Cuba’s Association of the Blind prepares for national assembly

Vol. 88/No. 12 - March 25, 2024
María Victoria Viltres, physical therapist who has retinis pigmentosa, working in rehab center in Buey Arriba municipality on the edge of the Sierra Maestra mountains, October 2016.

HAVANA — The Havana International Book Fair is not just an event to display and promote literature and the arts. It’s also a place where you meet ordinary Cuban working people defending the conquests of their socialist revolution. A good…


Venezuela claims on Guyana region threaten new conflict

Vol. 88/No. 2 - January 15, 2024
Map shows Guyana territory Venezuelan government claims. Region is rich in minerals, large offshore oil reserves. Territorial dispute has long been used by Venezuelan politicians to rally nationalist support. Broader moves in region seek to blunt chance of wider conflict, war.

A territorial dispute between the governments of Venezuela and Guyana dating back to 1811 has come back to the fore, putting a spotlight on the danger of military conflict amid the growing instability of the capitalist world order. At issue…


Dominican gov’t pits workers against Haitian immigrants

Vol. 87/No. 48 - December 25, 2023
Retired Haitian sugarcane worker Ephesiel Bonel, left, holds up his identification card from formerly state-owned Río Haina Sugar Mill, often only ID these workers have. At right is Yega Fabián, another retired Haitian worker. Shirt says, “Pensions for all sugarcane workers.”

The government of President Luis Abinader in the Dominican Republic has stepped up deportations of Haitian immigrants and Dominican citizens of Haitian descent. This takes place as the May 2024 presidential election is approaching. Abinader’s campaign aims to rally support…


Sugarcane cutters in Dominican Republic fight for raise, pensions

Vol. 87/No. 46 - December 11, 2023
Militant reporters from the U.S. and Canada, right, visited the Batey Marchena sugarcane community in La Romana province, Dominican Republic, Nov. 11. Left, Jesús Núñez, national coordinator of Sugarcane Workers Union, describes their fight for pensions, health care, raises.

LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic — “The gains we have made have been because of our mobilizations in the streets,” Jesús Núñez, national coordinator of the Sugarcane Workers Union (UTC), told the Militant. He described their yearslong fight to win pensions,…


Protests demand Mexican gov’t account for 43 missing students

Vol. 87/No. 43 - November 20, 2023
Thousands marched in Mexico City Sept. 26 on ninth anniversary of disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, demanding answers from government about who is responsible.

Nine years after the 2014 kidnapping and disappearance of 43 protesting students from Ayotzinapa by powerful drug cartels acting in collusion with the Mexican military and police, their relatives and supporters continue to protest and demand answers from the government…


Working people in Mexico look for way forward

Vol. 87/No. 40 - October 30, 2023
July 26 Mexico City march for justice for 43 disappeared Ayotzinapa students. Banner reads: “The army knows.” President López Obrador increasingly relies on “incorruptible” military.

For decades working people in Mexico have faced governments defending capitalist exploitation, widespread corruption, drug cartels and police repression. Five years ago, many voted for and looked to new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, hoping his promises would reverse previous…


Unionists from Cuba, US, Latin America discuss way forward

Vol. 87/No. 27 - July 24, 2023
Unionists from abroad met April 29 with union leaders and workers in Cotorro municipality in Havana at a warehouse for food distribution at subsidized prices. They discussed gains made by Cuban workers through their socialist revolution, impact of U.S. embargo.

HAVANA — Some 100 trade union representatives and members of labor and political groups from 11 countries in Latin America and the United States exchanged experiences here during an April 24-28 workshop hosted by the Central Organization of Cuban Workers…


Working people in El Salvador seek way out of capitalist crisis

Vol. 87/No. 22 - June 5, 2023
Prisoners at so-called Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. The prison is built to hold 40,000 people. Those incarcerated hit 4,000 in March, one month after it opened.

Riding a high approval rating amid widespread crime from his “war on gangs,” President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is paving the way for reelection in 2024 despite a constitutional prohibition on serving a second term. On May 10, Bukele…


Deepening crisis of capitalism drives political turmoil in Peru

Vol. 87/No. 16 - April 24, 2023
Agricultural workers block Panamericana Sur highway in Villacuri, Peru, Dec. 3, 2020, in protest over unjust agrarian law. Banners demand higher wages, end of mistreatment on the job.

While the protests that erupted across Peru after the Dec. 7 ouster of President Pedro Castillo have receded, the issues behind the social unrest and ongoing political crisis remain. Castillo was deposed and jailed on charges of “breaching constitutional order”…


Many attracted to ‘Militant’ at Havana Int’l Book Fair

Vol. 87/No. 13 - April 3, 2023

HAVANA — An indication of the interest in revolutionary working-class politics among workers and youth visiting the Pathfinder stand at the Havana International Book Fair this February was the 31 who subscribed to the Militant. Volunteers at the Pathfinder bookstand…