South Africa's migrant exodus leaves employers short-handed

Durban (South Africa) (AFP) – Zimbabwean farmworker Aaron Majatamhe was heading home at sunset after a shift in one of South Africa's top fruit-producing regions, where bushes laden with bright unpicked citrus stood in rows.

Issued on: 26/07/2026 - RFI

Factories, farms and ordinary households across South Africa are scrambling for labour after thousands of foreign workers left © RODGER BOSCH / AFP


"I see a lot of farm owners who are crying now... people have to harvest those naartjies but there is no one," the 33-year-old told AFP.

The same shortage, he said, is looming in the vineyards. "It's time to cut off the grapes and there is no one."

Similar scenes are playing out across South Africa as factories, farms and even ordinary households scramble for labour after thousands of foreign workers left in a matter of weeks to escape deadly anti-migrant protests and intensified immigration enforcement.

Fringe anti-foreigner groups had set June 30 as an unofficial deadline for undocumented migrants to go home, triggering the exodus of more than 160,000 people, according to an AFP tally based on figures from African governments repatriating their citizens.

Zimbabwe, which accounted for the largest share of those returning, said many had worked in South Africa's farming, domestic work and construction sectors.

More than 160,000 migrants left in a matter of weeks, most of them Malawians and Zimbabweans © MARCO LONGARI / AFP

The first cracks were felt almost immediately in KwaZulu-Natal's sugar belt.

One farmer on the north coast said he lost up to 80 percent of his cane-cutting workforce virtually overnight.

"Production and supply have deteriorated to the point where it is going to be difficult for the mills to stay open," he said, speaking anonymously because he feared retaliation.
'Back-breaking' work

Another grower near Mid-Illovo, a region of rolling hills south of Durban, said most cane cutters in his area came from Lesotho, the tiny kingdom encircled by South Africa.

"There are fields we are supposed to be cutting, but there are just not enough people. Local people don't like this job because it is back‑breaking and physical," he said.

That argument is fiercely disputed.

Many South African employers favour migrant workers because they are cheaper, more flexible and less demanding © RODGER BOSCH / AFP

With unemployment above 33 percent -- and far higher when discouraged job seekers are included -- labour unions and researchers argue there is no shortage of South Africans willing to work.

Instead, they say, many employers favour migrant workers because they are cheaper, more flexible and less likely to demand formal contracts, benefits or legal protections.

"They are making a profit out of foreign nations," said Patrick Williams, a local organiser with the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union.

Foreign farmworkers, he said, routinely worked seven days a week, skipped lunch breaks to maximise piece-rate earnings and were often paid below the national minimum wage.
'Locals first'

For employers, the challenge is not only finding workers, but replacing years of experience.

In Durban's Chatsworth industrial area, a manager at a clothing factory said the departure of skilled machinists from Malawi and Mozambique had left factories struggling to meet orders.

"We can barely meet our targets because most were forced to go," she said on condition of anonymity, adding it would take time for local workers to master the job.

The government has sought to respond to public anger over migration by promoting a "locals first" approach, while acknowledging that some industries rely on foreign skills and labour.

Groups against illegal migration have threatened foreigners, in some cases destroying shops and property © MZINGENKOSI SIBANDA / AFP

This week it expanded its Trusted Employer Scheme that fast-tracks worker visas for companies that meet requirements including predominantly employing South Africans, investing in skills development and operating in priority sectors.

Industry groups are urging the government to create legal pathways for seasonal foreign labour, arguing that sectors such as agriculture have become dependent on migrant workers and cannot replace them overnight.

South Africa should consider a regulated seasonal worker programme similar to one in the United States, said Siyabonga Madlala, chief executive of the South African Farmers Development Association.

"There may be a need for a special dispensation allowing seasonal labour from SADC countries where local supply is insufficient," he told Newsroom Afrika, referring to the 16-member Southern African Development Community bloc.

More than 60 percent of South Africa's immigrants are estimated to come from SADC.

Yet for many who left, the debate over labour policy has been eclipsed by fears for their safety after at least four foreigners were killed, according to police data.

Wayne Chimbadzwa Mutasa, a Zimbabwean national who had lived in Robertson since 2014, said he left after foreign workers were targeted in door-to-door raids.

There are calls for a regulated seasonal labour programme drawing workers from the region © RODGER BOSCH / AFP

"The people who came into the houses of Zimbabweans were police officers saying that you are living here illegally," he told AFP as he prepared for repatriation.

His fellow national Majatamhe, the farm worker, has decided to remain for now.

"We are afraid to stay even in this place, but the problem is, we don't have enough money to go home," he said.

strs-ho/br/giv

© 2026 AFP

Ghanaians ask ICC to investigate xenophobic violence in South Africa

Two Ghanaian nationals have petitioned the International Criminal Court to open a preliminary investigation into attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, arguing the violence could amount to crimes against humanity, as Ghana's president repeated his call on Thursday for the African Union to address the ongoing unrest.


Issued on: 24/07/2026 - RFI

Anti-immigrant protesters march in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 9 July 2026. The country has seen a tide of demonstrations and violence against foreign residents. 

© REUTERS - Oupa Nkosi

Submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 15 July, the petition alleges a "pattern of widespread and systematic attacks" against migrants in South Africa and accuses President Cyril Ramaphosa's government of failing to prevent or punish those crimes.

The petition was filed by Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, a former Ghanaian government spokesperson on governance and security, and Emmanuel Kotin, a counter-terrorism and security analyst.

"For years, African brothers and sisters have been killed, beaten and driven from their homes in South Africa," they said in a press release.

South Africa has been gripped by a surge in anti-immigrant protests in recent months, accompanied in some cases by violence against foreigners, whom protesters blame for problems such as crime and unemployment.

Zulu protesters in Durban on 30 June 2026. Thousands of demonstrators massed across South African cities on the same day to vent anger at undocumented foreign nationals, as police mounted a major operation to head off looting and xenophobic violence. © AFP - RAJESH JANTILAL

Several African migrants have been killed in the unrest, while others have been beaten and have seen their homes and shops looted. Tens of thousands have fled the country.

Ghana's President John Mahama on Thursday reiterated his call for the African Union (AU) to address the wave of anti-immigrant violence, which he said was "escalating".

"Sweeping the matter under the carpet will not resolve the root causes," the President said, adding that he had secured a commitment to discuss the topic at the next AU summit.

South Africa protesters confront migrant homes during nationwide marches

State failings

Citing Article 7 of the ICC's Rome Statute, the two Ghanaian plaintiffs contend that widespread and systematic attacks against a civilian population could constitute crimes against humanity.

