Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the landowners and the wealthiest individuals have done everything in their power to prevent it from thriving. One of the first attempts to undermine it was to drain the country of professionals and technical experts. They believed that, without the specialists from the elites and their lackeys, the revolution would collapse within a few months.
In that hostile environment, in addition to facing terrorist attacks, military incursions, and the first economic attacks, the revolution had to ensure that the most humble members of society received intensive training to take the reins of the country in all areas.
As part of these efforts and in the face of the technological blockade, Ernesto Che Guevara played a key role in establishing the Spare Parts Committees (1960), convening the First National Production Meeting (1961), and forming the National Organizing Committee of the Movement of Innovators and Inventors (1964). Some time later, building on this legacy, the National Association of Innovators and Efficiency Experts was established (1981).
Che’s belief that technology could serve to liberate peoples led to one of the most radical social practices: technological disobedience. Through repair, repurposing, and invention, Cubans have created all kinds of objects necessary for their country to function.
At its core, technological disobedience represents a little-understood shift in the very fabric of civilization. It involves rethinking the way humans relate to their products, moving beyond planned obsolescence and the dynamics of capitalism in general.
That is why today, despite the shortage of crude oil and other related problems, they manage to keep the electrical grid—and the entire country—running. They do so under the most hostile global conditions, yet with the most generous networks of solidarity.
That disobedience is part of a larger act of insubordination. Only by defying the market and imperialism has Cuba managed to uphold its sovereignty and forge an alternative vision of humanity.
The image promoted by the empire—portraying the country as if it were frozen in time, with old cars, ancient buildings, and folkloric depictions of the people—obscures the dignity of a people who, like no other, have managed to get sugar mills, power plants, agroecological agriculture, an efficient transportation system, universal education, and a comprehensive healthcare system up and running, among so many other things.
The Cuban people are tired of the difficult situation they face. They have a political opinion on what is happening, point out the mistakes of officials, and have ideas on how to better organize things, because the revolution has shaped them politically in a way that does not occur in any other country. Their discontent does not stem from the individual logic of private property owners, but from the demand for collective well-being.
Those who today predict Cuba’s downfall and are swayed by the tweets of the genocidal Trump and his henchmen treat any news from the island—whether true or fake—as the latest sign of the revolution’s imminent collapse. They ignore the persistent defiance of that people, who refuse to follow the dictates of the empire and capital.
The U.S.-Israel warmongering offensive is facing enormous resistance in East Asia. The casualties acknowledged by the U.S. due to “friendly fire,” the “accidental fire” that took the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford out of action, Trump’s pleas for more countries to join his war, the contradictory messages regarding the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, and the prelude to an economic crisis that threatens to erupt—these are all symptoms that the U.S.-Israel alliance is losing the war.
Iran, at an extremely high human cost, has managed to turn the imperialist attack aimed at imposing regime change in its country into a regional war that could lead to the definitive expulsion of the U.S. from the region, the disintegration of Israel, and a profound shift in the rules governing the hydrocarbon trade away from the dollar-based system.
Faced with this scenario, desperate for his survival, Trump is intensifying his hostilities against Cuba, inventing a “Shield of the Americas” and ordering his obedient followers to diplomatically isolate Cuba, in what he attempts to portray as the collapse of “the Cuban dictatorship.” Undoubtedly, Trump’s madness and desperation can lead to dangerous scenarios, but in the end, he will have to contend with a defiant people who, just as they have the capacity to sustain their nation, possess sufficient strength to wage a people’s war.
Cuba will defend its sovereignty and dignity. Resistance to the empire must take many forms of solidarity with that country. The campaign “Cuba’s Fate Is No Stranger to Us” is one way we can do this.
*Philosopher, coordinator of the Selected Works of Fernando Martínez Heredia
Original text by Magdiel Sánchez Quiroz published in La Jornada on March 21st, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.