19:52 (GMT-4) or 01:52 (GMT)
WE JUST LANDED! I've rarely experienced a smoother landing. The people clapped, probably because the 9 hour flight is finally over! The clouds before landing were magnificent, I took dozens of pictures. Now, once landed, it's very foggy everywhere.

Before the flight, I had a debate with my girlfriend about whether to bring a sweater. I was of the firm belief that I wouldn't need one, due to the general temperature in Cuba, she said something about the flight possibly being cold, which convinced me, since I remember my first intercontinental flight when I was 15 to San Francisco from Reykjavik to be very, very cold up in the air. This time I had to take that sweater off, I still believe I won't need it for this trip.

20:21
Currently at the D'Viajeros. There's two cameras pointed at everyone walking by, taking pictures of their faces, which are displayed on a laptop screen. It was kind of creepy seeing it so transparently, but at the end of the day most / all airport security systems take pictures of your face, I guess this was the only one that shows it. I was advised to not take pictures, already caused a scene back in Germany when trying to film the TSA. Generally I should inform myself better when it comes to filming in public, as military personnel for example isn't allowed to be filmed.

21:18 (GMT-4)
I'm already on a bus! After passing through every check the airport had and getting our luggage quote swiftly, a local guide picked us up who is coordinated by the first of may brigade and in extension Cuba Si. He's known to the organizers of our group who were welcomed by him with open arms.

Once entering the bus close to Havana airport we started driving and got a small introduction about the CIJAM and what we can expect in the coming days. Looking around, it's fascinating seeing many oldtimers (some of them even being Trabbis).

Sadly, due to the very different climate and thicker air (very good idea to take off my sweater, btw) my camera's lense was frogging.

We drove past the Plaza de la Revolución, INDER (Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación de Cuba), and the ministry of defence...

21:32
The longer we stay in the bus, the more the thick and warm air becomes apparent to me.

It started raining, luckily I have my rain jacket in my bag.

21:47
We've arrived at the hotel Deauville in Havana. There's still a buffet and we're all pretty hungry and or tired.

22:44
We got incredible food. Not many vegetarian options, but they were great anyway! Even with dessert. We figured out that we can exchange euros for Cuban pesos at the hotel lobby, which would be smart considering the WiFi here is also 25 CUP / hour. If you're reading this, I've probably paid that amount for some hours.

Once I'm settling down and all things for tomorrow (such as the time to get up and general planning) are sorted, the feeling of “sudden” tiredness overcomes me. It's 5 AM in my original timezone, I've been up for 23 hours already, what a long day...

23:08
I've just exchanged 50€ for 15.000 Cuban pesos, a 1:300 exchange rate, which is better than the official ones, I think. Or maybe I've been ripped off. I don't care, when westerners get scammed in Cuba, they still think they've gotten a good deal. Have a meal for 5€, all Cubans will believe it's overpriced, whilst people like me would be surprised at such a low cost.

Regardless, I've split my money up into several locations because I don't want to be robbed and left with nothing. However, it's also illegal to take Cuban pesos out of Cuba, so I really have to remember where that stuff is in order to not cause a scene. With my newly acquired Cuban pesos I will hopefully be able to afford WiFi.

I've gotten WiFi for three hours, it was actually only 25 CUP per hour for Cubans. Everyone else had to pay 200 CUP / hour of internet, with a credit card as a preferred method of payment.

Some time later we went out and walked around in Havana, at the shore, through the city. I've taken many fascinating photos and have seen a lot.

01:43
Oh man, now I've been awake for over 24 hours. It's been a long day, so much to learn and process. I should get a good night of sleep before being too tired to experience tomorrow!

Havana, Cuba (GMT-4)
Friday, 25th of April 2025
----END OF DAY 1 OF THE CUBA BRIGADE----

Reading up on some literature on my way to the Centro Fidel Castro Ruz ️

¡Viva Cuba Socialista!

¡Cuba Sí, Yankees No!