"While we commend individuals in South Africa who have condemned these acts, the pattern, scale and recurrence of the violence raise serious questions about the failure of state authorities to prevent, investigate and punish these crimes," their statement said.

The ICC has confirmed receiving a petition from two Ghanaians requesting a preliminary examination into recurring xenophobic attacks and alleged crimes against humanity in South Africa. The court has not yet said publicly whether it will consider the demand.

A spokesperson for South Africa's foreign affairs ministry said the petition was opportunistic.

"South Africa has a sophisticated domestic legal framework and legislation provides comprehensive safeguards and enforcement measures against discrimination of any kind, including intolerance on the grounds of social origin," spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told Reuters news agency.

President Ramaphosa has previously condemned the attacks and warned against scapegoating immigrants for deep-rooted problems.

South Africa unrest grows as migrants become ‘scapegoats’
Thousands leave country

As the wealthiest country on the continent, South Africa has long been a destination for documented and undocumented African workers searching for work. For years, it has experienced periodic outbreaks of xenophobic violence.

Xenophobic groups set a deadline for undocumented migrants to leave by 30 June, and citizens of other African countries flocked to consulates and community halls seeking transport home.

More than 160,000 foreign nationals have left South Africa over the past two months, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the repatriating governments.

The largest numbers to leave this year are from Zimbabwe and Malawi, but hundreds more are from other countries including Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda.

Malawi nationals seeking to return home wait to be processed by border officials in Durban, South Africa, on 25 June 2026. © Rogan Ward / Reuters

Zimbabwe's government said this week that 108,366 of its nationals had come home as of 18 July.

Malawi announced on Monday that more than 46,890 citizens had returned since early June, with the government providing 699 buses for the journey home. Six people died in transit.

Nigeria has said two of its nationals were killed in "the ongoing xenophobic protests and attacks of migrants".

Ghana said one of its citizens died in a Cape Town township in "anti-immigrant demonstrations linked to ongoing xenophobic attacks".

Nearly 2,000 Mozambicans also returned, according to South African government figures.

Some crossed the border with help from their government after two Mozambican nationals were killed at the end of May after a protest in the southern town of Mossel Bay. They were the first people to die in the latest unrest.

(with newswires)

South African faith leaders respond to prolonged anti-migrant violence

(RNS) — Churches are calling for restraint, humanitarian support and law and order as xenophobic unrest deepens.

Protesters march against illegal immigration, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Tonny Onyulo
July 24, 2026 

RNS

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — After nearly two months of sustained anti-migrant unrest across parts of South Africa, Christian leaders are intensifying efforts to calm tensions, support displaced communities and discourage vigilante violence that has pushed more than 160,000 foreign nationals to leave the country.

The violence, which began weeks ago and has persisted in waves across several provinces, has included protests, intimidation and attacks targeting undocumented migrants. While some demonstrations have remained peaceful, others have turned deadly. According to figures compiled by AFP from governments repatriating their citizens, at least 12 people have died during the unrest.

Religious leaders say they have been steadily engaging communities, issuing pastoral guidance and providing humanitarian assistance as the crisis has unfolded.

At a recent Global Day of Prayer event, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, founder of the global Pentecostal ministry Christ Embassy, reiterated calls he and other faith leaders have made over recent weeks for restraint and respect for the rule of law.

“Don’t destroy your own country while you’re thinking that you’re trying to save it from these immigrants,” Oyakhilome said.

While acknowledging that concerns about crime and undocumented migration have been building for years, he emphasized that individuals must not take enforcement into their own hands.

People watch protesters march against illegal immigration through a closed window of their apartment, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

“There’s a process; there’s a way to do it,” he said, adding that suspects should be handed over to law enforcement rather than subjected to violence.

Oyakhilome also warned that mob action, once normalized, can spiral beyond control and damage entire communities.

“A mob is as bad as fire, as bad as a flood,” he said. “It can destroy a whole city, destroy a whole country.”

For over a decade, South Africa has experienced periodic outbreaks of mob violence fueled by public frustration over crime, economic hardship and perceptions of government inaction. Human rights organizations say xenophobic attacks have recurred since at least 2008, when violence targeting migrants from elsewhere in Africa left more than 60 people dead and displaced tens of thousands. Similar outbreaks in 2015 and 2019 saw foreign-owned businesses looted and migrants attacked, reinforcing a pattern in which public anger has targeted outsiders.

As the unrest continues, churches across affected areas have increasingly taken on frontline roles — not only condemning violence but also responding to its consequences. Congregations have opened their doors to displaced families, provided food and temporary shelter and offered trauma counseling to victims who have lost homes, businesses and livelihoods.

Malawian migrants receive tea and a sandwich for breakfast at a temporary deportation center, in Durban, South Africa, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The scale of departures underscores the severity of the crisis. According to an AFP tally based on figures released by repatriating governments, Zimbabwe reported more than 108,000 citizens had returned home by mid-July, Malawi reported more than 46,000 returnees since early June and Mozambique reported nearly 2,000 returnees. Other governments, including those of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Lesotho, also assisted citizens who chose to leave South Africa.

South Africa’s economic challenges — including unemployment exceeding 32%, rising crime and deteriorating public services — have fueled frustration. Anti-immigration movements such as March and March and Operation Dudula argue that undocumented migrants compete with South Africans for jobs, strain public services and contribute to crime.

Church leaders and human rights advocates have consistently cautioned against blaming migrants for systemic issues such as corruption, inequality and weak governance, warning that such narratives risk deepening divisions and fueling violence.

Archbishop Sithembele Sipuka, president of the South African Council of Churches, has been among those repeatedly urging restraint since the unrest began. In a pastoral message in early June, the council condemned ongoing violence and intimidation.

“Across our land, a wave of hostility and violence has risen against our brothers and sisters from other countries living among us,” Sipuka said. “What began as growing tension and organized protest has, in some instances, resulted in injury and the tragic loss of life.”

Sipuka emphasized that South Africa’s challenges are rooted in longstanding structural problems rather than the presence of foreign nationals.

“We cannot continue to keep silent as other children of God continue to be discriminated against and dehumanized,” he told RNS, adding that faith leaders would continue to speak out and urge unity across national lines. He said churches were spreading a message of love and compassion so that locals can see foreigners as their brothers and sisters and children of God.

Similarly, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has issued multiple statements during the crisis, denouncing attacks on migrants as violations of human dignity and warning political leaders against exploiting public frustration for political gain.


Displaced migrants queue at a deportation site, in Durban, South Africa, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo)

In several communities, church representatives have facilitated dialogue between migrants, local residents and authorities in an effort to defuse tensions and prevent further violence.

