Global Exchange is launching a Bay Area Humanitarian Aid Hub for Cuba in San Francisco’s Mission District to mobilize community solidarity and deliver urgently needed supplies to the island. Working directly with Cuban communities, we will collect and ship essential humanitarian goods, including medical supplies, basic medicines, hygiene products, and other critical materials to communities facing acute shortages.
Cuba is only 90 miles from U.S. shores, yet decades of U.S. policy have severely restricted the flow of essential goods. Today, Cuba is facing one of the most severe shortages of fuel, food, and medicine in decades, the result of more than 60 years of U.S. economic warfare that has imposed collective punishment on the Cuban people.
As the Trump administration ramps up its campaign to isolate the island, shortages are deepening and the human consequences are becoming more severe. The effects of this economic siege are felt most sharply by the most vulnerable—newborns and parents, the elderly, and those living with serious illnesses who struggle to access basic medicines and care.
For nearly 40 years, Global Exchange has worked in solidarity with the Cuban people, organizing educational delegations, people-to-people exchanges, and humanitarian efforts, while calling for an end to the inhumane U.S. blockade and for Cuba to be removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
How to Support the Humanitarian Aid Hub:
• Donate supplies at our Mission District collection hub. View the donation list below. • Donate online to support humanitarian aid shipments. Donate here.
Thanks to community solidarity, we have already delivered more than $23,000 worth of specialized cancer medicines to hospitals in Cuba and transported over 2,000 pounds of humanitarian aid collected through local donations. We will continue sending urgently needed medicines and supplies with the support of online donations.
Every shipment we send is both an act of solidarity and a statement: we refuse to accept policies that inflict suffering on innocent communities. Humanitarian aid alone cannot end the blockade. But it can save lives, meet urgent needs, and sustain communities while we continue the fight to end these cruel and unjust policies.
📦 Donation Drop-Off Dates & Times
Fridays9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
April 17
April 24
May 20
May 22
May 27
We are happy to coordinate alternative drop-off times if needed.
Location 2973 16th St., Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94103
The following medicines and supplies are in high demand due to ongoing shortages of fuel, electricity, and medical resources. All items must be new, unopened, and within expiration dates.We are only accepting items from this list.
Lice and scabies treatments — shampoos, creams, sprays
Oral rehydration salts ORS packets
Cold and flu medication
Women’s & Baby Care
Feminine hygiene pads and tampons — all sizes
Menstrual cups — reusable, extremely high impact
Baby diapers — newborn through size 5
Adult diapers — for elderly and ill patients
Wet wipes and baby wipes
Diaper rash cream
Baby shampoo and body wash
Food
Powdered milk
Canned fish – tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel
Canned meat – chicken
Dried beans
Pasta and noodles
Peanut butter and other nut butters -powdered if possible, no glass
Bouillon cubes and soup packets
Baby food pouches
Fortified cereals
Vitamins & Supplements
Multivitamins — adults and children separately
Vitamins A, B complex, C, D, and E
Iron supplements — especially for women and children
Calcium supplements — especially for the elderly
Prenatal vitamins
Medical Supplies & Equipment
Medical gloves — nitrile, all sizes
Surgical face masks and N95 respirators
Digital medical thermometers
Bandages, gauze pads, and rolls
Medical tape and adhesive bandages Band-Aids, all sizes
Alcohol wipes and swabs
Hydrogen peroxide and iodine solution
Syringes — unused and sealed only
Wound closure strips — steri-strips
Blood pressure monitors — battery-operated
Blood glucose test strips
Reading glasses for the elderly — various strengths
Mosquito & Vector Control
Mosquito repellent —spray or lotion DEET-based
Mosquito nets — for sleeping
Permethrin spray — for treating clothing and mosquito nets
Life and Death Under Trump’s Oil Blockade
By Corina Nolet With appreciation to Elena Gutierrez and Marco Castillo for their partnership and shared experience during the delegation. Written following participation in the Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba March 26, 2026
Pharmacy shelves lie bare. Streets darken. Refrigerators sweating as the power fails once again. Doctors counting doses. Families counting meals. This is what the U.S. blockade looks like in Cuba. It is the daily struggle to keep life going.
We leave Cuba changed. Not because we did not expect hardship, but because of its scale, and because of the quiet endurance of a people, of a community, of a nation required to live within these conditions year after year.
What we witnessed cannot be captured in headlines or statistics. It is etched into daily life across the island: into the long lines for transportation that never arrive, into homes that go dark without warning, into cancer patients waiting for treatment that has been delayed, and into the question many carry: Is this the worst, or is the worst yet to come?
