Medea Benjamin, a Miami-based organizer and longtime activist, says she has recruited hundreds of volunteers and packed pallets of medicine and supplies for a humanitarian mission to Cuba scheduled to depart March 21. Organizers plan to converge along Havana’s Malecón to deliver food, medical supplies and small energy equipment to neighborhoods hit by rolling blackouts. The push comes as shortages and diplomatic pressure have tightened the island’s access to fuel and critical medicines.
In an interview with CBS News, Benjamin said her Miami delegation will carry about $430,000 worth of medicine and roughly 6,000 pounds of supplies, and that volunteers are coming from around the country. The effort is tied to the broader Nuestra América Convoy, which says delegations will arrive by sea, air and land and converge on Havana’s Malecón on March 21. Organizers describe the mission as both humanitarian relief and a pointed statement against policies they say are deepening civilian hardship.
The timing follows a diplomatic squeeze on the island’s energy lifelines: according to AP, shipments from key suppliers fell to zero in January after a U.S. operation in Venezuela and Washington’s threats of tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba. United Nations experts and others have warned that cutoffs of fuel and spare parts could precipitate serious humanitarian consequences if supplies do not arrive soon, according to reporting by Al Jazeera.
Solidarity groups have moved to join the convoy. In a March 3 press release, CodePink said it would participate in the mission to bring food, medicine and essential goods to Havana and called the effort “an act of solidarity - and defiance.” Organizers say the mission outgrew its original flotilla plan after an influx of offers to help and expanded into a coordinated air, sea and land convoy.
Legal and travel rules for U.S. participants
The convoy’s website tells U.S. participants to consult U.S. sanctions rules and travel authorizations before joining. Organizers explicitly point to Treasury guidance for humanitarian projects and ask U.S. citizens and carriers to review OFAC guidance. Per the convoy site, participants should consult official rules before booking travel and shipping supplies, and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control notes in its FAQs that 31 C.F.R. § 515.575 authorizes certain transactions related to humanitarian projects in or related to Cuba. Organizers say collection-point coordinates and other logistics will be announced in the days before the March 21 convergence, and participants are urged to plan accordingly.
What to watch from Miami
Benjamin and volunteers in South Florida say they are filling shipments and arranging travel out of Miami. CBS News reports volunteers are coming from across the country to board flights and vessels for the mission. Organizers stress that the operation is meant to get essentials to hospitals and families while spotlighting the wider diplomatic standoff over energy and trade.
Whether grassroots convoys can move meaningful relief through a politically fraught blockade is an open question, but organizers say the immediate priority is saving lives and keeping pressure on policymakers to address shortages. Miami’s push to Havana shows how quickly local activism can collide with geopolitics when an island’s basic services are on the line.
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