Pastor Albert Nswadi of Goma International Pentecostal Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said the prolonged nature of the unrest reflects both genuine public frustration and the politicization of migration.

Having previously ministered in South Africa, Nswadi said he witnessed how quickly economic hardship and insecurity can be redirected toward foreign nationals.

“Instead of addressing the root causes of crime and poverty collectively, the narrative shifts, turning neighbors against one another just because of where they were born,” he said.

He noted that the persistence of the violence over several weeks suggests deeper societal fractures that require both policy responses and community healing.

“The government must fix the laws, but the church must heal the people,” Nswadi said, adding that faith leaders must continue working to rebuild trust and counter fear-driven narratives.

Despite these appeals, some anti-immigration groups and residents have criticized church leaders, arguing that they have failed to acknowledge the economic and security concerns many South Africans associate with undocumented migration.

Bongani Sithole, a local resident, said communities have raised issues related to undocumented migration for years without meaningful government action. He argued that criminal networks exploit migrants and contribute to broader insecurity.

“There is a criminal network in South Africa that feeds off illegal immigrants from all over,” he said.

Another resident, Zanele Mthethwa, said many citizens believe undocumented migration is linked to crime and drug trafficking and that authorities have failed to respond effectively.

She also stressed the importance of respecting the law.

“If you’re a Christian and you’re in South Africa illegally, do the right thing,” she said.

Oyakhilome urged citizens to channel their frustrations through lawful means such as peaceful protest and civic engagement, rather than violence.

“Prove yourself to be educated, distinguished, wise and understanding,” he said.

As the unrest continues into its second month, religious leaders say their focus remains on preventing further violence, supporting those affected and reminding communities that justice and compassion must go hand in hand.

“We must choose compassion over fear and unity over division,” Sipuka said.

De Beers finds Gen Z driving diamond demand rebound

Cecilia Jamasmie | June 12, 2026 | 

Mined diamond sales are increasing across US independent jewellers, says the report. (Image courtesy of De Beers.)

American consumers are showing renewed interest in natural diamonds, offering a potential boost to Africa’s diamond-producing nations after several difficult years for the industry.

Generation Z members — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are leading the resurgence, accounting for 23% of US natural diamond demand by value despite representing only 18% of the population, according to De Beers’ latest US Diamond Acquisition Study.

New findings from the survey of 18,500 women in the United States, the world’s largest diamond jewellery market, found Gen Z buyers are spending an average of $4,080 per purchase, far above the $2,250 spent by Baby Boomers. The study also found 11% of respondents ranked natural diamond jewellery as their most desired luxury gift, ahead of lab-grown diamonds at 8%, coloured gemstones at 5% and plain gold jewellery at 4%.

“Natural diamonds continue to hold a unique place in consumers’ minds as meaningful and aspirational purchases,” the report found, as younger buyers increasingly seek jewellery tied to personal milestones and achievements.

From: De Beers’ The Diamond Report.

The trend carries important implications for African producers. Botswana, Angola, Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho supply a significant share of the world’s natural diamonds and stand to benefit directly from stronger demand in the US market.

The study found younger consumers are expanding diamond purchases beyond traditional engagements and weddings. While bridal jewellery still accounts for 45% of Gen Z demand, buyers are increasingly purchasing diamonds to mark promotions, career achievements, birthdays and other personal milestones, or simply as self-rewards.

That shift helped lift average natural diamond jewellery prices by 25% to $4,063 from $3,242 in 2023, while average stone sizes increased to 1.86 carats from 1.65 carats.

From: De Beers’ The Diamond Report.

“Consumers are spending more per piece than ever before, but how and why consumers buy diamonds is evolving,” Diana Mitkov, lead researcher within Diamond Demand Insights & Analytics at De Beers Group, said. “Traditional life milestones such as getting engaged are no longer the only value driver for the industry; consumers are increasingly marking a wide range of occasions with natural diamonds and are looking for distinct pieces that feel personal to them.”

Africa benefits

The findings arrive at a critical time for southern African producers. Botswana, whose economy remains heavily reliant on diamond exports, has faced slowing growth amid a prolonged downturn in global diamond demand. Other producing nations have also felt pressure as lab-grown diamonds gained market share and weakened prices for mined stones.

However, De Beers said natural diamonds continue to dominate the market’s value segment. Data from 950 independent US jewellers showed natural diamonds accounted for 85% of diamond jewellery sales value in 2025, compared with 15% for lab-grown stones.

The results suggest stabilizing demand in key consumer markets could provide relief for producing nations already facing constrained supply growth. Global natural diamond production is expected to decline over time as few major new mines enter operation and existing deposits mature.

For African economies that depend heavily on diamond exports, royalties and mining employment, sustained US demand could provide a valuable tailwind after several years of uncertainty.

Winning youth

The industry is also adapting its marketing strategy to appeal to younger consumers. De Beers and Signet launched the “Worth the Wait” campaign in October 2024, targeting so-called Zillennials with messaging centred on milestones, individuality and the enduring value of natural diamonds.

Meanwhile, producers and industry groups are investing heavily in broader promotional efforts. In June last year, a coalition of diamond-producing countries and De Beers signed the Luanda Accord, committing 1% of rough diamond revenues to a marketing fund managed by the Natural Diamond Council. The council has since launched new educational campaigns and retail training programs aimed at strengthening the case for natural diamonds.

From: De Beers’ The Diamond Report.

The effort reflects a broader challenge facing the industry. Younger consumers increasingly demand proof that products are ethically sourced and environmentally responsible. Danish jeweller Pandora switched entirely to lab-grown diamonds in 2021, citing sustainability concerns alongside lower prices.

The growing interest from Gen Z suggests natural diamonds retain significant appeal, but future growth may depend less on tradition and rarity than on demonstrating transparency, responsible sourcing and tangible benefits for producing communities.

Illicit gold networks fuelling conflict, organised crime across Africa and global south, GI-TOC warns

The GI-TOC’s global risk assessment of illicit gold influence / GI-TOCFacebook

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By Brian Kenety June 11, 2026

Gold is increasingly being weaponised by states, criminal networks and sanctioned regimes as a strategic financial tool, while regulatory systems are failing to keep pace with rapidly evolving illicit supply chains, according to a new report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

The report, Commodity, Currency, Crime: How Illicit Gold Markets are Outpacing Global Responses, argues that illicit gold has become one of the world's most consequential criminal markets, acting as a financial backbone for organised crime, sanctions evasion, conflict financing and corruption. The authors contend that criminal actors increasingly control entire gold supply chains, from extraction and processing to logistics and trade, making illicit flows harder to detect and disrupt.