U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have made clear their intention to pursue regime change in Cuba.
For over three months, no fuel has been allowed to reach the island. Not a drop
The United States oil blockade is driving Cuba toward a humanitarian crisis. The most vulnerable — newborns, the elderly, and the sick — are at the greatest risk. What is debated in distant, cold political language is lived here as daily deprivation.
It is difficult to convey what that means unless you see it firsthand. The stillness of streets once filled with buses, the darkened neighborhoods when electricity falters, the palpable fatigue in the faces of people who have adapted again and again to scarcity that is neither natural nor inevitable.
And yet, even in the midst of profound exhaustion, life continues. Communities organize. Teachers return to their classrooms. Doctors keep working, caring for the sick. Neighbors share what little they have. The resilience of the Cuban people is steady, daily, and collective. Even in the face of the most egregious acts of violence, Cubans remain committed to life, dignity, and self-determination.
This visit to Cuba has made silence impossible.
Global Exchange traveled to Cuba as part of the Nuestra América Convoy, a coordinated international effort that brought together hundreds of people from across the United States, Latin America, Europe, and beyond in a collective act of solidarity. Communities organized, gathered supplies, and joined hands to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid during a period of severe shortages. As part of this effort, Global Exchange carried more than $23,000 worth of life-saving cancer medicines and approximately 1,700 pounds of humanitarian aid, contributing to the convoy’s delivery of more than 20 tons of supplies to communities across the island.
When Fuel Disappears, Everything Slows. Then Stops.
At first glance, cutting off oil to Cuba may look like a pen pressed to paper in a quiet office, a decision made under bright lights, far from the darkened streets it will leave behind. On the ground, it reshapes daily life in the most fundamental ways.
Cuba stretches nearly 800 miles across the Caribbean, just 90 miles from the shores of the United States. The country can refine oil, but it does not have its own supply of crude. Like most nations, its basic infrastructure depends on fuel for transportation, electricity, water systems, agriculture, and healthcare.
Cuba’s last shipment of oil arrived on January 9. Since then, the country has been forced to operate with dwindling reserves.
When fuel disappears,
Cars and trucks remain idle. Ambulances remain parked because there is no fuel. Food cannot be transported from farms to markets. Electrical grids falter, and when electricity fails, so, too, do water systems. Hospitals are canceling surgeries and sending patients home because doctors and nurses can’t commute to work.
The effects ripple outward through every layer of society.
Daily life begins to falter. Slowly at first, then a rapid collapse. This is the cruel intention of the United States’ fuel blockade. Its impact is measured in human lives. Its target is the Cuban people.
In recent weeks, the consequences have become horrific. Entire sections of Havana have gone permanently dark. On some nights, the power fails across the entire nation. We were there during one of the blackouts. On Saturday, Cuba’s power grid collapsed, leaving the country without electricity for the third time in March. The streets fell silent. Businesses closed their doors. Cell phones stopped working, and the internet disappeared. Entire neighborhoods went dark. At our casa, a table sat covered with flashlights that could not be used because there were no batteries. In refrigerators across the country, the little food families had managed to store began to spoil as the power failed. One friend told me she has been getting sick repeatedly, forced to rely on food that has gone bad after yet another outage.
Hospitals are designed to be the last institutions to lose power, but even they are vulnerable during nationwide blackouts. Healthcare workers we met described racing to the bedsides of infants and patients on ventilators, manually pumping life-support equipment while waiting for generators to engage. These are moments measured not in policy debates, but in seconds. Seconds that determine whether a baby in the NICU survives.
This is inhumane. This is genocidal.
Photos by Lexine Alpert
Photo by Lexine Alpert
Photo by Lexine Alpert
Photo by Lexine Alpert
A Health System Under Siege
Across hospitals and clinics, doctors are working with critically limited supplies of essential medicines, forced into decisions under inhumane conditions that no healthcare professional should ever face.
Doctors we met with spoke about the impossible choices they are forced to make when life-saving medicines are scarce. They must weigh whether to administer a scarce treatment that may extend one life briefly, or to reserve it for another patient with a greater chance of survival.
In the face of these shortages, healthcare workers improvise.
It is difficult to fully convey the severity of the U.S. blockade on Cuba, and the extraordinary measures it forces healthcare workers to take simply to provide basic care. They adapt, repair, reuse, and invent.
In one hospital we visited, a child was using a makeshift device fashioned from a discarded plastic bottle to collect urine, an improvised solution created because proper medical supplies were unavailable.
