Cuba and the United States: We both have an ocean

by Leah Harmony

BLACK AUGUST 2026. The San Francisco Bay View hosted First and Second Secretaries of the Cuban Embassy Sulia Paez and Gabriela Castillo for four busy days in August. On this journey, our primary and ambitious objectives were to help them build lasting support and solidarity through the strengths our communities have shared down a long path of resistance.

This is, of course, contrary to our government’s actions over the past 67 years. And now our current administration, always on brand, has added its own layer of violence to the debilitating general blockade already in place. Donald Trump ordered an oil blockade when Cuba didn’t surrender control of its resources and people on demand. It has been in effect for eight months already. Hospitals lack essential resources, children lack food and communities have no power at all.

Castillo and Paez spoke at community panels in downtown Oakland, joined Feed The Hood at the East Oakland Collective and covered ground throughout West Oakland, with numerous stops in between. They went from a town hall meeting in San Francisco’s Fillmore District to an artist-led tour of the iconic, revolutionary art of the Black Panther Party’s own Emory Douglas at the African American Art and Culture Complex.

Paez and Castillo expressed the devastation of the historic and recent attacks in community discussions with people who understand and will rise to meet the occasion, as well as younger people who did not yet know what our tax dollars are funding, to build leadership as a new generation joins the circuit of reinforcement.

Our connected and collective activists have always used art as a driving force of messaging and solidarity. We introduced and reintroduced the women to the powerful murals, textures and art of the revolution across the Bay cities whenever we had a moment.

They also met with Danny Glover, a longtime supporter of Cuba, or, to put it more accurately, the Cuban people, always being tested for their strength and resilience. It took place off Highway 1, with only a road separating the restaurant and the vast Pacific Ocean.

As we were speeding down the highway, both delegates said, “We want to put our feet in the ocean,” nodding their heads in unison.

Water surrounds them when they are at home in Cuba with their families. Water brings clarity. Water makes home feel closer. It represents a connection to the land they must visit, to the land they have to fight for. They love water. We love water. That felt like another connection our countries can share: a commonality we recognize while driving in a country that feeds off the fear of being different.

Where they live now, in D.C., they feel landlocked. They hope to be home soon, on a small break they take once every year, and hopefully, in the near future, for good.

But first, we, all of us, must work.

Leah Harmony is manager of production and a journalist for the San Francisco Bay View. She can be reached at [email protected].

Donate to SF Bayview’s general fund to support our efforts in Cuba:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/sfbayview50for50

The post Cuba and the United States: We both have an ocean appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

Source: https://sfbayview.com/2026/09/cuba-and-the-united-states-we-both-have-an-ocean/