Addis Ababa, February 18, 2026.- Our Embassy received a strong and unequivocal statement of solidarity from Joel Akhator Odigie, General Secretary of the African Regional Organization of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), representing more than 18 million workers across the African continent.
In the message, the African regional organization expresses its unequivocal support for the people and workers of Cuba in the face of more than six decades of isolation and pressure campaigns imposed by the United States.
The statement denounces the intensification of these policies under the administration of President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, characterizing such stances as colonial and neocolonial expressions that seek to undermine Cuba's sovereignty and punish peoples who defend their self-determination.
ITUC-Africa warns that these coercive measures have led to a deterioration of socioeconomic conditions, limiting access to energy, essential goods, healthcare, and development opportunities, and placing the greatest burden on vulnerable workers, families, and communities. It emphasizes that this economic strangulation shifts suffering onto innocent people, violates human dignity, and contradicts the principles of justice, solidarity, and shared humanity.
African workers, the message concludes, "stand shoulder to shoulder with the people, workers, and Government of Cuba in their struggle for dignity, justice, sovereignty, and social progress."
(EmbaCuba-Etiopía)