By Yimel Díaz Malmierca
Solidarity with Cuba was once again present in Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles committee of the “USA, Hands Off Cuba!” (LAHOC) campaign held an information and support event during the 56th commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium, celebrated on August 29.
The gathering, held in East Los Angeles, brought together members of community organizations, activists, artists, and residents to remember the historic mobilization against the Vietnam War and to reaffirm the struggles for social justice, self-determination, and the rights of Chicano and Mexican-American communities. This year’s event took place at East Los Angeles College, featuring cultural activities, speeches, poetry readings, and informational sessions.
According to a statement sent to Trabajadores by Destiny Rivera, an activist with the Hands Off Cuba Committee, LAHOC’s presence at the event allowed them to distribute information about the reality on the island and the consequences of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States. They made Cuban literature available to the public and promoted the medical aid campaign launched by Global Health Partners (GHP), aimed at supporting the care of mothers and newborns in Cuba.
The GHP initiative (link to https://ghpartners.org/cuba-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) seeks to raise funds to send essential equipment and supplies to Cuban maternity hospitals, including incubators, neonatal ventilators, monitors, obstetric ultrasound equipment, and medications. The organization notes that its neonatal and maternal care project began as a pilot program in coordination with the Cuban Ministry of Public Health and initially includes two Havana hospitals.
During the event in Los Angeles, solidarity with Cuba resonated both among people familiar with the consequences of the embargo and among participants unaware of its scope. According to LAHOC, several attendees approached its representatives to learn more about the restrictions affecting the Cuban economy and healthcare system.
Memory that becomes struggle
The Chicano Moratorium has its roots in the historic mobilization of August 29, 1970, when more than 20,000 people marched through East Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War and denounce the disproportionate number of young Mexican Americans sent to the conflict. The demonstration, initially peaceful, was repressed by police forces.
Among the victims of that day was Los Angeles Times journalist Rubén Salazar, who was covering the protest and died as a result of the repression. His death (link to Los Angeles Times) transformed the Moratorium into a symbol of the struggle for civil rights and against police violence in the Chicano community.
More than five decades later, that memory continues to resonate with new social causes. The 2026 event reaffirmed the unity of peoples and the need to keep the fight against injustice, discrimination, and intervention alive.
In this context, the message of solidarity with Cuba found a natural place: the defense of sovereignty and self-determination of peoples was linked to the demand for an end to U.S. coercive measures against the island.
The work of the Hands Off Cuba Committee of Los Angeles is part of a growing solidarity movement in California. In July, during a visit by Tanieris Diéguez, the second-in-command of the Cuban diplomatic mission in the United States, other initiatives to send medical aid to Cuba were announced, coordinated by U.S. organizations along with the Los Angeles committee, GHP, and other entities.
The next outreach action announced by LAHOC will take place on September 7, Labor Day in the United States, during a march and rally, on which occasion it will set up, from 10:00 a.m., an information table sponsored by the International Association of Machinists (IAM), with the purpose of continuing to disseminate the Cuban reality and expand the networks of solidarity with the Island.
IMAGE CREDIT: Some of the activists from the Los Angeles Hands Off Cuba Committee who participated in the Chicano Moratorium 2026. Photo: Courtesy of LAHOC.
[ SOURCE: www.cubainformacion.tv ]