Released in Geneva on June 9, the 72-page report comes amid record central bank gold purchases and a sharp rally in bullion prices. According to data cited by GI-TOC, gold prices have risen nearly 587% over the past two decades, reaching record highs as investors and governments seek protection from geopolitical uncertainty and currency volatility.

Africa accounts for a significant share of global gold production, with major producers including Ghana, South Africa, Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Tanzania and the DRC. The report argues that the continent's combination of extensive mineral resources, weak governance in some jurisdictions and expanding informal mining sectors has made it particularly vulnerable to illicit gold flows.

The organisation warns that gold is increasingly being used as an instrument of "geocriminality" — the deployment of illicit financial networks by states to achieve geopolitical objectives. Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Sudan are identified as examples of countries that have used gold to circumvent sanctions, access hard currency and sustain governments that might otherwise face financial isolation.

“However, in practice, it can be difficult to differentiate between policy, selective enforcement of regulations and laws, and geocriminality. For example, although Chinese private sector entities have been implicated in the expansion of illicit gold mining in Ghana, Beijing has repeatedly denied involvement or support for illicit operations. In June 2025, the Chinese ambassador to Ghana asserted that it was a ‘significant injustice’ to blame Beijing for the spread of illegal gold mining,” the report says.

Ghana, Africa's leading gold producer in recent years, has struggled with illegal small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey. The issue has become a major political and environmental concern because of its impact on rivers, forests and agricultural land, while authorities have repeatedly linked parts of the sector to foreign-backed illicit mining operations.

GI-TOC said Russia has systematically expanded its use of gold following its invasion of Ukraine, including through military-linked networks operating across Africa. The report notes that Russian-linked entities, including Wagner Group and Russian military-linked structures including Africa Corps, have secured access to gold resources in countries such as Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic.

Criminal networks industrialise illicit mining

The study argues that conventional approaches to tackling illicit gold remain too narrowly focused on artisanal and small-scale mining. Instead, the report identifies systemic vulnerabilities throughout the entire gold ecosystem, including industrial-scale illegal mining operations, opaque refining networks, under-regulated commodity markets, recycled gold channels and emerging cryptocurrency-linked gold transactions.

“Illicit gold operations also drive demand for other illicit markets. In South Africa, for example, the same syndicates that control illegal mining operations are linked to human trafficking, with miners recruited under false pretences or coerced into working in lethal conditions, as the 2024 Stilfontein mine standoff revealed,” the report states.

“The syndicates are also connected to arms trafficking and Lesotho organized crime groups with political links. A secondary informal economy has emerged around the mines, with syndicates supplying food, liquor, drugs and sex workers to underground operations, compounding the human exploitation. Consequently, illegal gold mining in South Africa anchors an entire criminal ecosystem.”

The organisation also highlighted the growing industrialisation of illegal mining operations across Africa, Latin America and Asia. Foreign financing, weak governance and regulatory capture have transformed many illicit mining activities into large-scale enterprises that bear little resemblance to traditional artisanal mining. Criminal groups are increasingly controlling processing facilities, logistics networks and other strategic bottlenecks across supply chains.

A major concern identified by the report is the lack of transparency across global bullion markets. GI-TOC described international bullion centres such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China and the United States as significant blind spots because they handle large volumes of global gold trade while maintaining limited transparency over bullion activities and gold provenance.

The report further argues that central banks are among the least scrutinised participants in the gold market despite record levels of purchasing. Domestic buying programmes in some producing countries risk absorbing illegally mined gold, while gold swaps and reserve accumulation programmes can introduce additional provenance concerns.

GI-TOC warned that illicit gold should not be viewed as a niche commodity crime but rather as an accelerant economy that amplifies broader criminal activity. The proceeds from illicit gold mining and trading are linked to environmental destruction, deforestation, mercury pollution, wildlife trafficking, illicit cattle ranching, arms purchases, conflict financing and human rights abuses.

“Links between gold and conflict have been well documented and are the focus of a multitude of regulatory instruments. While gold can be an important source of revenue for armed groups, a focus on conflict financing and restrictive application of terms such as ‘conflict mineral’ often produces a narrow view centred on non-state armed group revenues,” the report says.

“This obscures understanding of the broader political economy of gold and the state and other actors embedded within it, while overlooking the root causes of conflict and the more nuanced roles gold plays in conflict. For example, efforts to cut off conflict financing can have the effect of building the legitimacy of non-state armed groups among local populations. Securing livelihoods and other forms of service delivery has long been a tactic of organized crime groups to undermine state legitimacy while building their own.

“Such is the case in West Africa, where ASGM is a major economic driver and a critical source of livelihoods. Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), the most powerful violent extremist organization in the Sahel, primarily profits from gold through taxation of mining sites and transport routes, and has engaged in gold-for-weapons barter exchanges. By defending miners’ access to sites against state crackdowns, JNIM also builds legitimacy with local populations. Heavy-handed state security responses, including the targeting of mine sites, have compounded the security challenge.”

GI-TOC is calling for a fundamental overhaul of the international response, including mandatory supply-chain due diligence, stronger anti-money laundering oversight, enhanced scrutiny of international bullion centres, improved customs and trade data collection, and legally binding global standards governing gold supply chains. Existing voluntary frameworks, it argued, have proven insufficient to address increasingly sophisticated criminal activity.

"The gold market can become more resilient to crime, but only if the actors with the greatest systemic influence accept that their economic interests are better served by a more transparent, rules-based market than by the opacity that currently prevails," GI-TOC senior expert Sophia Pickles said.

Africa emerges as a frontline of illicit gold flows

Zimbabwe is emerging as an increasingly important node in Africa’s illicit gold economy, where organised crime, arms trafficking, insurgent financing and cross-border smuggling are becoming deeply interconnected, according to GI-TOC.

The report argues that illicit gold has evolved into a strategic source of financing for organised crime, armed groups and corrupt political networks. It warns that gold is no longer merely a commodity but increasingly functions as "a weapon of war and geopolitics", financing conflict, sanctions evasion and transnational criminal activity across multiple continents.

The study places several other African countries among the world's highest-risk jurisdictions for illicit gold influence, including Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa and the DRC. According to GI-TOC's new risk framework, these countries combine substantial gold production with elevated levels of organised criminal activity linked to natural resources.

The report finds that criminal convergence around gold is accelerating across Africa. Gold trafficking increasingly intersects with arms smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, financial crime and corruption, involving not only criminal syndicates but also politically connected actors and private-sector facilitators.

"Criminal convergence is increasingly a central feature of organized crime operations in gold-rich regions," the report states.

