Harare, January 30, 2026 – Silence is complicity and solidarity a duty as the United States intensifies its economic war against Cuba with the announcement of a total blockade on fuel supplies, warned Mafa Kwanisai, coordinator of the Fidel Castro Chair at the University of the Midlands, in Zimbabwe.
History teaches the clear lesson that imperialism never forgives those who choose dignity over submission, the professor stated in an article released in this capital and published in regional media outlets such as Modern Ghana.
After denouncing the threat of tariffs on countries that sell oil to the Caribbean nation, Mafa praised Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla's words about Washington's lies, coercion, and blackmail used to justify the collective punishment against an entire nation.
Cuba, he said, is presented as a threat to peace and stability in the Americas. This is not only false, but absurd. The island has never invaded, bombed, overthrown governments, or imposed sanctions on other countries.
The reality is that Cuba has exported doctors, teachers, solidarity, and hope, he added, recalling the more than 65-year-long blockade, now reinforced by fuel supply cuts, tariffs, and extraterritorial sanctions.
According to Mafa, Zimbabwe perfectly understands this tactic. Under the sanctions and alleged selective measures imposed by the West, hospitals struggled, industries collapsed, fuel became scarce, and ordinary people paid the price.
The proposed tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba, he opined, reveal the true face of imperialism. It's not about democracy or human rights, but about forcing compliance with Washington's dictates or facing economic punishment.
In blatant extraterritoriality, a country that arrogates to itself the right to decide who trades with whom, in violation of international law, the principles of free trade, and the fundamental idea of sovereign equality among nations.
Cuba shed blood on African soil so that we could be free. In Angola, its internationalists played a decisive role in the defeat of apartheid at Cuito Cuanavale, in accelerating Namibia's independence, and in the subsequent liberation of South Africa.
According to the professor, Fidel Castro did not ask Africa for oil, diamonds, or gold. On the contrary, he sent solidarity in the form of scholarships, medical training, and unconditional cooperation.
The Fidel Castro Chair Chapter in Zimbabwe believes that the claim that Cuba threatens regional peace collapses under the weight of the facts.
The only real threat to peace, security, and stability in the Americas, and indeed worldwide, he emphasized, is the aggressive stance of the United States.
He also warned that injustice becomes normalized in the face of the danger of global silence when powerful nations intimidate smaller ones and the world looks the other way.
In his opinion, today it is Cuba. Yesterday it was Zimbabwe, and tomorrow it could be any nation that dares to forge an independent path. Silence, in times like these, is not neutrality, but complicity.
We reject the renewed escalation of aggression, the lies used to justify it, and the attempt to weaponize fuel, trade, and hunger.
The Fidel Castro Chair in Zimbabwe calls on Africa, the Global South, and all progressive forces to stand firm. Cuba will prevail with its unwavering message that sovereignty is non-negotiable.
The world must choose justice over fear in the face of a Cuba that has endured more than six decades under siege and whose proven resilience has become a fortress, Mafa concluded.