The Cuban flag of the Centro Fidel Castro Ruz is at half mast due to the Pope's passing. He has been a strict opponent of the blockade!

I've been in the museum of the alphabetization movement in Cuba! Did you know that the US funded counter-revolutionaries to kill teachers who tried to increase literacy? Some of them were kids! The youngest person joined the literacy campaign by the age of 9!

The same tactic was used by the Mujahideen (also a US backed terrorist organization) when the democratic people's party of Afghanistan had a similar campaign to decrease illiteracy.

These are the names of all the teachers killed by a US backed terrorist organization when they tried to increase literacy and educate people in Cuba.

Day 2 of the Cuba Brigade
Friday on 2025-04-25
Havana, Cuba (GMT-4)

Schedule for Today

09:00 a.m.: Meeting at the Cuban Institute for Friendship among Peoples (ICAP)
11:00 a.m.: Visit to the Fidel Castro Center
Afterwards: Transfer to CIJAM
Evening: Accommodation and dinner

7:15
This is when I set my alarm, however, I've awoken several times at night. Once due to a bad dream, and once due to a dream my hotel roommate from the brigade had. He started talking to me in the middle of the night, asking me if I could remember the word he just thought of, I think we were all a bit shaken by the prior day and being awake 25 hours to travel across the globe. I showered, then got to the hotel's breakfast! We got many fruits (mango slices, dragonfruit, melon, pineapple), an omelette made in front of your eyes, and rice with beans, potatoes, oats and milk — there was lots to choose from!

After breakfast I packed my things and went to the bus. We needed to be on time at 09:00, so I was standing downstairs, luggage and carry on bag in hand at 08:50.

9:15
We're sitting in a bus off to our meeting with ICAP and later at the Fidel Castro Center. I love the ride through Havana, the buildings have a certain style that I haven't seen before.

11:20
We're just now leaving ICAP, it was great! We walked into a palace-like building with a large garden and a small hand-sized statue of Jose Marti on a table at the entrance. Two people were hosting a Q&A event, the person of ICUP responsible for Europe.

We asked the hosts many questions regarding Cuba's history, the political work of ICAP, especially focused on youth work by the party's youth organization. We discussed Cuba's modern problems, the mistakes in its past (such as too much of an economic reliance on the Soviet Union and the failed reform of the Peso) as well as the creation of organizations like Cuba Si in the wake of the fall of the eastern bloc.

We learned that ICAP works with over 2000 organizations across 150 countries, and that Cuba Si is doing excellent work in comparison, especially in the field of agriculture. We talked about options to bypass the blockade, both as individuals, non government organizations, and nations. They discussed how modern support by nations governed by sometimes leftist parties, nowadays focuses on electrical support through solar panels, as this makes Cuba's electricity more independent from crude oil import.

We've discussed the influence of the United States, as well as the debacle of its embassy closing for made up reasons.

The history of ICAP is entangled with the history of the U.S.'s actions against Cuba itself. The organization was founded on the idea that through international solidarity, Cuba would not stand alone when it is being attempted to be isolated.

Shortly after leaving we've arrived at the Centro Fidel Castro Ruz, which is a very modern museum (built only three years ago) to preserve the history of revolution and one of its children, Fidel Castro. The museum documented all of his personal writings, his involvement in historic events such as the Bay of Pigs invasion, and a small scale replica of Castro's boat used in the revolution, as well as detailed explanations of guerilla tactics. The museum also documented achievements in which Cuba helped globally, such as its international doctor program. It had an interactive section where you could look country by country what Cuba is supporting there, the Germany section even included images of and by Cuba Si! This is how we were made aware that our organization is mentioned in this very important museum.

The museum did a good job of portraying Castro as who he was, with no sugarcoating or anything. They managed to showcase his successes without undermining the work of the millions of Cubans that aided the revolution too.