For southern Africa, the findings are particularly relevant to Zimbabwe. The report identifies the country as part of a regional network of illicit gold flows that stretches from South Africa through Zimbabwe and onward to international trading hubs. Zimbabwe is identified by the report's risk-assessment framework as a jurisdiction facing elevated exposure to illicit gold-market influence despite comparatively modest officially recorded gold trade volumes, reflecting concerns that significant illicit flows may be escaping official statistics.

The report argues that African conflicts are increasingly shaped by competition over gold resources. In the Sahel, militant organisations such as Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State Sahel Province have expanded their influence over mining regions, taxing production, controlling transport corridors and using gold revenues to finance military operations.

"Gold plays a critical role in armed groups' efforts to build legitimacy, exemplified in West Africa," the report notes, adding that foreign actors are increasingly influencing African conflicts through financing arrangements and gold sourcing networks.

The report also links African gold markets to broader geopolitical competition, arguing that states are increasingly using illicit commercial networks to pursue strategic objectives. Russia's activities in Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic receive particular attention. The report notes that Russian-linked entities have secured privileged access to gold resources in exchange for security support and military assistance.

Sudan is cited as one of the clearest examples of gold's strategic role in modern conflicts. According to the report, both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have benefited from external backing linked to gold revenues, while international actors have sought access to Sudanese gold through refining, trading and investment arrangements.

Dubai and regional hubs under scrutiny

The study also identifies Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon and Egypt as important transit or laundering hubs where gold originating in conflict zones can enter formal international supply chains with limited scrutiny. Rwanda receives particular attention because official export volumes have significantly exceeded estimated domestic production in recent years, raising questions about the origin of some exports.

Dubai remains the dominant destination for much of Africa's artisanal and small-scale gold output. The report notes that the UAE continues to receive substantial volumes of African gold, including material linked to conflict zones and illicit supply chains. Despite regulatory reforms introduced in 2023, GI-TOC argues that implementation gaps remain significant.

Global oversight struggles to keep pace

One of the report's central conclusions is that current international responses remain inadequate because they focus too narrowly on artisanal mining and conflict minerals. Instead, the organisation argues that illicit gold now permeates the entire ecosystem, from extraction and processing to international bullion trading, financial markets and even central-bank purchasing programmes.

"The systemic vulnerabilities that enable its circulation span physical and financial supply chains," the authors write.

The report warns that foreign financing is driving the industrialisation of illicit mining operations across Africa, allowing criminal groups to control processing plants, logistics networks and export channels.

"Criminal mining operations are increasingly industrialized and growing in scale," GI-TOC states, adding that foreign investment is a key driver of this trend across Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The GI-TOC identifies four distinct clusters of risk:

■ High-production, high-criminality producer countries. Russia, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Peru, Mexico, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, Venezuela and the DRC produce substantial volumes of gold under conditions of significant criminal influence. Several other countries are closely clustered in this group, reflecting the visibility and reach of non-renewable criminal influence in gold-producing states.

■ High-import, high-criminality hubs. The UAE, Switzerland, China, Hong Kong SAR, Turkey and India sit at the top centre of the chart, where large refining and trading volumes meet high resource crime exposure.

■ High-impact destination markets with moderate criminal influence. The UK, the US and Singapore sit further to the right of the chart, lower on the criminal influence axis but with import volumes large enough that any illicit gold entering these markets has outsized downstream consequences. Countries on the fringe can also play a key role as transit or laundering hubs. For example, Armenia was reported to be key to Russian sanctions evasion, importing billions of dollars’ worth of Russian gold in 2023 and 2024.

■ High-criminality jurisdictions with low recorded flows. The scoring also accounts for countries where highly organised crime scores coincide with low recorded gold production and import volumes. The absence of recorded volumes is not evidence of low risk but its opposite: criminality is extensive enough for substantial illicit flows to escape official statistics; for example, known gold producers and transit hubs Myanmar, South Sudan, Rwanda, Chad and Cameroon.

GI-TOC concludes that Africa sits at the centre of a rapidly evolving global gold economy in which criminal organisations, insurgent groups, foreign governments and international traders increasingly intersect. Without stronger transparency requirements, more rigorous due diligence and tighter oversight of global bullion centres, the organisation warns that illicit gold markets will continue to outpace enforcement efforts and undermine efforts to improve transparency across global commodity supply chains.

 

Gem Diamonds’ large stones lift quarterly revenue

Staff Writer | May 20, 2026 | 

Letšeng diamond mine in Lesotho. (Image courtesy of Gem Diamonds.)

Gem Diamonds’ (LON: GEMD) posted $32.1 million in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, driven by sales of large high-value diamonds despite lower overall carat sales.

The Africa-focused miner said Wednesday its first export sale of the year totalled 16,727 carats at an average price of $1,501 per carat, up 17% from the previous quarter. 

Gem also sold an additional parcel of 10 diamonds larger than 10.8 carats, including a 191.82-carat Type IIa white diamond, generating $7 million in revenue during the period. The remaining production from that parcel will be sold in the second quarter.

“Large exceptional diamonds continue to underpin Letšeng’s value proposition,” the company said, highlighting that four stones sold for more than $1 million each and generated a combined $9.9 million in revenue.

The highest price achieved during the quarter was $32,908 per carat for a 52.24-carat white diamond. 

Further finds

Gem Diamond also recovered two stones larger than 100 carats during the period, including a 191.82-carat stone and a 100.71-carat faint yellow diamond scheduled for sale in the second quarter.

A 193.07ct Type II White diamond, recovered at Letšeng in January. (Image courtesy of Gem Diamonds.)

Production at the company’s flagship Letšeng mine in Lesotho was weighted toward the lower-grade Main Pipe, in line with the mine plan, reducing contribution from the higher-value Satellite Pipe. 

Ore treated slipped 3% quarter-on-quarter to 1.33 million tonnes, while carats recovered rose 3% to 21,605. Carats sold fell 21% to 16,727 because some production was deferred into the second quarter.

The results suggest Letšeng continues to benefit from demand for rare large diamonds even as the broader diamond sector faces weaker pricing and cautious consumer spending. Gem said all operational and financial metrics remain within its 2026 guidance.

Why the US hates Cuba

By Don Fitz

Published 8 May, 2026\

An assault on Cuba needs excuses for hating it. But given that any exchanges between the US and Cuba have been blocked out of the news for decades, it is a bit difficult for many to figure out why they are supposed to hate Cuba and starve its people. So, let us look through the eyes of those who promote an attack to find the real reasons.

