The Cuban people once again marked International Workers’ Day with a massive march in the capital Havana in the Plaza de la Revolución. An estimated 600,000 marched in Havana and over five million marched in cities and towns across the island to reject the US blockade and ratify their support to the revolution.
In Havana, the march was led by health workers: doctors, nurses, and others, demonstrating once again that one of the great strengths of the Cuban Revolution is its health system and its commitment to humanist values. The protagonism of health sector workers was particularly notable given the increase in attacks by the Trump administration against its world renowned internationalist medical brigades.
Marching in front of the emblematic monument of José Martí, an outstanding historical figure of Cuban independence, hundreds of thousands of workers, students, women, trade unionists, and other supporters of the Cuban Revolution demonstrated, once again, their commitment to the process initiated in 1959 after the overthrow of the bloody dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
A central message of the massive march was to reject the historic and brutal economic and commercial blockade imposed on the island by the US government since the 1960s, which has caused enormous hardship to the Cuban people. Under this strategy of attrition, the international anti-communist forces have sought to break the will of the Cuban people, who, after decades of rationing and material deprivation, continue to bet on socialism.
The bid to weaken the Cuban Revolution intensified when, on January 20, 2025, the Trump administration, with its anti-Cuban Secretary of State Marco Rubio, unilaterally included Cuba once again on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism. This type of measure seeks to keep away companies that want to carry out economic activities with Cuba, as they could run the risk of being accused of collaborating with countries that are on the list.
This measure is in addition to other sanctions imposed by the United States on Cuba, even though on repeated occasions the United Nations General Assembly has voted against the economic blockade. In February, the Trump administration extended visa restrictions for those who contract the health services of Cuban doctors (probably one of Cuba’s main sources of income).
Read more: Destroying Cuba’s international medical missions: Marco Rubio’s new goal
Against the blockade and in favor of the workers
On the march’s significance, the General Secretary of the Cuban Workers Central, Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, said: “We are commemorating the celebration of the world proletariat amid a complicated international scenario. The world is suffering a renewed and dangerous imperialist offensive, with neo-fascist expressions that seek to redesign the international system, disregarding the principles of peaceful coexistence and sovereign equality among States.”
In addition, Guilarte de Nacimiento noted: “This celebration for the International Workers’ Day in Cuba is a new and unequivocal demonstration of the majority support of the heroic Cuban people for their Revolution, which represents their interests and which, with the participation and commitment of all, seeks solutions every day to the problems and enormous challenges imposed by the economic battle that we wage with our efforts.”
On the importance of unity in the face of new onslaughts by the Trump administration, Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of Cuba, posted on X: “All of Cuba marched this May 1. At the most difficult moment, under the most brutal pressure and the usual threats, from Maisí to Mantua and vice versa, the people shook the Cuban archipelago.”
For his part, the Secretary of State, Bruno Rodriguez, declared: “Today, International Workers’ Day, the Cuban people marched in all the squares of the country with patriotism and rejoicing in defense of the Revolution and Socialism, demanding the end of the genocidal bloc that continues to asphyxiate the national economy.”