13:17
Once leaving the museum we went to this restaurant (El Aljibe) and were supposed to just have rice with black beans, yet it turns out we got chicken (I didn't eat those since I am vegetarian), omelette, soup, potatoes, salad, then afterwards rice with black beans, I got at the bar a few non-alcoholic drinks, and at the end we got a good coffee and rice pudding. The restaurant had live music and there were cats walking through it. I was told not to pet them, but I did anyway (I thoroughly washed my hands after).

15:03
After leaving the restaurant, we'd drive to the National Museum of the Literacy campaign (Museo Nacional de la Campaña de Alfabetización.). Right after the successful revolution, the communist party of Cuba decided to do something against the illiteracy in the country, and mobilized 107.000 people, a majority of which being women, and also children / teenager aged 8 - 19, to educate the nation's illiterate and teach them how to read and write. This campaign lasted one year, and helped over 700.000 people! This museum documents that. The final test to prove your acquired literacy was to write a letter to either your teacher or Fidel Castro. The museum has every letter ever written to Castro there, some of which displayed.

The campaign wasn't too easy, however, as 42 teachers were killed by US backed contra revolutionaries. It truly shows you're on the wrong side if you have to kill people for the crime of education.

16:36
In a bus to the CIJAM!

It's incredible! Though there was a power outage and we have no WiFi. When we arrived, we sang songs and were welcomed warmly by the other people here. I'm sleeping with 6 people in one room!

19:04
After dinner at the CIJAM in a circle. We discussed the next day, which includes going to a field to work. We'd be woken up by 5:45 AM (or earlier), then we'd have ~1 hour to get ready (shower, eat breakfast), then 07:00 AM we'd collect ourselves at the center of the CIJAM to discuss in what groups we are divided, hence who does what field work, then we're going on a truck and off we go to the fields.

The Americans filled their buckets with the drinking water to shower, now there's no drinking water. There was a scorpion in the women's bathroom, and I seemed to be the only one freaked out about that.

There are beautiful fireflies everywhere, and once the sun disappeared under the horizon, I was able to see the night sky for the first time. The stars looked very different from what I was used to in Hannover.

22:09
Aggressive cicada chirping as ASMR. I hope no scorpion climbs in my bed.

CIJAM, Cuba (GMT-4)
Friday, 25th of April 2025
----END OF DAY 2 OF THE CUBA BRIGADE----

I already woke up before 5 AM to stay ahead of the curve! #Grindset

This card was used by the hundred thousand people of the literacy campaign in Cuba as a method of identification. Giving the power of literacy to over 700.000 people in just one year is possible when that is an actual goal, and not just an empty promise.

The murals at the CIJAM truly are something

Accessing the internet through mobile data in Cuba makes you sometimes appear in some city on the border between Ukraine and Poland. It appears that the 4G towers are directly connected to a VPN / proxy to bypass US restrictions, or that's what I assume.

The camp I'm staying at for the May Day brigade has ~120 Americans, many British and even some Australians. If you're from those regions and wish to experience Cuba like I am (with direct contact to farmers and doing field work with them, participating in the May Day demonstration with over 500.000 people in Havana, and actively learning about Cuban politics and their institutions) there must be many, “cheap” options for you!

I've heard from one American that they had to pay ~$800 to come here through Cuba solidarity networks, which is the norm. I think that's really cool!

We may question what our job is, what it is that we can do, not from a white saviorist perspective, but within our own countries to better the conditions for the Cuban people? Well, we're at the belly of the beast. By preventing European nations and the USA from exploiting the global south, we'd create the conditions for the Cuban project (among many others) to flourish!

Day 3 of the Cuba Brigade
Saturday on 2025-04-26
CIJAM, Cuba (GMT-4)

4:57
I just woke up, before my alarm (at 5:00) even. Not sure why, but I appreciate it, now I can use the showers and everything before the others wake up.

06:21
The showers were good, water and power worked! I brought an extension cord with multiple outlets, so I could use my one adapter to charge multiple devices. My camera's battery, my phone(s), my power bank(s).