Going back to Cuba’s 1959 revolution, we can see that it occurred during the Cold War anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era, which permeated that time. Though the Cuban Revolution was (and continues to be) portrayed as a “Communist” revolution, it was not. When Fidel Castro visited New York in April 1959, he described it as a “humanist revolution,” which focused on land reform, literacy and the hostility of the Batista regime to granting those.

However, then vice-president Richard Nixon played no small part in converting Castro to communism. When Castro met him in New York, Nixon showed no interest in the social reforms Castro tried to explain. Being “gratuitously snubbed” by Nixon, Castro left convinced that Cuba would not receive any US support.

Defeat of the US and its proxy forces

Today’s hostility toward Cuba is part of a broader onslaught by the US against any country that fails to submit to its imperial power. The US has been outraged that it and its proxy forces have been defeated by popular movements. Three stand out.

The backbone of Cuba’s revolutionary alliance was the July 26 Movement, headed by Fidel and Raul Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara. It was only when the fanatically anti-Communist John and Bobby Kennedy gave the green light to the April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion that Cuba first announced the revolution was “socialist.” That attack from Florida by Cuban counterrevolutionaries was soundly defeated by Cuban forces under Fidel Castro’s leadership.

The second victory of a popular movement was in Viet Nam in the 1960s and early 1970s. That US onslaught was defeated so badly that Nixon had to order the last troops to run out as fast as they could in 1973.

Guevara helped set the stage for the third defeat. Beginning in 1964, Guevara made multiple trips to get a first-hand look at African movements in Algeria, Ghana, the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Benin, Tanzania and Egypt. In April, 1974 Portugal dictator Marcello Caetano fell, unleashing a wave of popular movements in its former colonies. The greatest struggle occurred in Angola. Revolutionary forces were backed by Cuba; South African forces did the US’ dirty work.

Though not often recognised, Viet Nam became a spectacular win for Africa. The Viet Nam war and military draft were despised so much by US youth that not even southern racists could envision US ground troops in another war in Angola. Terrified that its youth would refuse to participate in a war to suppress Angola and defend apartheid, the US let South Africa do the fighting.

Suffering a tremendous defeat at the hands of Angolan/Cuban troops, South Africa withdrew in August 1988. South African society changed and elected Nelson Mandela to head the country in 1994. Cuba had been the critical actor in the victorious struggle. When South Africans opened Freedom Park in Pretoria in 2007, its Wall of Names recognised the more than 2000 Cubans who lost their lives in the Angolan war. Cuba is the only foreign country represented on the Wall.

The US was first defeated by Cuban forces, then by a Vietnamese peasant army and then again by Angolan/Cuban troops. The US military brass seethed at the thought of a people’s army defeating one with vastly more weapons and resources.

A special hatred of Blackness

It is hardly an accident that victimisation by US imperialism is against people of colour in whatever corner of the world they live. Yet there has always been a particular loathing of Black people, whether in Africa or slave descendants in the Americas.

The most extreme early hatred of the Cuban Revolution was from white southern aristocrats and politicians who went berserk at the spectacle of Black Cubans taking up arms against their oppressors. It was much like the vitriol of their wealthy ancestors who had glared at images of Toussaint Louverture leading slaves to victory over masters and muttered that they would destroy Haiti for that outrage.

Shortly after 1959, Black Cubans, especially those living in the most impoverished rural areas, glared back as they were the first generation taking their children to see doctors and saw clinics and hospitals being erected for them. At the same time, Black Cubans saw media portrayals of Black Americans in the South demanding the right to sit at lunch counters being beaten and bitten by dogs and police putting cattle prods to the breasts of Black women.

US rulers had long felt an affinity for South African apartheid. US President Donald Trump revealed this openly, when he announced that whites in that country deserved special immigration status due to supposed mistreatment at the hand of Blacks. It was not unlike France demanding money from Haiti for the financial “loss” of their slave property as the price for recognising the revolution.

What medical care has meant for the Cuban people

Another reason the rich and powerful hate Cuba is because it does so much better than the US in caring for its own people. Intentional efforts to destroy the Cuban medical system have occurred without documentation of any harm to any US citizen from the island nation.

The revolution continued to be very real for Cubans as thousands received land and learnt to read and write. Cuba greatly expanded non-toxic agriculture during the post-1991 embargo. But nowhere has Cuba exceeded more spectacularly than its medical revolution.

Soon after 1959 pharmaceutical production was nationalised, so people could afford medicines; clinics opened where there had been none; and a series of redesigns transformed the entire medical system.

Cuba greatly expanded medical education, admitting students who had previously been shut out. When students graduate from medical school they have no debts to repay, unlike in the US where debt forces graduates to search for high-paying jobs in the sickness industry.

Infant mortality rose for the first few years after the revolution. But as the new medical approach took hold it dropped, and by 1998 the infant mortality rate in Cuba was down to 7.1 per 1000 live births, dropping below the US, which stood at 7.6 per 1000 live births. Life expectancy (LE) also surpassed that in the US: by 2016, Cuba’s LE was 79.0 years, when it was 78.5 years in the US.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving Cuba without its best trading partner. During the extreme hardship of the “ Special Period” of the 1990s, Cuba’s economy shrank by 40-45%. Tightened sanctions from the US left Cuba with serious damage to its economy, including higher costs for drugs, such as those for treating HIV/AIDS. The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 (also known as the Torricelli Act) and Helms-Burton Act of 1996 were designed to isolate and strangle Cuba by limiting its trade.

Cuba’s extensive medical research allowed it to have a rapid response to the HIV/AIDS crisis that arrived in the 1980s. The nation focused its resources on developing treatment, which was provided at no charge to everyone infected. At the same time that New York City (with a population similar to Cuba) had 43,000 deaths from AIDS, Cuba suffered 200 deaths.

Its research also prepared the island nation for COVID-19, even before its first fatality. Without a nationalised medical system, the US was woefully incompetent in responding to the epidemic. US LE dropped by 1.36 years for whites, 3.25 years for Hispanics, 3.88 years for Blacks, and an incredible 6.6 years for Native Americans. Meanwhile, Cuba had a slight increase in LE by 0.2 years. This difference was a testimony to the extreme racism which persists in the growth-oriented US.

Routine healthcare and crisis care for the world’s poor

Another reason the rich and powerful hate Cuba is the way it cares for people throughout the world. Both the US and Cuba have sought to influence other countries. But their techniques have been quite different.

The US seeks to prove that it is better at killing than any other nation. Cuba seeks to show the world’s poor that it can help them develop health care for all of their people at an affordable level. Both the US and Cuba both have been succeeding at their goals.

