By Mafa Kwanisai Mafa

From Harare to Havana, history teaches us one clear lesson: imperialism never forgives those who choose dignity over submission.

Today, as the United States escalates its economic war against Cuba by proposing a total blockade on fuel supplies and threatening tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island, Zimbabweans know this story too well.

We have lived it. We continue to live it. And from that experience, we say clearly and without apology: silence is complicity, and solidarity is a duty.

The recent statement by Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs exposes a brutal truth. The United States is once again relying on lies, coercion and blackmail to justify collective punishment against an entire nation.

Cuba is being presented as a threat to peace and stability in the Americas. This is not only false, but absurd. Cuba has never invaded another country. Cuba has never imposed sanctions on others. Cuba has never bombed cities or overthrown governments. Instead, Cuba has exported doctors, teachers, solidarity and hope.

What then is Cuba’s real crime? The crime is refusing to kneel. For more than 65 years, Cuba has been subjected to the longest and cruellest economic blockade in modern history.

This blockade is not a policy disagreement; it is economic warfare. It targets food, medicine, fuel, banking, trade and technology. Its aim is simple and cruel: to make life so unbearable for ordinary Cubans that they abandon their revolutionary path.

Now, by attempting to block fuel supplies and punish third countries through tariffs and extraterritorial sanctions, the United States is openly declaring its intention to push Cuba into extreme living conditions.

Zimbabwe understands this tactic intimately. Under sanctions imposed by Western powers, we were told the measures were “targeted.” Yet hospitals struggled, industries collapsed, fuel became scarce, and ordinary people paid the price. The language used against Zimbabwe and Cuba is identical.

We are called threats. We are accused of human rights abuses. We are portrayed as failures. But behind this language lies a deeper motive: punishment for asserting sovereignty over land, resources and national destiny.

The proposed tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba reveal the true face of imperialism. This is not about democracy or human rights. It is about control. It is about forcing the entire world to obey Washington’s dictates or face economic punishment.

This is extraterritoriality at its worst: one country arrogating itself the right to decide who trades with whom. Such actions violate international law, free trade principles and the basic idea of sovereign equality among nations.

For Africa, and especially for Zimbabwe, this moment demands clarity. Cuba stood with Africa when it mattered most. Cuban blood was shed on African soil so that Africans could be free.

In Angola, Cuban internationalists played a decisive role in defeating apartheid forces at Cuito Cuanavale, an event that accelerated the independence of Namibia and the eventual liberation of South Africa. Fidel Castro did not ask Africa for oil, diamonds or gold. He sent solidarity, guided by principle.

In Zimbabwe, we remember that Cuba supported our liberation struggle politically and morally. After independence, Cuba continued to offer scholarships, medical training and cooperation without strings attached.

 Even today, Cuban doctors serve in remote parts of Africa where profit-driven systems refuse to go. This is the Cuba that imperialism fears: a small nation that proves another world is possible.

The Fidel Chair Chapter in Zimbabwe speaks from this historical and moral grounding. Fidel Castro taught us that ideas are stronger than weapons, and that a just cause cannot be defeated by hunger, blockade or intimidation.

The Cuban Revolution was never about exporting chaos; it was about defending sovereignty, social justice and human dignity. These are the same values that animated Zimbabwe’s own liberation struggle.

The claim that Cuba threatens regional peace collapses under the weight of facts. The only real threat to peace, security and stability in the Americas and indeed globally is the aggressive posture of the United States.

From Latin America to the Middle East, from Africa to Asia, the pattern is consistent: sanctions, coups, regime change, economic strangulation and military pressure. Countries that resist are punished. Those who comply are rewarded, even when they violate the very human rights standards Washington claims to defend.

We must also speak honestly about the danger of global silence. When powerful nations bully smaller ones, and the world looks away, injustice becomes normalised. Today, it is Cuba. Yesterday it was Zimbabwe. Tomorrow, it could be any nation that dares to chart an independent path. Silence, in such moments, is not neutrality. It is complicity.

Zimbabwe, therefore, rejects the renewed escalation of U.S. aggression against Cuba. We reject the lies used to justify it. We reject the attempt to weaponise fuel, trade and hunger. And we call on Africa, the Global South and all progressive forces to stand firm. International solidarity is not charity; it is shared self-defence.

Cuba will prevail, not because the road is easy, but because history is on its side. Empires rise and fall, but the will of a people determined to be free endures. From the sugar fields of Cuba to the farms and townships of Zimbabwe, the message remains the same: sovereignty is not negotiable.

As the Fidel Chair Chapter in Zimbabwe, we affirm our unwavering solidarity with the Cuban people and their revolutionary government. The blockade must end. The lies must be exposed.

And the world must choose justice over fear. Cuba has endured for more than six decades under siege. That endurance is not weakness; it is strength. And in that strength, Zimbabwe sees its own reflection.