The nurse who showed us the device did not present it as an innovation or a success. She held it carefully in her hands and explained that this was what they had available. She spoke about the responsibility of caring for children when supplies run out, about the fear of making mistakes when equipment is scarce, and about the exhaustion of working every day under conditions that no healthcare system should be forced to endure.
That exhaustion does not end when her shift is over. She often returns home to a dark apartment, unable to cook because the electricity has failed again. Sometimes the power returns in the middle of the night for a few hours before shutting off again before sunrise. When that happens, she gets up to cook whatever food she can, preparing meals for her children to take to school and something to carry with her to work, and then lies back down to rest before the next day begins.
At the oncology hospital we visited, it was a matter of life and death.
Today, 96,000 Cubans are waiting for surgery as shortages of fuel and electricity slow hospital operations across the country. About 11,000 of those patients are children. Doctors explained that an estimated 16,000 cancer patients in Cuba require radiotherapy and are experiencing disruptions in treatment — not because the country lacks trained doctors, hospitals, or medical expertise, but because the resources needed to sustain care are increasingly difficult to obtain.
Healthcare professionals remain ready to treat their patients. Facilities remain staffed. The will to provide care is intact. But when medicines, fuel, replacement parts, and medical equipment are restricted, even the most capable health system cannot do what it was built to do — save lives.
Communities Sustaining Life
We visited a school serving children with hearing impairments, part of Cuba’s universal education system, where students with disabilities learn alongside their peers and receive specialized support. Teachers spoke about their work with deep commitment and with growing concern about the difficulty of obtaining something as basic as batteries for hearing devices. Inside the classroom, students receive the support they need to learn and communicate. But outside the classroom, shortages create new barriers. When batteries are unavailable, families struggle to maintain the tools children depend on to connect with the world around them. A small detail with enormous consequences.
We visited organic farms and community gardens where farmers are working collectively to grow food under increasingly difficult conditions. These projects reflect a long tradition of resilient communities adapting, sharing knowledge, and sustaining local food systems when imports become unreliable. What we saw was not just agriculture, but cooperation: neighbors working side by side to ensure that families have something to eat, even when resources are scarce.
We met with members of the Henry Reeve Brigade, a contingent of Cuban doctors and nurses who have traveled the world responding to disasters, epidemics, and humanitarian crises. Since its creation in 2005, Cuban medical teams have deployed from Haiti to West Africa to communities across the Americas, providing care when it was needed most.
What we witnessed tells a very different story from the one often told about Cuba. This is a country that has sent doctors — not bombs — across borders for decades. Cuban medical teams have responded to disasters in Haiti, treated patients during the Ebola crisis in West Africa, supported overwhelmed hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, and worked alongside Indigenous communities across the Americas to expand access to healthcare. Their work reflects a model of international solidarity rooted in care, prevention, and service.
In recent months, several countries have been forced to scale back or end Cuban medical missions under pressure from the Trump administration. In Honduras, communities lost the Cuban healthcare workers who had been providing free medical care for nearly two years. Guatemala, Paraguay, the Bahamas, Guyana, and Jamaica have also terminated long-standing medical partnerships, including programs serving Indigenous and rural communities. These closures mean fewer doctors in clinics, longer travel distances for patients, and reduced access to basic healthcare for millions of people who depend on these services.
Silence Is Not an Option
The suffering caused by the U.S. blockade against Cuba is not hidden. It is visible to anyone willing to look closely, in hospital wards, in pharmacies with empty shelves, and in the daily calculations families make about survival.
As I told The Nation, the policies imposed on Cuba are not just economic measures; they are conditions that shape whether hospitals can function, whether patients receive treatment, and whether families can meet their most basic needs.
It is measurable in lives interrupted, treatments delayed, and systems stretched to their limits.
And it is why silence is not an option.
Until the Blockade Ends
In response to the requests of our Cuban partners and the communities we met, we are taking the following steps:
Organizing additional solidarity delegations to Cuba in April, June, and September, with more to follow. Each delegation carrying humanitarian aid. Again and again, Cubans told us the same thing: Come if you can. Come see for yourselves. Come stand with us. Return home with the truth to share.
Send monthly shipments of aid to Cuba. These shipments will reach hospitals, community projects, and families facing ongoing shortages.
Building a local hub of solidarity in San Francisco. We are beginning the collection of donated items at our office, connecting neighbors here with families there.
Raising funds nationwide to purchase and deliver urgently needed supplies. For those who are not in the Bay Area, online contributions will help sustain this ongoing humanitarian effort. You can donate here.