Waking up so early was on purpose, as me and a friend wanted to take a walk before everything starts! We went deep into Cuban nature (30 minutes down a road lol) and it was magnificent. We witnessed the beginnings of a sunrise, saw the half moon (which was huge) and realized the stars in the night sky had pretty similar patterns to what we are used to.

7:29
The breakfast was great, just bread with eggs. I needed two portions as I was pretty hungry. Afterwards I was told I couldn't eat two portions, yet it was our guide Marcos who got me the second one. I'm very confused, yet will refrain from getting a second portion again!

We just finished doing sports at the central place. It was a mixture of army training and Tai Chi. A friend lost a screw in her glasses, so we spent like 15 minutes walking around trying to find it, as it was tiny, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. We obviously didn't find it, she fixed her glasses with tape.

11:36
We just came home from the field work. We sat, cramped in a van with 40 people, drove there, and after three hours we drove back again. We were walked through the farm and shown our place of work. It was a pile of dirt that needed to be turned soft and then put into plastic bags with saplings of a tree the farm had a plantation of.

We made about 2000 small bags and 1000 large ones, which was valued at about 8700 Cuban pesos with our united work force in the three hours we worked there. It's laughably low, but the plants we planted and the fields we worked on help the local economy and rebuild from the damaged of hurricane Katrina. It's mainly supposed to be symbolic to show us what life in Cuba is really like, but it's also good because the workers who usually work here can have a free day!

I'm done, probably have a sunburn (despite showering in level 50+ sunscreen, wearing a Kufiya around my neck, long sleeve shirt AND a hat) and my face looks like I've been stuck in the mines for a decade. What a time, and the day has just started!

13:48
The lunch was good (cooked aubergine with rice, black beans, and potatoes, as well as a pudding jam hybrid as dessert). I'm so tired from work, considered going to sleep “shortly”, but then I realized that representatives from the student organization would come soon!

13:58
The student organization (FEU — Fedéración Estudiantil Universitaria) came, about 20 people. We'll talk with them now! It was a lovely conversation with us asking many questions regarding how their work looks like. Our student organization in Germany (the SDS) primarily focuses on protesting the university administration's decisions, or trying to get better materials, more rights and democratic participation in all of the university processes. They just looked at us funnily, when we explained the differences in opinion between an administration and student council. The fact we needed pro Palestine protest camps in Columbia and many other universities to ask their administration to divest from funding a genocide was something that was very foreign to the Cuban student council FEU, as the administration would simply agree with them, including the specific topic of support for the liberation of the Palestinian people, but all the others too. Any decision in the university is one they're involved in, not just symbolically, but they always have to come to an agreement, and there's rarely a disagreement. I've really pressed the representatives by the FEU to name a specific example of such a process where the administration disagreed with the ideas of the student council, and they couldn't come up with one.

Another question I asked was about this specific process of coming to an agreement, and their response was very eye opening to me, who was used to our civil democracy's solution finding processes.

An embarrassing thing occurred too, however. I often filmed responses, as my limited understanding of Spanish and the rudimentary translation lead to me not understanding many things. A former federal speaker of the FEU was apparently very critical of me doing so, explaining they weren't a human zoo and that recordings can be taken out of context to damage reputation. He said those things in a direct and confrontational way, but in Spanish. So I just smiled and nodded whilst continuing to record, like an idiot.

Afterwards we had another talk where I asked for consent for all the footage (despite me not knowing about my mistake at this point) and we shook hands many times and left in good spirits. In the future, so I've decided we'd not record natural occurrences and conversations (as much as I'd love to do that) but go to people and interview them after.

22:08
Lots happened — we had a good talk with the FEU, we had wonderful dinner, I finally brought the Mastodon plushie (and laptop) to my friend, we had multiple discussions and plenary sessions, and two of my friends and I went on a late night walk around the CIJAM. We didn't go into the same direction as this morning for a walk, so we ended up on a lot more “dangerous” paths. There were scorpions in our way and a huge (dead) spider. We ended up on the path to some farm, and were greeted by five dogs speeding loudly at us with glowing eyes. I didn't keep calm and began running away (which I know is a bad idea, but what was the alternative, dying?), and after a while they weren't after us anymore. We still have no idea what we approached there, there was also a military testing ground in the area, although we don't think we went close to that. What a fascinating evening!