Shortly after its revolution, Cuba began sending doctors and nurses around the world. In 1963, Cuba’s first official medical brigade went to Algeria with 55 staff, including 29 doctors. Brigades soon expanded across the globe, especially in Africa and Latin America. By 2014, 135,000 Cuban medical staff had worked in 158 countries.

For countless people in many countries, the first time they saw a doctor it was either one from Cuba or one trained in Cuba. In fact, as of 2009, “almost 2 million people throughout the world owe their very lives to the availability of Cuban medical services.” By now the number of patients far exceeds 2 million.

A second form of Cuban medical internationalism has been responses to crises. Even before going to Algeria, during the year following its revolution, Cuba sent medical aid to Chile for earthquake assistance.

Just a few of the large number of Cuban crisis interventions include: an aggressive anti-malaria campaign in Africa in 2002-2004; medical teams going to Sri Lanka and Indonesia after the huge tsunami of December 2004; and 2000 personnel assisting Pakistan following a huge 2005 earthquake.

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown resulted in 125,000 deaths and 150,000 being evacuated. In perhaps its largest undertaking, Cuba supported victims throughout its harsh “Special Period” — in March 1990 it took in a group of 25,000 patients, mostly children.

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti brought medical staff from both the US and Cuba. However, US physicians practiced “medical tourism” as they stayed in luxury hotels at night and did disaster relief during the day. In contrast, Cuban doctors had been in Haiti before the crisis, stayed after disaster recovery was completed, and, during the crisis, lived and slept in the same camps as earthquake victims, smelling the smells of non-sanitation and attending to the dying even at night.

As decades went by Cuba developed an internationalism that outshone the US by far. Cuba even sent doctors to aid richer countries, such as Italy during COVID-19, inspiring suggestions, such as that from Code Pink, that they should receive the 2021 Nobel Prize for their medical aid.

Of all countries needing help, only one refused assistance from Cuba. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, US president George W. Bush ignored Cuba’s offer to send 1500 medical staff to New Orleans.

Medical education and medicines for the world’s poor

The rich and powerful also hate Cuba due to its knowledge-based sharing. By the late 1990s the small island nation had often brought students from overseas to study to become doctors.

In October 1998 Hurricane Mitch wrought incredible destruction to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador. Mitch was a unique event because it sparked the creation of ELAM, the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (Latin American School of Medicine). After the hurricane, Fidel Castro decided to bring students from other countries to Cuba to study medicine.

ELAM began in 1999 and sought to reverse the “brain drain” of medical student graduates leaving their homes in poor countries to earn far higher salaries in the rich world. After its 1964 independence, only 50 of 600 doctors trained in Zambia remained there. A student in Sierra Leone could earn 20 times more by practicing in South Africa than practicing at home.

At ELAM, students prepare to return as doctors in their own under-served communities. Cuban medical training focuses on public health and primary care to provide what the poor world needs most.

In January 2014, there were 11,000 students from 123 countries at ELAM. Three quarters of students accepted for ELAM come from worker or small farmer families.

ELAM students are integrated into 21 faculties and 444 polyclinics throughout Cuba’s 15 provinces. All have courses in traditional and natural medicine, which proves invaluable if they practice medicine in indigenous communities where shamans are often the trusted health providers.

When visiting my daughter at ELAM in 2009-2010, I spoke with students from Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Peru, St. Lucia (in the Caribbean), Sierra Leone, Kenya, São Tomé and Príncipe (off the African coast) Lesotho, and Tuvalu. 

I found that many students had arrangements with their governments to pay for their medical training. In exchange for having it paid for, they will work for several years (often five) at a public medical institution. Students from Latin America and Africa typically attend ELAM immediately after high school.

No student I spoke with ever raised the possibility of becoming wealthy by studying medicine in Cuba. Most of them would not have been able to go to medical school had it not been for ELAM. This indicates that the shortage of doctors in impoverished areas has nothing to do with a lack of young people willing to become doctors and working in those communities.

Cuban medicine has been critical to the world’s poor due to the way it makes drugs available. Though people in the US are highly unlikely to learn it from the corporate media, Cuba spreads medical assistance by providing drugs to the poor world at low cost.

Before the revolution, 70% of Cuba’s pharmaceutical industry was foreign-controlled and only 1000 of 4000 medications in use had therapeutic value. In 1961, the new government nationalised 35 warehouses and 370 pharmacies. By 1968, urban pharmacies had decreased by more than half, but rural pharmacies, where the poorest Cubans lived, had increased five-fold.

Cuba has produced new medicines and shared its knowledge about them in ways that empower rather than subdue poor countries. Use of Heberprot B to treat diabetes has reduced amputations by 80%. Cuban researchers have created an effective vaccine against type-B bacterial meningitis. Cuba developed the first synthetic vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib). Providing vaccines such as these has resulted in the immunisation of millions of Latin American children.

Collaboration with Brazil has resulted in meningitis vaccines at a cost of 95 cents rather than $15–$20 a dose. Cuba and Brazil are also working together on Interferon alpha 2b for hepatitis C and recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) for anaemia.

In contrast to this international medical solidarity, the US sickness industry has the compassion of a school of leering sharks about to begin a feeding frenzy. The US is one of many rich countries expanding the length of patent protection for pharmaceuticals, as happened with the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2011. The result is increasing death tolls in the poor world because generic drugs cannot be sold at a vastly cheaper rate during the protection period.

Cuba stands as a significant barrier to the US pushing a high-cost, insurance based-sickness model that leaves out the poorest people in the rest of the world. US corporations do not smile at this.

Efforts to destroy Cuban medicine are an attack on the world’s poor

When Trump imposed the most vicious tariffs ever visited on Cuba in early 2026, racists were not-so-secretly grimacing with glee as they wondered if the US president could turn that nation into a second Haiti for the crime of resisting its would-be masters.

The US has effectively imposed a total fuel and financial blockade by threatening punitive tariffs on any country that supplies fuel to Cuba. The amount of food that must be imported has zoomed upward as fuel supplies have plummeted. This has cut services to primary schools and elderly care homes and wrecked transportation.

Sources of financing have been deeply slashed as international festivals are without fuel. Cuba’s most important source of foreign revenue, tourism, is all but destroyed. Probably the most vile aspect of the blockade has been sharp reductions forced on hospitals for medical supplies, regular care and emergency services.

For Cubans, this is their lives. For the US elite, it is little more than video game entertainment as they ponder if they can actually force Cuba’s collapse. A major factor threatening the US medical-insurance complex is that Cuban healthcare concepts have spread not only to poor countries but to many low-income US communities.

ELAM graduates do the best job of spreading its message. Kathryn Hall-Trujillo founded the Birthing Project USA (BPUSA) in 1998 as the first community-based birthing program for African-Americans in the US.