Bring our call directly to Washington, D.C. Congress must demand an end to the blockade. In the weeks ahead, we will share ways for supporters to stand with us in this effort.
And this work will continue.
End all the blockades. Break the sieges that starve nations and fracture communities. Feed the people. From Cuba to Palestine to Haiti, we all deserve dignity, sovereignty, and the chance to live.
There is enough for everyone.
Nearly Four Decades of Solidarity and Action
Since 1990, Global Exchange has been at the forefront of efforts to challenge the U.S. embargo on Cuba and to build relationships between communities in our two countries. Our grassroots education programs, Reality Tours, publications, speaking tours, and campaigns have helped shape public understanding of U.S.-Cuba relations for decades.
Global Exchange has supported people-to-people exchange between the United States and Cuba by organizing hundreds of educational delegations and enabling thousands of U.S. citizens to travel legally to the island. We have also brought Cuban cultural leaders, artists, and community voices to the United States through speaking tours and public events. These exchanges have helped challenge the isolation that U.S. policy has tried to impose.
Our Cuba work began in the late 1980s, when the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples approached Global Exchange to help facilitate exchanges between U.S. visitors and Cuban communities. Over time, these programs grew into one of the longest-running people-to-people initiatives connecting communities in the United States and Cuba.
Throughout our history, Global Exchange has stepped forward in moments of crisis to stand in solidarity with the Cuban people.
In the early 1990s, during Cuba’s Special Period following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Global Exchange launched the Soy Cuba campaign, mobilizing people across the United States to stand with Cuban communities facing severe shortages of fuel, food, and medicine and to build understanding about the impact of U.S. policy on everyday life.
In the mid-1990s, Global Exchange directly challenged U.S. embargo restrictions through a campaign called It’s Time to Play Ball with Cuba. During that effort, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control froze Global Exchange’s bank account because of our work to challenge travel and trade restrictions. Our leadership and board members traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for legal pathways for exchange. That period contributed to the expansion of people-to-people travel licenses, which allowed organizations like Global Exchange to legally organize educational delegations to Cuba.
Global Exchange Featured in The Nation on Humanitarian Aid Convoy to Cuba
Global Exchange participated in the Nuestra América Convoy, joining hundreds of delegates from around the world to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid to communities across Cuba. Our delegation helped distribute medicine, food, and essential supplies while witnessing firsthand the impact of ongoing shortages on families and health care providers.
In this new article from The Nation, Global Exchange’s work and perspective are highlighted as part of the international solidarity effort.
“Trump is framing this as the efforts of a friendly takeover, but the reality for Cuban families is this — a brutal campaign of economic strangulation that’s restricting fuel, food, and medicine,” said Corina Nolet, Co-Executive Director of Global Exchange.
Global Exchange arrives in Havana today as movements from across the hemisphere come together by air, land, and sea with the Nuestra América Convoy, delivering humanitarian aid while challenging the U.S. blockade of Cuba.
On March 21, international delegations and solidarity movements from across the Americas and around the world will converge in Cuba as part of the convoy, bringing more than 20 tons of humanitarian aid and standing together against the policies that are deepening this humanitarian crisis.
The ongoing blockade has plunged the island nation into a severe energy crisis, with many parts of Cuba experiencing up to 16 hours without power each day. United States President Donald Trump has also suggested the possibility of military action and regime change, and has publicly expressed a desire for the United States to “own” Cuba.
Yesterday, Global Exchange co-director Corina Nolet and Board Chair Walter Turner spoke with Hard Knock Radio on KPFA about the current crisis in Cuba, the tightening U.S. blockade, and why this humanitarian convoy is so urgent. Read / listen here.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Cuba. People around the world are coming together to make clear that Cuba is not alone, and that the inhumane blockade will not stop us from carrying out this vital people-to-people mission,” said Corina Nolet, co-director of Global Exchange
For nearly four decades, Global Exchange has organized people-to-people delegations to Cuba and led grassroots advocacy efforts to end the blockade and normalize relations between Cuba and the United States. Thanks to supporters like you, Global Exchange and our international partners have already secured nearly $23,000 worth of urgently needed cancer medicines. These treatments are critically needed as shortages of basic medicines continue to affect patients across the island.
This effort brings together participants from more than a dozen countries. At a time when the Trump administration is escalating the economic war against Cuba, tightening sanctions, and deepening shortages across the island, people across the Americas are stepping forward in solidarity. Together, we refuse to stand by while an entire nation is punished.
