Cuba Analysis

Historian and Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad, joins Cuba Analysis to examine Cuba’s revolutionary endurance, the legacy of the Tricontinental movement, and the ongoing global struggle against imperialism. With the 60th anniversary of the Tricontinental Conference taking place in January 2026 at the University of Havana (12–14 January), Prashad calls for renewed debate on South–South solidarity and internationalism. Prashad reflects on his first visit to Cuba during the Special Period of the 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the island into severe economic crisis. He argues that Cuba’s survival under extreme pressure revealed a central political truth: socialism, when confronted by empire, becomes an essential defence of sovereignty, dignity, and collective survival. We discuss the historic 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, which united revolutionary movements from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and laid the foundations for anti-imperialist internationalism. Prashad explains how the conference fused the Bandung Movement’s demand for sovereignty with Marxism’s commitment to human dignity, forging a tradition of national liberation socialism that continues to shape struggles across the Global South. Prashad delivers a sharp analysis of ongoing U.S. aggression against Cuba, identifying the blockade as the central human rights violation—an illegal and permanent siege aimed at undermining the Cuban Revolution. He situates today’s economic crisis within a “permanent Special Period” driven by sanctions, financial warfare, and political isolation, and calls for stronger international solidarity, particularly from Latin America and the BRICS countries. He stresses that defending Venezuela is inseparable from defending Cuba. The conversation also explores the continued relevance of Marxist analysis, critiques moralistic and idealist tendencies on the left, and highlights the importance of understanding history’s contradictions and reversals in the long struggle for social transformation. This episode offers a rigorous political and historical analysis of Cuba’s revolutionary project and its international significance, through the lens of one of the most influential critical thinkers of our time. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggYOvUyNbU4

Don’t miss this urgent and compelling episode of the Cuba Analysis Podcast, hosted by Helen Yaffe and Nina Blodau, with Ana Maldonado, a Venezuelan sociologist and the International Relations coordinator for the Francisco de Miranda Front, a Chavista movement, and member of the Venezuelan chapter of ALBA Movements. Maldonado left a huge march in Caracas to update us about events in Venezuela: the military assault by 150 US aircraft, including fighter jets, helicopters and bombers, that hit targets throughout Caracas and in three other States, abduction of the President, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores; the killings of dozens of military personnel and civilians and how the Bolivarian system of national defence kicked into action in response. Maldonado describes the experience of the nighttime bombings on the 2 to 3 January and the widespread destruction to antennas, military facilities, ports and airports, as well as the popular mobilisation in response. On 4 January, Venezuelans took to the streets en masse to protest the attack and demand Maduro is returned. She points to the emotional resilience of Venezuelans who refuse to accept foreign intervention. The conversation dismantles the US phoney narrative which casts Maduro as a narcotrafficker and Venezuela as a narco-state and foreign terrorist regime. Ana responds directly to the Trump’s lies in his 3 January press conference, affirming that US forces do not have a presence on the ground, that acting President Delcy Rodriguez and the Venezuelan government are not collaborating with the Trump administration, and that the US does not have control over Venezuela’s oil industry. She explains how Rodríguez is leading the constitutional and popular response in Maduro’s abduction, guided by pre-established plans for national defence. Maldonado highlights the role of the Bolivarian militias, in which eight million civilians voluntarily enrolled in 2025, and affirms the preparedness of communities for a prolonged, Vietnam-style resistance if necessary to defend Venezuelan sovereignty. The interview underscores the solidarity between Venezuela and Cuba, warns of expanding US aggression across Latin America, and issues a powerful call for international solidarity to condemn the attack, demand the release of Maduro and Flores, and defend Venezuelan sovereignty. This is a vital, firsthand account from inside the Bolivarian Revolution during a critical hour.