CIJAM, Cuba (GMT-4)
Saturday, 26th of April 2025
----END OF DAY 3 OF THE CUBA BRIGADE----

Day 4 of the Cuba Brigade
Sunday on 2025-04-27
CIJAM, Cuba (GMT-4)

04:58
I got up, showered, washed my clothes, and felt sore from yesterday! But I'm really okay. Despite the experience of scorpions, huge spiders, and dogs which hunted me down last night, I felt well rested. I had NO sun burn nor mosquito bites, my methods worked.

07:56
We gotta wait to go to the ELAM and subsequent work day (rescheduled for 45 minutes) as the British people arrived late and we need to go as one group.

I had another walk with a friend of mine and showed him a section of the camp we were never introduced to (we never had a tour of the CIJAM, so basically everything we see needs to be “discovered” by ourselves). It was right next to the entrance where a security guard sits, a grass field with benches, and a memorial in front. The memorial was one of many, all sitting on bright red stars. It read “MUERO POR LA REVOLUCION” or “I die for the revolution” with a sculpture of someone's head on top. The other stars had signs, sometimes, heads, sometimes images on a readable height above them, detailing foreigners who died and showed solidarity to Cuba throughout their lifetime. I felt the importance of this ground and its history eminating from all around.

Right in front of it was a sign of the camp, so me and my friend filmed a small introduction to where we are and what CIJAM stands for: Campamentamento Internacional Julio Antonio Mela.

The breakfast was as yesterday: too little (a singular egg omelette inbetween a palm-sized soft bread). I inquired as to why this was, as I initially assumed there was a cultural reason, such as Cubans not valuing breakfast as much, but the opposite is the case: on Cuba breakfast is much more important than, for example, in Germany where we simply eat bread based food entirely. In Cuba, breakfast is a full warm meal. The reason we are served something that wouldn't suffice in either country as breakfast, is because they have to ration the food, even for us brigadists. I was told this situation was different last year.

Additionally, it turned out to be not so okay for me to ask for another portion yesterday. Technically, I asked our guide Marcos if it was okay to ask, and then he just did and gave the second portion to me, but I was told by the leaders of our brigade that there are no “leftovers”. Even if there is food left, the personnel usually takes it home for them and their families.

We interviewed a man named Greg who worked for Pastors for Peace and organizes Cuban film nights in America. He's been on 8 brigades to Cuba in total, this is his first May Day Brigade.

08:56
Now in the bus, the delay was pretty long. We are escorted by the Cuban police on motorcycles in a caravan of busses with all the other brigadists. Just looking around and seeing nature is such an experience for me. You can't appreciate it when constantly looking on your phone, as I am doing now, which is why I've been more silent on social media lately (next to the power outages causing us to not have WiFi or mobile data). The palm trees and other plant species I've never seen before, the warmth and the way the sun hits the ground, the bird species making sounds I've never heard in Europe, the general hue of the environment at morning or dawn, the mountain range and wavy terrain. Cuba will always hold a special place in my heart!

12:07
We're in a bus from the ELAM (Latin American School of Medicine). We had firery speeches by many of the international students studying there Cuba, right after a quick introduction to the ELAM's history and purpose by its president. She said “We are the United Nations of peace and love.”

The students speaking were formally representing all students from the different regions, it was a semi-official position that was democratically elected. There was one person for South America, one person for the Pacific, another for the Middle East and another for Africa. Additionally, one student representing all of them. While the president representing all students had a strong speech, the fiercest one gaining the most applause was that of the Palestinian student who came here midst genocide and hopes to rebuild Gaza if people are still left when he returns. He ended the speech mocking the US rhetoric claiming Cuba was a terrorist state. He said “it was the terrorists who educated us for free, who sent us aid when nobody would, and ideologically supported our anti-imperialist struggle all the way through” (in Spanish) met with fiery applause. Afterwards, another student sang a beautiful song.