Members of our delegation are also carrying 34 large suitcases filled with humanitarian supplies — more than 1,700 pounds of aid. These bags are packed with over-the-counter medicines, medical supplies, and essential items that Cuban families are increasingly unable to obtain because of the tightening economic blockade.
And this is just the beginning.
In April, Global Exchange will launch a Bay Area Humanitarian Aid Hub in San Francisco to continue this work, organizing regular shipments of medical supplies, food, and essential goods to the people of Cuba.
We will share updates, photos, and stories from Cuba as the convoy arrives and the aid begins reaching communities. For up-to-the-moment updates, follow us on social media.
Thank you for making this work possible.
On Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sat down with Professor Walter Turner and Corina Nolet of Global Exchange for a timely and urgent conversation about Cuba, the tightening U.S. blockade, and the broader assault taking place across the Caribbean and Latin America.
Davey D opened by pushing back against the mainstream framing of Cuba as a failed state deserving of punishment. Instead, he described the current crisis as something rooted in disinformation, gaslighting, and a long history of U.S. hostility toward a nation that has supported liberation struggles around the world.
Walter Turner grounded the discussion historically, recalling the Black Panther Party’s 1969 United Front Against Fascism conference in Oakland and linking that spirit of international solidarity to the present moment. He argued that much of the rhetoric about Cuba ignores its global role in supporting anti colonial and anti apartheid struggles, especially in Africa. Turner reminded listeners that Cuba’s contributions to countries like Angola, Namibia, and South Africa have been deliberately erased from public memory.
Corina Nolet gave a stark picture of conditions on the ground, describing Cuba’s situation as a man made humanitarian crisis caused by more than six decades of economic warfare. She explained that the blockade has cut deeply into everyday life, creating shortages in fuel, food, and medicine while pushing hospitals and basic services to the breaking point. Nolet stressed that what is happening is not the result of Cuban incompetence, but of deliberate strangulation. She pointed to rising dengue cases, childhood cancer deaths, and shortages of essential medical supplies as proof that the blockade is costing lives.
The guests also challenged the idea that U.S. intervention is wanted by Cubans. Nolet made a distinction between voices amplified in Miami and the people actually living on the island, saying Cubans in Cuba do not want a U.S. takeover. Both guests described the blockade as a violation of human rights and international law.
The conversation closed with a call to action. Nolet outlined Global Exchange’s solidarity work, including humanitarian aid shipments and support for the Nuestra America Convoy. Turner and Davey D both emphasized that this is bigger than Cuba. It is about whether people will accept domination, disinformation, and collective punishment, or stand up for human rights, self determination, and global solidarity.
Understanding Colombia’s political landscape requires context. Elections do not happen in isolation. They are shaped by history, regional dynamics, economic pressures, and ongoing debates about peace, governance, and security.
To help our readers go deeper, we curate trusted resources that offer informed, diverse perspectives on the issues shaping Colombia today.
Podcasts on democracy, Colombian politics, and regional stability
Electoral analysis and peace implementation reports
Policy briefs on governance and security
Risk dashboards and civil society monitoring tools
Webinars and partner interviews
Our aim is simple: to help readers understand complex developments with clarity and confidence.
Featured Reading
El Último Latido de la Paz: Los Montes de María en Colombia / The Last Heartbeat of Peace in Colombia’s Montes de María
To fully understand what is at stake in Colombia’s 2026 elections, it is essential to understand the Special Transitional Peace Districts, known as CITREP. Created under the 2016 Peace Agreement, these 16 seats in Congress were reserved exclusively for victims of the armed conflict as a form of political reparation and democratic inclusion.
These seats, however, were never permanent. The March 2026 elections will be the final opportunity for conflict victims to elect guaranteed representatives to Congress. After 2030, this historic mechanism will come to an end.
In the Montes de María, a region scarred by more than 120 massacres, candidates such as Aura Camargo and Geovaldis González are campaigning without traditional political machines or major funding networks. Their campaigns are sustained by community organizing and shaped by long standing struggles for land restitution, rural education, and human security.
Colombia attempted something unprecedented: to transform reparation into political representation. That experiment is now entering its final phase.
Iván Cepeda responde: “Los medios deberían confesar su afinidad política”
Listen to this conversation with Iván Cepeda, a Colombian senator, human rights advocate, and presidential candidate for the Historic Pact coalition in the 2026 election, as he discusses media, politics, and the current electoral moment on En la RAYA with Cecilia Orozco.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of Berta Cáceres’ Siembra (sowing), honoring the life, legacy, and enduring struggle of the Lenca Indigenous leader, environmental defender, and co-founder of Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH).
