In late April, I returned to Cuba to participate in the 13th Annual May Day Brigade. 263 participants from 31 nations including Brazil, Viet Nam, Chile, Scotland and the United States attended. We were housed outside Havana at Campomento Internacional Julio Antonio Mella.

Mella, founder of Cuba’s Communist Party, was imprisoned by Dictator Gerardo Machado and exiled to Mexico in 1928 where he met photographer Tina Modotti, a former muse of photographer Edward Weston. As comrades, anti-Fascist activists and lovers, Mella and Modotti worked to free Cuba. However, with orders from Machado, an assassin shot Mella one night as he and Tina walked to their home in Mexico City.

Our camp honors Mella's life and work. During our stay we traveled to the Che Guevara Memorial in Santa Clara and to the city of Camiguey. Highlights there included the world renowned Camiguey Ballet plus a performance of indigenous and Afro-Cuban singing and dancing by Danza Folklorica. Back in Havana we were treated to VIP seating at the International Workers Day Parade in Revolution Square on May 1st. Placed on a fence below us was the U.S. delegation inspired and created banner stating “U.S.A. People Say Cuba Si, Bloqueo No! No U. S. Blockade of Cuba! U.S. Out of Guantanamo.”

The embargo against Cuba, called el bloqueo in Cuba, is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed by the U.S. in 1962. It was intended to punish the Castro government, to isolate Cuba and to force regime change. The Blockade has only made life difficult for average Cubans. The banner states the May Day Brigade’s unequivocal solidarity with the Cuban people and demand that the blockade end. Guantanamo is also an issue related to Cuba’s autonomy.

During other brigade activities, we did farm work, visited a biotechnology center, met with a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, got to hear from both men and women revolutionaries who fought side by side with Fidel and Che, and enjoyed Cuban music, rum and hospitality at Havana’s Casa Amistad (Friendship House). I also found time to make portraits, do street photography and get to know many like-minded friends.