00:00Welcome back to From the South.
00:02The total oil blockade imposed on Cuba at the beginning of the year sparked solidarity
00:06campaigns for the Cuban people in different countries.
00:09One of them was launched in Argentina, bringing together more than 100 organizations under
00:13the one goal, to bring solar panels to the island.
00:17In this report by our colleague Belén de los Santos, the story of the Estamos con Cuba
00:21solidarity campaign.
00:24We are in Havana.
00:25More than half a year has passed under a complete energy blockade imposed by the U.S.
00:30Each of these solar kits can provide power to an average household.
00:34And their journey to get here began far south on the continent.
00:38Precisely in February 2026, just weeks after the U.S. executive measure that shut down the
00:43flow of oil into Cuba, in Buenos Aires, a solidarity dream was born to bring solar panels to the
00:49island.
00:52The Argentine people are giving back, everything Cuba has done.
00:56Let's not forget Operation Miracle, the number of people who had cataract surgery, and everything
01:01Cuba has done in terms of education and health care in Argentina.
01:07That is how the We Stand With Cuba campaign emerged.
01:11The call was brought and spread throughout the country.
01:13There is a campaign that I am enthusiastically taking part in from Argentina, which is the
01:18solar panel campaign.
01:21To try to help them get solar panels for energy, but also for the life and development of the
01:27Cuban people.
01:29So I ask you to come together.
01:32We have to embrace our flags and build something that is truly Latin American.
01:37We stand with Cuba and I fully support it.
01:42As the months went by, the campaign gained strength on the streets.
01:45While the United States subjected Cuban families to increasingly longer power outages, more than
01:51100 Argentine organizations came together to deliver a concrete alternative.
01:58And so, six months and nearly 7,000 kilometers later, that impulse reached El Caimito, a town one
02:06hour away from Havana.
02:07With the funds raised throughout Argentina, the shipment of 45 solar kits to Cuba became
02:12a reality.
02:13Amid sanctions that increased day by day, what seemed impossible was achieved through collective
02:19effort on both sides of the continent.
02:23Sometimes, what you feel is impossible to describe, isn't it?
02:26What this small gesture of support means, this grain of sand that all the organizations in
02:31solidarity with Cuba have contributed.
02:36The way the Cuban government, and each of the municipal government's work is also truly
02:40moving.
02:41I didn't know what I was going to find because they decide which family receives the equipment,
02:45and the truth is that the testimonies we have collected have been beautiful.
02:52In Cuba, authorities in each municipality work to identify the cases of greatest need in
02:57order to deliver the equipment.
02:59Many are sent to households with electricity-dependent individuals among those hardest hit by the
03:05oil blockade.
03:08Because of those same sanctions I was talking about, fuel ships or other donations cannot
03:13come in, and so it's very hard when our girl, at night, for example, is crying because she's
03:17hot and she's a child and doesn't understand.
03:19Just knowing that she can sleep peacefully and rest, because, after all, she's a child and
03:23deserves all the happens there can be, that alone is a relief to me.
03:27This display of solidarity resonates strongly on Cuban soil, from where so much has been
03:33done for Latin American unity.
03:37This feeling of brotherhood is intrinsic to us because we had a teacher who was Josie Marti,
03:45who called on all peoples to be brothers.
03:51Don't stop.
03:52Keep going.
03:52Every grain of sand you contribute becomes a mountain.
03:56And they will not make us give up, and we will remain firm.
03:59What are we going to live on?
04:00Well, we'll see tomorrow, because Cuban women have had to rise to the occasion and we reinvent
04:04ourselves every day.
04:05And here we are, in solidarity.
04:06We continue to show solidarity with the world.
04:08Wherever we are needed, that is where we will be.
04:11Of the kids' hand, five remained in El Caimito, five were allocated to the capital, and another
04:17thirty-five to the eastern part of the country.
04:19Meanwhile, the Withstand With Cuba campaign remains active and receiving donations in Argentina,
04:25while awaiting a new shipment, with the firm conviction of always supporting the Cuban
04:29people.
04:30Belenero Santos, for Chalester English, from Havana, Cuba.