In the Lenca worldview, Siembra is not simply remembrance. It is planting. It is continuity. It is the understanding that what is rooted in community cannot be extinguished.
For most of her life, Berta organized to defend rivers, forests, and Indigenous sovereignty in Honduras. She challenged dams, mining projects, militarization, and the political and economic interests that advance them. Through COPINH, she helped build one of the most powerful Indigenous resistance movements in the Americas.
Berta was assassinated for defending the sacred Gualcarque River from the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, a project imposed without the free, prior, and informed consent of Lenca communities. She understood what so many movements across the world continue to confront: extractive projects backed by powerful political and economic interests often move forward through dispossession, militarization, and violence.
This week, Global Exchange is in Honduras accompanying COPINH and Lenca communities as they mark her 10-year Siembra, not only to remember, but to recommit.
Investigations and independent experts have made clear that the assassination was not an isolated act, but a crime linked to powerful economic interests, including members of the Atala Zablah family and financiers connected to the Agua Zarca project, as well as complicity within sectors of the Honduran state.
Accountability must extend beyond gunmen and intermediaries. It must reach intellectual authors, financial backers, and the political structures that enabled the violence.
It must also include international accountability.
U.S. security assistance, military training, diplomatic backing, and development financing have long strengthened institutions in Honduras that have failed to protect land and human rights defenders. International banks that financed extractive projects cannot evade scrutiny. Global North capital cannot remain insulated from consequence.
But the extractive model she confronted remains intact.
Across Honduras and throughout Latin America, land and water defenders continue to face threats, criminalization, and violence. Projects imposed without free, prior, and informed consent still advance. Communities defending territory still risk their lives.
We join COPINH, the Cáceres family, and communities in resistance in calling for:
• Full truth and accountability for Berta’s assassination — including intellectual and financial authors • Accountability from the Honduran state and international actors who enabled or financed the project • Protection for land and human rights defenders • Respect for Indigenous sovereignty and free, prior, and informed consent • An end to extractive violence and impunity
¡Berta no murió, se multiplicó! Berta didn’t die. She multiplied.
[En español abajo]
“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today [is] my own government.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Same Guns Are Killing Us All Open Letter in Solidarity with People of Conscience and All Those Affected by Violence
We, organizations and allies working to prevent gun violence in the United States, stand in solidarity with all people harmed by gun violence—wherever it occurs.
Our mission is grounded in the belief that no one should be shot in their home, their community, or during encounters with authorities. This principle applies to victims of gun violence in the United States, including migrants and border communities, and to civilians in Mexico, Venezuela, and elsewhere who have been harmed during armed operations and incursions.
We reject policies and practices that expand the use of firearms and military-style force in civilian contexts. Armed enforcement strategies—whether domestic or abroad—consistently place civilians at risk and deepen cycles of violence.
The murders and disappearances of our loved ones – whether by ICE agents in Minneapolis, in community violence in our towns and cities, in military attacks in Venezuela, or on civilian boats in the Caribbean – are committed principally with firepower made or sold in the United States. ICE has recently purchased millions of dollars’ worth of firearms from Georgia-based Glock and New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer, including Glock purchases as recently as January 20. Glock also sells more guns traced to crimes by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Similarly, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security rely heavily on corporations like Amazon Web Services, Palantir, Cisco, and Google for surveillance to detain and deport people.
As gun sales within the United States have fallen, the gun industry seeks continued expansion of its markets through gun exports, which the Trump administration further loosened in September. The administration’s measures to dismantle and reassign ATF agents have hobbled efforts to reduce firearms trafficking. The resulting cross-border gun flows continue to exacerbate violence in Mexico, Haiti, Canada, and other nations.
Gun violence is a public health and human rights issue, and it is increasingly transnational. Firearms originating from the United States contribute to harm far beyond our borders, underscoring the need for accountability, restraint, and responsible gun policy.
Our solidarity with victims of gun violence does not stop at national boundaries. We recognize that these are extraordinary times that require us to push beyond our usual boundaries to address the threats our communities face, both within and outside the United States. Preventing harm and protecting life must remain our shared priority.
We call on international civil society, labor unions, immigrant rights organizations, the gun violence prevention movement, and human rights defenders to clearly name these connections and act together.
As we build solidarity and unity across our struggles and movements, we invite you to join our calls to:
Respond to the calls from U.S civil society leaders urging a NO vote on legislation for additional funds for ICE / DHS surveillance, intelligence, and enforcement operations. A vote on this funding is expected by the end of this week. See these resources from Indivisible and Community Justice to make calls to stop this funding.