We were about 200 people present from 15 nations, while the ELAM had many more students from over 150 nations throughout its history! The goal of the ELAM is for Cuba to educate world class doctors to go back to their home country to support a medical system (which is often underdeveloped). I find this a fascinating piece of international solidarity, and it once again shows that the success of the Cuban project isn't just important for the Cubans themselves, but the entire southern hemisphere.

After the speeches we went through a small museum like hallway cherishing art pieces from the different cultures participating at the ELAM. At the other side of that hallway was a large street festival like outside underpass with all the different representatives of the regions of the world having a stand displaying their region and culture in different ways.

We interviewed the speaker for the students of the pacific, who herself was from the Philippines. She had a perfect response to our specific questions regarding the meaning of international solidarity to her, as well as what we as parties acting in the west, the core of imperialism, should do. The interview went flawlessly, despite her saying that this was her first time.

We tried to interview the speaker for the middle east, a Palestinian, as well. They took the whole ordeal very seriously, asked us specifically what our questions were, and then regrouped for more than 15 minutes to draft a response. Sadly, just as we would begin filming, a bit before 12:00, we were told that we needed to go. So whatever masterful response these students had democratically come up with, we'll never hear. I've messaged one of the representatives, maybe he'll send what they drafted via text!

12:30
We started driving back, technically there was supposed to be another work shift at the camp today, but it was spontaneously canceled.

13:03
Back at the camp already! I've tried to Google something on the way, but sadly all the results were in Polish. I then went to WhatIsMyIPAddress.com and they told me I got a polish IP located on the border. I find that very interesting. Maybe the information is outdated and the IP address of the public 4G tower serving mobile data to people

Currently we got WiFi and electricity. My life is saved.

16:00
We began the plenary session of the German brigade. Our topics included the discussion of a dossier by the Tricontinental Institute about the Bandung Spirit, especially in relation to what we've learned about internationalism at the ELAM today and BRICS. We wanted to be done 18:00, but ended up finishing half an hour later.

Internationalism to me means understanding decolonial movements globally to be an opposition to imperialism from within the “belly of the beast”, which may lead to conditions that no longer hinder decolonial movements, makes them possible, or optimally supports them. In order to gain that knowledge, I am willing to throw away everything I know or believe in, if it means ridding myself of a deeply rooted thought structure dictated by western chauvinism. To support such movements, without turning to the fallacies of white saviorism or lecturing, should be everyone's goal.

18:24
We had pretty good lunch. Even with unlimited bread this time (not much rationing anymore)! I made an Olive Garden joke, but nobody got it, except the Americans.

21:51
I just finished a Salsa course, we danced for ~1.5 hours. I got pretty okay at it at the end, proud of myself.

Currently sitting at the bar at the center of the camp, not to drink something, but because the WiFi router is located here. Best connection everywhere, and I really gotta upload some images and videos! The electricity and WiFi went out inbetween, but about half an hour ago, mid salsa course, it came back.

22:59
As I'm finishing writing and fleshing out my documentation for today and yesterday, the music playing for the salsa dancing circle next to me accidentally turned to Gangnam Style, and... they... just continued. Dancing Salsa. To Gangnam Style. Truly big things are happening at the CIJAM.

00:05
I'm fully done with writing everything and catching up on some messages. Thank you for reading ️

00:17
While posting the results of this day on Mastodon, the power and hence internet went off. As the (no longer just Salsa) dancing crowd was angered by their music suddenly stopping, in complete darkness except for the loud chirping, they began shouting “Cuba Si! Bloqueo no!”.

CIJAM, Cuba (GMT-4)
Monday, 28th of April 2025
----END OF DAY 4 OF THE CUBA BRIGADE----