.
Speaker:And music like brought so many of us together, and even the
Speaker:Brazilians like that Spanish is Portuguese, but not really.
Speaker:And we could understand each other that even that was like, oh my
Speaker:goodness like we understand each other.
Speaker:But here in the United States it's speak English, when in other countries they're
Speaker:speaking four languages, no problem.
Speaker:Like we go, To other countries wanting them to speak English, and then
Speaker:they're supposed to speak English when they come to the United States.
Speaker:Who's really the lazy people, and like even with my students, I try to get them
Speaker:to understand that, because some of them thought they were dumb because they spoke
Speaker:Spanish, but they understood English.
Speaker:Even breaking that, like who's smarter, you understand both languages when
Speaker:these people only understand one.
Speaker:We need to start breaking those stigmas down to show our kids
Speaker:how powerful they are, and this experience for me was just incredible.
Speaker:Because our food is similar, but it's still different, and it, but the love
Speaker:for their culture, the love for their people, like that's how we started.
Speaker:But over the years, as our older generation died off, That
Speaker:togetherness dies off with them, and I'm in a point in my life, I
Speaker:don't know how to get that back.
Speaker:I don't know if people listening to this also do that, but people
Speaker:with such an experience, it wants me to bring our people back.
Speaker:Indeed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So we are at, we're like seven minutes off to the top of the hour.
Speaker:I wanted to hit something, I know that you guys saw, because the whole thing,
Speaker:you were there because of the embargo, because of the statute being in poison.
Speaker:I wanna get your outlook of how the sanctions and how the sanction
Speaker:regime affects the ground on the ground from your perspective.
Speaker:But I also wanna be respectful of your time.
Speaker:can you donate 20, 23 more minutes?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I wanna read you something from the CIA.
Speaker:So there was a memo from the CIA, it was recently classified in 1990.
Speaker:The memo from April 6th, 1960.
Speaker:The title of the memo is called Decline and Fall of Castro
Speaker:Hypothetical Course of Internal Events.
Speaker:And pretty much what this, the keynote to this memo, right?
Speaker:pretty much after The failure of the Bay of Pigs.
Speaker:They thought that by bringing in, mercenaries and contra,
Speaker:revolutionary Cubans and whatnot.
Speaker:That the Cuban people would flock over to their side and overthrow the government.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:That was the intent behind the landing of the mercenaries and
Speaker:the Cuban country revolutionaries.
Speaker:But that didn't happen.
Speaker:They saw that the people in Cuba actually defended with pitchforks and
Speaker:whatever they had in their hand, they apprehended these mercenaries and
Speaker:they turned 'em into the government.
Speaker:So the memo that the CIA published back in, in 1960, the decline of the Castro
Speaker:the fall of Castro hypothetical course of internal events, it read that the only
Speaker:foreseeable means of alienating internal support for the revolution is through
Speaker:this enchantment and dissatisfaction.
Speaker:Based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship, every possible
Speaker:means should be taken promptly to weaken the economic life.
Speaker:Of Cuba to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow government.
Speaker:So pretty much what this memo was calling for was for collective punishment
Speaker:to punish the people of Cuba, for not siding with the mercenaries.
Speaker:And to misrate them to make it so miserable that they would
Speaker:turn against their government, overthrow the government.
Speaker:That, that was the thing.
Speaker:And the Cuban government or the Cuban people has been resisting this since then.
Speaker:The sanction regime.
Speaker:They even resisted what they call the special period, which was when
Speaker:the Soviet block or the socialist block started, this deso in the
Speaker:1990s one of the conditions was.
Speaker:To, when they started, abandoning socialism and adopting capitalists
Speaker:or neo, liberal capitalism.
Speaker:One of the conditions that were placed on them was to abandon Cuba.
Speaker:So that was what the Cubans called the special period, because before that, the
Speaker:Cuban government, the Cuban people had traded with this socialist countries.
Speaker:Now these countries are not socialists anymore.
Speaker:Now they were pretty much limited in the people they could have trade with.
Speaker:So this is a longest standing embargo in modern history since 1960.
Speaker:And like I said, the stated goal was to pressure two people towards, to
Speaker:towards, against their government.
Speaker:1996, you have the Hail Burton Act, which penalizes foreign companies using
Speaker:property seizes after Cuban's revolution.