Urge Congress to pass comprehensive gun reform packages, including the ARMAS Act, which would control the sale and flow of U.S weapons to other countries in this hemisphere. Take action here.
Demand accountability and a fair investigation into federal immigration agents who have caused harm or death to our community members. This includes the killing of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, two of the nine ICE-related deaths in 2026 alone, as well as other shootings by Border Patrol and ICE agents.
Support communities on the ground through mutual aid, legal support, and translation services. For example, a list of resources to support Minnesotans here.
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria O.P.
Centro de Estudios Ecuménicos
Change the Ref
Charles W Reid Community Help Center
Colectivo de Federaciones y Organizaciones Mexicanas Migrantes (COLEFOM)
Consultora Solidaria
Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia
Enough of Violence: Non-Violence Is Life, Inc.
Faith Community of St. Sabina
Festival Internacional Esaú
Franciscan Peace Center, Clinton, Iowa
Freedom Writers Collaborative
Global Exchange
Grandparents Uniting for Gun Safety
Gun Sense Vermont
Huntington Beach Huddle
Indivisible Marin
Indivisible West Side Los Angeles
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Japanese American Citizens League
Justice4Ellis
Lift Every Voice Oregon
Lila Latinx LGBTQ Inc.
Lock it for Everyone (L.I.F.E)
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP)
Mothers United Against Violence
Newtown Action Alliance
Nosotrxs
Nuns Against Gun Violence
Protect Minnesota
Grupo de investigación y Editorial Kavilando / Red InterUniversitaria por la Paz
Quixote Center
Remembering Darien Victims Foundation
Rocky Mountain Hye Advocates
SAC Consultoría para la Construcción de Paz
Safer Communities for Justice
Safer Country
San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention
Santa Fe Survivors
Seminario sobre Violencia y Paz del Colegio de México
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team
SPATIUM Libertas A.C.
State Ambassador for Giffords Stop US Arms to Mexico
Survivors Empowered
Survivors Lead
Stop US Arms to Mexico
Taylor Lee and Associates
United Playaz
Violence Policy Center
WAVE Educational Fund
Witness at the Border/Testigos en la Frontera;Tribunal Internacional de Conciencia de los Pueblos en Movimiento;Int’l Tribunal of Conscience of Peoples in Movement
World Without Hate
«El mayor proveedor de violencia en el mundo hoy [es] mi propio gobierno».
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Las mismas armas nos están matando a todes: Carta abierta en solidaridad con las personas de conciencia y con quienes se ven afectadas por la violencia
Nosotres, organizaciones y aliados que trabajamos para prevenir la violencia armada en Estados Unidos, expresamos nuestra solidaridad con todas las personas dañadas por la violencia armada, dondequiera que esta ocurra.
Nuestra misión se fundamenta en la convicción de que nadie debería ser balaceado en su hogar, en su comunidad ni durante encuentros con autoridades. Este principio se aplica tanto a las víctimas de la violencia armada en Estados Unidos —incluidas las personas migrantes y las comunidades fronterizas— como a las y los civiles en México, Venezuela y otros países que han sido afectados por operaciones armadas e incursiones militares.
Rechazamos las políticas y prácticas que amplían el uso de armas y de la fuerza de tipo militar en contextos civiles. Las estrategias de control armado —ya sea dentro del país o en el extranjero— colocan sistemáticamente a la población civil en riesgo y profundizan los ciclos de violencia.
Los asesinatos y las desapariciones de nuestras personas queridas —ya sea a manos de agentes de ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) en Minneapolis, como resultado de la violencia comunitaria en nuestros pueblos y ciudades, o en ataques militares en Venezuela o contra embarcaciones civiles en el Caribe— se cometen principalmente con armas fabricadas o vendidas en Estados Unidos. Recientemente, ICE ha adquirido armas de fuego por un valor de millones de dólares a Glock, con sede en Georgia, y a Sig Sauer, con sede en New Hampshire, incluyendo compras a Glock tan recientes como el 20 de enero. Glock, además, es la empresa que más vende armas que posteriormente son rastreadas por la Oficina de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos (ATF) en investigaciones de delitos. De manera similar, ICE y el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional dependen en gran medida de corporaciones como Amazon Web Services, Palantir, Cisco y Google para labores de vigilancia utilizadas para detener y deportar a personas.
