New European Solidarity Convoy Departs from Italy for Cuba

The second European Solidarity Convoy has departed for Cuba with dozens of representatives from various organizations and a shipment of aid for the Cuban people, according to a statement released today.

A note from the Agency for Cultural and Economic Exchange with Cuba (AICEC), which helped organize the initiative, indicates that participants in this new support mission departed yesterday from Rome and Milan to aid the Caribbean nation amidst ongoing U.S. pressure. This group will be joined in Havana by a Spanish delegation arriving from Madrid. Their first official activity following their arrival at José Martí International Airport will be a reception this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP).

Delegation members are transporting medicines, diagnostic equipment, ventilators, defibrillators, and other essential medical supplies. These resources are destined for hospitals and communities in several eastern provinces severely affected by Hurricane Melissa, which struck the country in late 2025.

A significant contribution comes from the Federation of Agro-industrial Workers of Italy, who donated food and solar panel systems to reinforce the energy supply for health centers, according to a report published by the digital site of the newspaper La Repubblica.

This second convoy, part of the "Let Cuba Breathe" campaign, follows a previous mission in mid-March that included 120 delegates from 19 European countries. This current iteration also includes sports equipment for schools.

According to organizers, members of this project—operating under the slogan "Cuba is Not Alone"—are expected to stay for 10 days. On April 23, the program indicates they will fly to Santiago de Cuba to deliver supplies to health centers in that eastern province, as well as in Granma and Guantánamo. They will tour the region until April 29, when they will return to the capital by train to participate in May Day events.

The call for this second convoy noted that "the imperialist blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for over 60 years has intensified even further following measures adopted in January by the Trump administration."

The call emphasizes that the purpose of this solidarity initiative is to "break the U.S. blockade and return, at least in part, the solidarity that Cuba has always offered the world, proving even today that it is a necessary alternative to a global system marked by barbarism."