650 Delegates From 33 Countries Deliver 20 Tons of Aid to Havana

David Adler, a U.S. citizen and coordinator of Progressive International, stood at Havana's airport on March 20 and put the scale of what had just arrived into plain terms: "In the end, we are dozens and dozens of delegates, and we represent millions of people in this convoy." Behind him, the first boxes of roughly 20 tons of humanitarian aid were being unloaded, carried in by the Nuestra América (Our America) Convoy to Cuba, a solidarity caravan pulling together 650 delegates from 33 countries and 120 organizations.

The cargo included solar panels, food, and medicine to treat cancer. Cuba has suffered massive blackouts since President Donald Trump imposed an oil embargo in January, a move that, according to ABC News reporting, has brought the island to a near standstill and exacerbated a five-year economic crisis as the administration pressures for political change, including calling on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down.

For Adler and others on the convoy, the framing was unambiguous. "We cannot allow this collective punishment. We cannot normalize it," he said.

CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin was among those who arrived at the airport and spoke with the press on March 20. Delegates flew in from Italy, France, Spain, the United States, and several Latin American countries, while a flotilla of three vessels from Mexico was scheduled to arrive by sea on Saturday, March 21, according to organizers. An advance group had reached Havana two days earlier, on Wednesday, March 18, and delivered donations directly to hospitals before the main convoy landed.

The convoy arrived against a backdrop of sharply heightened U.S.-Cuba tensions. Earlier in the week, Trump had said he expected to have the "honor" of "taking Cuba in some form," adding: "I can do anything I want." Both governments have acknowledged holding talks since the oil embargo was imposed in January.

The Nuestra América convoy represents one of the largest coordinated solidarity efforts directed at Cuba in recent memory, drawing participation from 120 organizations across five continents. Whether the sea flotilla from Mexico and its additional cargo arrived as scheduled remained unconfirmed as of the convoy's main landing day.