A medida que las ventas de armas en Estados Unidos han disminuido, la industria armamentista busca continuar expandiendo sus mercados mediante la exportación de armas, un proceso que la administración de Trump desató aún más en septiembre. Las medidas de la administración para desmantelar y reasignar a agentes de la ATF han obstaculizado los esfuerzos para reducir el tráfico de armas de fuego. Los flujos transfronterizos resultantes siguen exacerbando la violencia en México, Haití, Canadá y otros países.
La violencia armada es un problema de salud pública y de derechos humanos, y cada vez se vuelve más transnacional. Las armas de fuego que se originan en Estados Unidos contribuyen a daños mucho más allá de nuestras fronteras, lo que subraya la necesidad de rendición de cuentas, contención y políticas responsables sobre las armas.
Nuestra solidaridad con las víctimas de la violencia armada no se detiene en las fronteras nacionales. Reconocemos que vivimos tiempos extraordinarios que nos exigen ir más allá de nuestros límites habituales para enfrentar las amenazas que enfrentan nuestras comunidades, tanto dentro como fuera de Estados Unidos. Prevenir el daño y proteger la vida debe seguir siendo nuestra prioridad compartida.
Hacemos un llamado a la sociedad civil internacional, a los sindicatos, a las organizaciones de derechos de las personas migrantes, al movimiento para la prevención de la violencia armada y a las y los defensores de derechos humanos para que articulen con claridad estas conexiones y actúen de manera conjunta.
Al construir solidaridad y unidad entre nuestras luchas y movimientos, les invitamos a sumarse a nuestros llamados para:
Responder a los llamados de líderes de la sociedad civil en Estados Unidos que instan a votar NO a la legislación que asigna fondos adicionales para la vigilancia, la inteligencia y las operaciones de control y cumplimiento de ICE y del DHS. Se espera que la votación sobre estos fondos se lleve a cabo antes de que termine esta semana. Consulten estos recursos de Indivisible y de Community Justice para hacer llamadas y frenar este financiamiento.
Instar al Congreso a aprobar paquetes integrales de reforma de armas, incluyendo la Ley ARMAS, que regularía la venta y el flujo de armas estadounidenses hacia otros países de este hemisferio. Tome acción aquí.
Exigir rendición de cuentas y una investigación justa sobre agentes federales de inmigración que han causado daño o muerte a miembros de nuestras comunidades. Esto incluye el asesinato de Renee Nicole Good y Alex Pretti, dos de las nueve muertes relacionadas con ICE solo en 2026, así como otros tiroteos perpetrados por agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza (Border Patrol) y de ICE.
Instar al Congreso a oponerse a la ocupación federal generalizada de comunidades en Estados Unidos. Vean más información y posibles acciones de 50501 aquí.
Apoyar a las comunidades en el terreno mediante ayuda mutua, apoyo legal y servicios de traducción. Por ejemplo, una lista de recursos para apoyar a personas en Minnesota puede encontrarse aquí.
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria O.P.
Centro de Estudios Ecuménicos
Change the Ref
Charles W Reid Community Help Center
Colectivo de Federaciones y Organizaciones Mexicanas Migrantes (COLEFOM)
Consultora Solidaria
Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia
Enough of Violence: Non-Violence Is Life, Inc.
Faith Community of St. Sabina
Festival Internacional Esaú
Franciscan Peace Center, Clinton, Iowa
Freedom Writers Collaborative
Global Exchange
Grandparents Uniting for Gun Safety
Gun Sense Vermont
Huntington Beach Huddle
Indivisible Marin
Indivisible West Side Los Angeles
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Japanese American Citizens League
Justice4Ellis
Lift Every Voice Oregon
Lila Latinx LGBTQ Inc.
Lock it for Everyone (L.I.F.E)
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP)
Mothers United Against Violence
Newtown Action Alliance
Nosotrxs
Nuns Against Gun Violence
Protect Minnesota
Grupo de investigación y Editorial Kavilando / Red InterUniversitaria por la Paz
Quixote Center
Remembering Darien Victims Foundation
Rocky Mountain Hye Advocates
SAC Consultoría para la Construcción de Paz
Safer Communities for Justice
Safer Country
San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention
Santa Fe Survivors
Seminario sobre Violencia y Paz del Colegio de México
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team
SPATIUM Libertas A.C.
State Ambassador for Giffords Stop US Arms to Mexico
Survivors Empowered
Survivors Lead
Stop US Arms to Mexico
Taylor Lee and Associates
United Playaz
Violence Policy Center
WAVE Educational Fund
Witness at the Border/Testigos en la Frontera;Tribunal Internacional de Conciencia de los Pueblos en Movimiento;Int’l Tribunal of Conscience of Peoples in Movement