Speaker:And this property, what it is after the revolution in 1959, a lot of the people
Speaker:that were from the previous government, a lot of the wealthy people, a lot of
Speaker:the high middle class people that worked for the Batista government abandoned
Speaker:their property and fled to Miami.
Speaker:The Cuban government took those properties and repurposed them.
Speaker:So now the Hell Burn Act penalizes foreign companies using property seeds after the
Speaker:Cuban Revolution, also, they were added to the sponsor lift of terrorism, right?
Speaker:What does this mean?
Speaker:that was first added by Reagan and then Obama took him off of the state sponsor
Speaker:tourism list, and then Trump and his first presidency replaced him in the same list.
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:That means that the Cuban is further isolated financially
Speaker:from the global market.
Speaker:So you saw that firsthand.
Speaker:And what does that mean?
Speaker:It means that the Cuban government cannot use US dollars.
Speaker:US banks can't process Cuban payments.
Speaker:people in the United States have a cap of how much money they can send
Speaker:to their families in Cuba because of the sanction, because of the because
Speaker:of the state sponsor terrorist list.
Speaker:So you guys saw this firsthand in Cuba.
Speaker:What was your impression of this?
Speaker:And I'm gonna step back.
Speaker:I know I talked a lot.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So no thanks.
Speaker:Thanks for all of that grounding.
Speaker:But this time around for me I saw, I definitely saw it a lot more.
Speaker:And I didn't see really people that I knew 'cause last time that I went in 2022,
Speaker:like the people that I knew you can see them visibly thinner this time around.
Speaker:It was just like a buzz everywhere that like the more street vendors and
Speaker:more black market stuff happening.
Speaker:Because of all of that you mentioned there's been mass immigration from
Speaker:Cubans, especially Cuban youth.
Speaker:So it's causing somewhat of a brain drain 'cause I think it's over 600,000
Speaker:that have immigrated out of the island.
Speaker:and like we mentioned before, I mean they made big sacrifices and when the waiver
Speaker:they put in was so that we wouldn't be cut from electricity because they
Speaker:suffer a lot of rotating blackouts.
Speaker:Meaning that because they were subsidizing our electricity, some people were
Speaker:suffering up to 20 hours of a blackout, which is insane, and for us, like we
Speaker:didn't go hungry, it was rice, a protein vegetable just super healthy natural meal.
Speaker:Of course the Cuban government has rations for everybody.
Speaker:And the blockade affects that also.
Speaker:Because if they don't have access to use the swift monetary or payment system.
Speaker:And so if they don't have American dollars to pay for a shipment of rice
Speaker:that comes to their port and 'cause they, they have to pay upfront and which
Speaker:nobody else in the world has to do that.
Speaker:And so Cuban people see the ship, basically dock, and then they see the
Speaker:ship leave and they don't see any rice.
Speaker:Of course this doesn't happen every time there's rice.
Speaker:But the blockade basically ensures that.
Speaker:That distrust that like why is this happening?
Speaker:You always talk about it's a blockade oh my gosh I'm tired of hearing
Speaker:that it's about the blockade.
Speaker:It's always this.
Speaker:And we did meet some people where the dissatisfaction because of the
Speaker:need they started talking badly.
Speaker:And so that's where I would be like, talking about where you can't go a mile or
Speaker:two miRoboles down the road in San Antonio without seeing a homeRoboless person.
Speaker:Like it's not better in the United States.
Speaker:And so just really talking to them about the getting to cut the propaganda
Speaker:that is fed to them through social media because there's 30, $40 million
Speaker:a year from the United States that are spent to just spew propaganda at Cuban
Speaker:youth through social media, through all sorts of different cultural ways and,
Speaker:cognitive warfare.
Speaker:And so they're very aware that this is happening and that's why they have really
Speaker:focused on solidifying the organization of their youth with the University Federation
Speaker:solidifying the Cuban young communists and then like really solidifying organization
Speaker:in whatever capacity they can.
Speaker:And bringing in the youth so that they can really learn and not forget, what it
Speaker:is that Parents, grandparents fought for, and I was seen like in a show of force
Speaker:during Mayday we haven't talked about Mayday, but Mayday, it's a international
Speaker:holiday for celebrating workers.
Speaker:But in Cuba it's not just celebrating workers, it's celebrating the
Speaker:force of their revolution, of their commitment to it.
