By Solange Engelmann on February 25, 2026
Photo: Yuri Gringo
The Solidarity Campaign with Cuba, coordinated by the Landless Workers’ Movement, achieved an important milestone on February 11, when it sent the first shipment of 1,700 kilograms of medicines, including several types that are a priority for the socialist island. The medicines were purchased with funds raised by the campaign, which began in October last year, and are included in a list of products from the Cuban Ministry of Health that are in short supply for the population.
The campaign is ongoing, given that the US blockade against the Caribbean country is also permanent and has become increasingly strict in recent years, especially with President Donald Trump’s latest measures targeting the energy sector. With the slogan Cuba lives and resists! the main objective of the campaign is to raise funds for the purchase of medicines that will be sent to the country.
The island’s healthcare system has been one of the most impacted by the US blockade, which has lasted more than 60 years, strangling the economy and, above all, public services. Under the blockade, the Cuban government is prohibited by the US from importing various products, including medicines and medical and other technologies, which directly affects the population with a lack of basic medicines in pharmacies and hospitals, in addition to attacking the human right of access to public health, practiced by the Cuban revolution.
Messilene Gorete, from the internationalist sector of the MST, explains that the campaign is a humanitarian gesture by the Brazilian working class that seeks to show solidarity with Cuba in a more concrete way. “The health sector is one of the most affected by the US blockade against Cuba. There is a process of suffocation of the entire economic system and some strategic fronts, including health. Therefore, we will continue to strengthen the campaign to send medicines to Cuba. It is a priority and one of the pillars of our practice of solidarity with the Cuban people.”
The medicines were donated by the campaign directly to the country’s Ministry of Health. According to the representative of the MST brigade in Cuba, Marcelo Durão, these medicines are expected to be distributed to hospitals in the province of Santiago. The region was directly affected by Hurricane Melissa, which hit Cuba in the early hours of October 29 last year and, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), was considered one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded in history.
Attack on the right to public health
As the Cuban revolution treats state policies as a priority, seeking to guarantee free public access to health, education, and other services for the entire population, the US blockade’s prohibition on the importation of medicines and medical equipment translates into an attack on this human right of the population. At the same time, it seeks to dismantle the successful example of preventive public health in Cuba, recognized worldwide for its high standards, which have already saved thousands of Cubans and populations in other countries through the work of Cuban doctors on international missions.
In Brazil, we have the example of the involvement of Cuban doctors in the federal government’s Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program, which is highly regarded by the public for providing basic health professionals to more than 4,000 Brazilian municipalities and for having benefited more than 66.6 million people since its creation in 2013. The data are from the Ministry of Health.
Cubans represented the majority of doctors in the program until 2018. Currently, they make up 10% of the more than 26,000 professionals working in Mais Médicos throughout the country. In total, Cuba currently has 24,000 doctors in 56 countries. In rural areas and Agrarian Reform settlements throughout the country, Cuban doctors have been instrumental in guaranteeing the right of peasants and rural workers to basic public health care.
How does the campaign work?
With the aim of saving lives and showing solidarity with a people who have been resisting the US blockade against Cuba for more than six decades, the campaign has the support of various Brazilian popular movements, as well as intellectuals, supporters, personalities such as Frei Betto, Fernando de Moraes, Celinha Cota, and parliamentarians from the Workers’ Party (PT) and the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL).
Fundraising for the campaign works by requesting a minimum donation of R$ 200.00. These funds go to an account held by an MST partner, the Cultivar Institute, which then purchases the medicines and sends them by air to Cuba. Donations can be made via PIX.
Messilene explains that the campaign does not end with the shipment of medicines, based on the funds raised. “We also encourage people who want to donate medicines, but we mainly focus on the fund, because we buy the medicines without running the risk of them being close to their expiration date. We buy them a few days before shipment, which is how we have been working concretely with the campaign,” she points out.
Energy stranglehold against Cuba
On January 29, U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed new sanctions against Cuba, this time in the energy sector, declaring a “national emergency” and accusing the country of posing an alleged “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the security of the United States. In practice, the US intends to impose new tariffs on countries interested in selling oil to the island, seeking to also stifle the island’s energy supply.
Popular movements, trade unions, and political parties have called on the Brazilian government and the international community to show solidarity with Cuba in the face of these new US attacks. The text also calls on the Lula administration to form a “broad support network” for the island.
In addition to sending medicines, the Movement is joining other Brazilian organizations in a broader campaign to pressure the Brazilian government to send oil to Cuba, as this is urgent for the survival of the Cuban population and the functioning of basic services.
“This means a breakdown in Cuba’s electrical system, because it needs oil to generate energy, and at the same time, in the entire transportation system, which has a fuel shortage. In this sense, we at the MST are joining with Brazilian organizations to pressure the Brazilian government to send oil to Cuba,” summarizes Messilene.
The MST is also pressuring the Brazilian government to send food and agricultural supplies to the island through the Supply Company (Conab) to alleviate the shortage of food and agricultural products that the Cuban people have been facing in recent times.
“Food means milk, rice, beans, and everything else that is urgently needed in Cuba today to meet the needs of the Cuban people, who are deprived of access to imports, but also deprived of production because they cannot import agricultural inputs and fuel for the development of industry and other productive forces needed in Cuba today. This support from the Brazilian government is urgent,” concludes Messilene.