by Leah Harmony
BLACK AUGUST 2026.The San Francisco Bayview hosted the First and Second Secretaries of the Cuban Embassy, Sulia Paez and Gabriela Castillo, for four packed days. We had ambitious aims, but our bottom-line goals were, as in revolutions past, to help Cuba and her people build lasting support, as they have shown us. And, most importantly, to bolster solidarity through the strengths our communities have shared down a long path of resistance.
This remains contrary to our government and their boot-licking corporate pets, of course, as we’ve seen through their actions over the past 67 years. And now, the wanna-be king pretending to run the current administration decided to add a very not-pretend layer of violence to the debilitating general blockade already in place.
Donald Trump made the careless decision to order an oil blockade when Cuba had the audacity to not relinquish control of her resources and her people upon his demand. This has been in effect for eight months already. The outcomes are devastating and numerous. Hospitals lack essential resources, children do not have food to eat, and many communities have no power at all, bringing more chaos and fear every day they wake.
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 were just learning what our tax dollars are funding, to build leadership as a new generation joins the circuit of reinforcement. They spoke at several community panels throughout downtown Oakland, got involved in East Oakland’s community activism at Feed the Hood 38 (this was the sixth annual event honoring the legacy of Gregory “Shock G” Jacobs in partnership with Digital Underground) at the East Oakland Collective, and covered ground to and through West Oakland, with numerous stops in between.
After speaking at a town hall meeting in San Francisco’s Fillmore District, they were gifted 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.
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 in between meetings.
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 homelands 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 back in Cuba soon. They take a small break once every year. Hopefully, in the near future, they’ll be home 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 leah@sfbayview.com.
You can donate to SF Bayview’s general fund to support our efforts in Cuba:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/sfbayview50for50