Speaker:600,000 people marched through Revolutionary Plaza, and that
Speaker:was just in Havana and it was 5.8 million people marched all over Cuba
Speaker:as more than half of the island.
Speaker:Basically just.
Speaker:Came out and showed, their power as workers and as Cubans and their love
Speaker:for their revolution for each other.
Speaker:And it was beautiful.
Speaker:Including like one thing Miguelito the leader, one of the leaders
Speaker:of the CTC, he like taps me.
Speaker:did you see the military and the police marching with the people?
Speaker:Not like guarding them, not like telling them to stop.
Speaker:nothing like they're workers.
Speaker:They represent their people and so they're in their uniforms with their kids on them,
Speaker:because their loyalty is to the people.
Speaker:And even though Marco Rubio won't ever stop targeting Cuba and
Speaker:and all of Latin America, right?
Speaker:He's Cuban
Speaker:American by the way.
Speaker:unfortunately.
Speaker:But he represents that Cuban American, that is against their people, right?
Speaker:That is stuck in pre-revolutionary times.
Speaker:But no, I wanted to just remember not to end a bad note because essentially
Speaker:even though there is a lot of need
Speaker:Of things that, that are missing.
Speaker:There's still that love for the revolutionary project and the
Speaker:fight to keep it as is and make it even better than it is right now.
Speaker:and it's our job here in the United States to ensure that we end these genocidal
Speaker:blockade and all aggressions against Cuba and all of imperialism across the world.
Speaker:Indeed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You mentioned the migration.
Speaker:one of the things of the warfare against Cuba is what they call the
Speaker:Cuban Adjustment Act, which is a way to encourage Cubans to leave Cuba
Speaker:promising that once they migrate to the United States, they'll be taken care of.
Speaker:They'll be, put on a job, they'd be place to stay, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker:So it's one other way to stabilize the Cuban Society, Cuban government,
Speaker:by encouraging migration from Cuba to the United States.
Speaker:Another thing is that according to Cuban stats the blockade has cost the
Speaker:Cuban government or the Cuban people, $753 billion plus dollars, right?
Speaker:that's $753 billion that belongs to Cuban, people that has been pretty much
Speaker:shunted from them, taken away from them.
Speaker:Maxine what are your thoughts on the impact of the embargo
Speaker:of the blockade and Cuban life?
Speaker:It is just so obvious to see if the blockade wasn't there, how I.
Speaker:Amazing.
Speaker:Cuba could be like how much the people could flourish.
Speaker:And I think that's why they're being punished because they're
Speaker:not gonna stop being socialists.
Speaker:And if the US people really understood what socialism was like if they could see
Speaker:how amazing a government could be, like when it's not propped up by all these
Speaker:freaking companies that are profiting and killing our people at the same time.
Speaker:And unfortunately, like one of the things I came to realize was like, unRoboless
Speaker:you're willing to go with an open mind and see it for yourself, no matter what
Speaker:I tell you, you're gonna think I'm crazy.
Speaker:You can't force people to see this.
Speaker:But I think like our government is so scared of Cuba
Speaker:because of what it could do.
Speaker:And for me I always see it like the little spark, it's like a little spark comes to
Speaker:the US and it'll like everything on fire, like it'll burn all the fucking lies out.
Speaker:And that's what the US doesn't want.
Speaker:Like they don't want us to understand how amazing the US could be.
Speaker:Like if it wasn't propped up by all these billionaires and companies
Speaker:that didn't care about our people.
Speaker:I asked someone when we were there, if what they did for Angola, they thought
Speaker:the US would be able to do for Cuba, and he looked at me and he was like, your
Speaker:government never but if the people row up to do it, like then yes, and I really
Speaker:understood that, but there's so much work to be done and not enough people
Speaker:willing to do it, and we have to be like the Cuban volunteers doing this work
Speaker:and not expecting anything out of it.
Speaker:Like when they give us a gift like this to be grateful enough to absorb it all
Speaker:and do the most that we can with it, instead of just not caring about the
Speaker:opportunity at all, and I'm grateful for the chance that I had, because
Speaker:it opened my eyes to a lot of stuff.
Speaker:If someone calls me a socialist right now hell yeah, here's my yes.
Speaker:it's not a bad word for me anymore.
