Portland report on the International May Day Brigade to Cuba

Portland, Oregon

Leo Palacio and Cody Forrester gave an inspiring, educational report-back at a meeting in Portland on June 20 about their trip to Cuba with the 19th International May Day Brigade 2026. This year the brigade took three times the amount of material aid than in years past, including an expensive imaging machine that tests for ovarian cancer. When Forrester delivered the equipment to the Cuban doctor, she immediately called a patient in for a diagnosis.

Among the places visited by the Brigade were the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), an international public medical school, and the Solidarity with Panama school for children with special needs. Brigadistas also toured the Hana Gaddafi kindergarten school, named after former Libyan Prime Minister Muammar Gaddafi’s infant daughter, who was killed by U.S. bombs.

The Cuban Communist Party said that 80% of Cuban youth support the Cuban Revolution.

This year the Brigade was joined by a charter plane carrying material aid collected by the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), consisting mostly of medicines and medical supplies for Cuba’s public health system. In a statement, NNOC said: “Each year, the May Day Brigade brings hundreds of thousands of dollars in material aid, but this year is different. As the U.S. intensifies its belligerence to crush the Cuban Revolution, we also intensify our defense of Cuba.” (misiones.cubaminrex.cu, April 27)

To read about the latest developments in Cuba, go to tinyurl.com/y72k8mth