Leading Cuban neuroscientist, Mitchell Valdés Sosa joins Cuba Analysis to discuss Cuba’s commitments to sovereignty, socialism and science. He explains how the National Centre for Scientific Research, founded by Fidel Castro in 1965, trained Cubans in biomedical sciences, and incubated multiple research and development centres, including the Neuroscience Centre that he directs. Cuba’s unique state-founded, state-owned biotechnology sector, organised today under BioCubaFarma, emerged from this process in the 1980s.Valdés Sosa outlines the ‘grand strategy’ behind Cuba’s investment in education and science, and the creation of ‘full cycle’ research centres that combine basic research, production, and foreign trade. He argues that this socialist model, free from speculative private interests, allows the sector to prioritise public health, produce affordable medicines, and tackle neglected diseases that big pharma ignores, including meningitis B in Africa. We discuss recent crises in which Valdés Sosa played a key role: the US allegations of ‘sonic attack’ on diplomats in Havana during the first Trump administration, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Having investigated the US accusation, he provides a scientific rebuttal of the so-called ‘Havana Syndrome’, highlighting the lack of medical evidence - a conclusion subsequently reached by US intelligence agencies – and the political motivations behind them. He describes how during COVID-19 the Neuroscience Centre pivoted to manufacture medical ventilators and swabs in collaboration with international partners, to circumvent US sanctions.Valdés Sosa describes the suffocating impact of the US blockade on Cuba’s medical science sectors, from obstructing access to equipment, spare parts, databases, and bank transactions, to ‘invisible mechanisms’ to scare off scientific partners. It is a ‘crime against Cuba’, he says, designed to strangle the economy and overthrow a system whose example of successful social policies the US establishment fears.Looking to the future, we discuss Cuba’s three innovative treatments in the pipeline for Alzheimer’s, a disease that will affect 30 million people globally by 2030. Most advanced is NeuroEPO, which has shown extremely promising results in clinical trials, with very few side effects and should be available to Cuban patients in 2026.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myc4iAXuoWs

Leading Cuban neuroscientist, Mitchell Valdés Sosa joins Cuba Analysis to discuss Cuba’s commitments to sovereignty, socialism and science. He explains how the National Centre for Scientific Research, founded by Fidel Castro in 1965, trained Cubans in biomedical sciences, and incubated multiple research and development centres, including the Neuroscience Centre that he directs. Cuba’s unique state-founded, state-owned biotechnology sector, organised today under BioCubaFarma, emerged from this process in the 1980s.Valdés Sosa outlines the ‘grand strategy’ behind Cuba’s investment in education and science, and the creation of ‘full cycle’ research centres that combine basic research, production, and foreign trade. He argues that this socialist model, free from speculative private interests, allows the sector to prioritise public health, produce affordable medicines, and tackle neglected diseases that big pharma ignores, including meningitis B in Africa. We discuss recent crises in which Valdés Sosa played a key role: the US allegations of ‘sonic attack’ on diplomats in Havana during the first Trump administration, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Having investigated the US accusation, he provides a scientific rebuttal of the so-called ‘Havana Syndrome’, highlighting the lack of medical evidence - a conclusion subsequently reached by US intelligence agencies – and the political motivations behind them. He describes how during COVID-19 the Neuroscience Centre pivoted to manufacture medical ventilators and swabs in collaboration with international partners, to circumvent US sanctions.Valdés Sosa describes the suffocating impact of the US blockade on Cuba’s medical science sectors, from obstructing access to equipment, spare parts, databases, and bank transactions, to ‘invisible mechanisms’ to scare off scientific partners. It is a ‘crime against Cuba’, he says, designed to strangle the economy and overthrow a system whose example of successful social policies the US establishment fears.Looking to the future, we discuss Cuba’s three innovative treatments in the pipeline for Alzheimer’s, a disease that will affect 30 million people globally by 2030. Most advanced is NeuroEPO, which has shown extremely promising results in clinical trials, with very few side effects and should be available to Cuban patients in 2026.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myc4iAXuoWs

Note: This interview is in Spanish, you can check the video in Youtube for English subtitles.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3-LQks3DNA🎙️🇨🇺 Cuba Analysis podcast did a fascinating interview with Pedro Jorge Velázquez, El Necio, one of #Cuba’s most prominent independent journalists and social media influencers. 💻📲 He speaks about the intense media war and misinformation obscuring Cuba's complex reality, addresses the polemic over democracy and freedom of expression, speaks about the digital battle for the minds of Cuban youth, and debates the future of Cuban socialism. ‘El Necio’ cuts through the noise to show you the real Cuba.