Speaker:It's not a bad word for me.
Speaker:Future steps.
Speaker:This trip obviously inspired you, what follow up actions do you perceive
Speaker:having, since going the solidarity?
Speaker:International delegation?
Speaker:We are gonna be having a report pack.
Speaker:In the next month.
Speaker:We're still pinning down the date but to really share pictures,
Speaker:video experiences of all of this.
Speaker:And we also with oppressed revolutionaries, we wanna
Speaker:show Cuba in Africa.
Speaker:Here in San Antonio and bring the director and so that we can
Speaker:really have that q and a with him.
Speaker:'cause this film was like really special for him to make.
Speaker:It's like his pet project.
Speaker:And so we're excited to, to meet him.
Speaker:Yeah, I spoke with a director he's originally from Ethiopia
Speaker:and from the continent of Africa.
Speaker:And he had no idea that the Cuban had done that in Africa until he went to New York.
Speaker:And then he met with someone in New York.
Speaker:I believe it was also a veteran from the Angola war.
Speaker:And that's why he said inspired him to do this film.
Speaker:And he started, collecting stories and doing interviews with the
Speaker:veterans and stuff like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You, Maxine, what follow up steps do you foresee you doing
Speaker:so?
Speaker:I wanted to do like different like TikTok videos to put our info out there.
Speaker:And with the stuff that I saw in uni I want to do some stuff with the youth.
Speaker:'cause I really think the youth is where it's at.
Speaker:If we can raise this generation to see it before we did I think
Speaker:we can make some progress.
Speaker:'Cause by the time we see it when we're older, like it's too late.
Speaker:But just teaching them that socialism is not bad.
Speaker:And I know people hearing this, oh my God, you're gonna teach 'em socialism
Speaker:and bad, but I want them to be like the people in Cuba, like helping out
Speaker:just to help out, you know what I mean?
Speaker:Doing stuff just to do stuff and not expecting anything in return.
Speaker:Like not stepping on other people to lift yourself up.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:I wanna fix my community, and seeing them, I know it's possible.
Speaker:So yeah, I'm gonna keep my eye out for other stuff that I can do.
Speaker:I know that there's other like trainings and stuff coming up.
Speaker:Will you join another Delegation of Future?
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:I would love to join another one, yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So on the Lightheart Maxie, I know you talked about the Cuban dish.
Speaker:What was your favorite dish or song while you were there?
Speaker:Their rice was like really good.
Speaker:But it is just it's hard to pick.
Speaker:'cause even they're juice.
Speaker:Like you would see it and it was like brown.
Speaker:Then you would taste it and it was like, pineapple.
Speaker:And I was like, but wait, like this, like so natural.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:None of this BS that they put in the States, it's just so healthy.
Speaker:My stomach was so ama it was so flat, mine too.
Speaker:I came back in two days and I was bloated again.
Speaker:I was just like, man it's hard.
Speaker:Like even their pizza.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's good.
Speaker:But that the I'll, every time I hear it, I won't ever hear it the same.
Speaker:Like it'll take me back to Cuba and those stories.
Speaker:I think that's a good place to wrap it up today.
Speaker:Thank you, Maxine.
Speaker:Rachel, thank you so much for coming to the show, taking time and to share
Speaker:with us your experience in Cuba.
Speaker:Do either of you, do you have any last comments before we depart?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:This was great.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Thank you so much for the work you do, Giovanni.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:and Rachel, where can people find your, your press revolutionary work?
Speaker:You can find us on Instagram at SA Worker Power.
Speaker:Check us out.
Speaker:Maxine.
Speaker:Maxine, do you have any org that you wanna prop up?
Speaker:I'm doing some work with Common Defense.
Speaker:Or they can find me on CIA protests on any social media.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm sorry, that's gonna be my break from social norms.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Outstanding.
Speaker:Alright everybody, thank you for joining us tonight or today.
Speaker:Like us, subscribe to our channels on YouTube, the Telegram look us up
Speaker:wherever you listen to the podcast.
Speaker:Please share with your friends to help us grow.
Speaker:Stay tuned for our next episode.
Speaker:Everyone.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:Thank you again, Maxine.
Speaker:Thank you again Rachel for coming on and sharing your experience.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And thank you all for joining us.
Speaker:Goodnight.
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