She explains that “It trains people to work with pregnant women and to connect with them during the first year of the life of the infant.” Hall-Trujillo is grateful for the BPUSA’s partnership with Cuba, saying: “We are a coming home place for ELAM students.” By 2019 BPUSA was replicated over 70 times in the US, Canada and Honduras.

Similarly, ELAM graduate Dr Melissa Barber looked at her South Bronx neighbourhood during COVID-19 and realised that though citizens were typically told to go to public health agencies, what people need is a community approach that recruits trained organisers to go to the people.

Dr Barber worked with tenant associations that identified those who are most vulnerable. The coalition went to homes to ensure that people did not fall through the cracks. As they concretised what is truly needed, BPUSA and the South Bronx communities have been in sharp contrast with big money in the US.

For most people who think rationally and with at least some human compassion, Cuba’s success in international health solidarity has been outstanding. But those who profit from medicine may be aghast when they see it. The Cuban model could well become a serious drain on investment opportunities in the sickness industry and its insurance accomplice.

Trump’s attack on Cuba is more than the fantasy of a demented mind. His actions are the culmination of US policy since 1959. From the very first days of vice-president Nixon and the Kennedy brothers, the US has sought to destroy the promises and accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution. This has nowhere been more clear than hostility toward its medicine.

It is not only the US that despises Cuban medicine. When many ELAM graduates return home they face hostility from medical associations who do not want their monopolisation of service-for-cash systems challenged. For example, when Dr Patrick Dely returned to Haiti in 2010, he heard the complaint that “I’m taking money directly from the established doctors.”

The US realised it could incorporate this tension into a plan to undermine Cuba’s international medical work. Under the “Cuban Medical Professional Parole,” in 2006 the George W. Bush administration announced it was encouraging Cuban medical staff on international missions to desert and move to the US.

Of roughly 40,000 employed medical staff, 500 accepted asylum, becoming some of the few US doctors with no student debt to pay. The “Parole” program reflects awareness that Cuba depends on income for medical services and student training. Trump’s actions in 2026 are an expansion of what Bush did 20 years earlier.

Cuban medical services bring in more income than tourism and nickel. Knowing that Cuba has trained roughly 60,000 Venezuelan physicians, the US seeks to economically paralyse the island by destroying the exchange of oil for medical training that exists between the two countries. The South African government pays Cuba $60,000 a student for each of the 1200 enrolled at ELAM.

Several Latin American countries have caved into US pressure and cancelled arrangements to pay Cuba for its medical services. These efforts to eliminate international medical solidarity result in an unknown increase in sickness and death.

In spite of never ending US attacks, Cuba has remained dedicated to the ideals of the revolution. There are strong interconnections that manifest hatred by the US elite for Cuba.

Where does hatred of liberation struggles give way to a special hatred of Blackness? When does ultra racism kneel before greed for profit? Or, when does monetary greed become secondary to idolising acts of oppression?

It is impossible to say because all are so woven into each other. That is the true nature of US hatred of Cuba. It is also why defence of Cuba must be core to efforts at fighting racism.

Don Fitz (fitzdon@aol.com) has taught Environmental Psychology at Washington University and is author of Cuban Health Care: The Ongoing Revolution. He is Outreach Coordinator for the Green Party of St. Louis and on the Editorial Board of Green Social Thought, where a version of this article first appeared.

Notes for reading the Cuban reality

By Julio Carranz

Published 8 May, 2026\

Published in Spanish at Segunda Cita. Translation by Jackson Remple for LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal.

I believe that it is important to emphasise that, to understand Cuba objectively, it is necessary to set aside personal passions and prejudices, as well as simplistic interpretations that are almost always driven by a more or less conscious intention to promote political propaganda in favour of one’s own preconceived ideas or that express different ideological perspectives. This does not mean giving up hope of promoting the kind of society that one believes to be the best future scenario for the country.

Cuban society is suffering from an economic and social crisis whose most severe phase began in 2020. The country had previously experienced a difficult period in the 1990s. This was followed by a limited recovery during the first two decades of the 21st century. The crisis of the 1990s was produced by the combination of three fundamental factors: the collapse of the socialist bloc, the tightening of the US economic blockade, and the exhaustion of Cuba’s centralised and inefficient economic model whose obsolescence has continued to deepen over time.

Some reforms and sound economic policy measures were implemented during the second half of the 1990s. Along with a favourable shift in the international context, these made it possible for Cuba to emerge from the crisis and experience several years under better conditions. However, all of the causes that had produced the crisis remained latent. Why? Because the partial reforms did not alter the fundamental nature of the centrally planned, low-efficiency economic model. 

The model’s flaws led to another major crisis that began in 2020. That crisis was also precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic that struck the island. This new crisis has deepened year after year, from 2020 to 2026. Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product is now about 15 percentage points below what it was in 2019. High rates of inflation, a social crisis, and increased inequality have accompanied the economic crisis.

Since Donald Trump’s first administration, continuing through the mediocre Joe Biden administration and, above all, during Trump’s second term, US policy toward Cuba has been one of maximum pressure, reaching extremes such as Trump’s current blockade of oil shipments and his constant threats of military intervention. The goal of US policy has not changed. It aims to do everything possible to turn the current economic and social crisis in Cuba into a political crisis that undermines the stability of the Cuban government and the prevailing system on the island, in order to replace it with an executive power that is subservient to the policy of US domination of the Western Hemisphere, now reinvigorated under the so-called Donroe Doctrine.

Regardless of one’s various positions, sympathies or antipathies towards Cuba, its government and its system, if one wishes to be objective and not fall prey to the propaganda that often emerges from both sides, it is necessary to understand that the causes of the current crisis are manifold. They range from the extremely severe and criminal US blockade, in all its forms; the effects of the current international situation; and also, and no less importantly, the mistakes that have been made in the management of Cuba’s economy and the delay in implementing economic reform, the need for which has been evident for more than three decades now.

The current situation is multi-dimensional: it is not only an economic crisis, it is also a social and demographic crisis that features an aging population and a decline in skill levels, compared to earlier periods of strong growth in professional qualifications across a large segment of society. Space limitations do not allow me to provide a more detailed explanation of these different elements of the crisis.

I will conclude with a key point. The national crisis that Cuba is experiencing can only be resolved by implementing a comprehensive and far-reaching program of economic reforms that restores the country’s efficiency and productive capacity. This means transforming many aspects of the current system while we move toward a model in which markets play a much more active role, subject to the necessary regulations of a state that must guarantee social justice and the country’s sovereignty, while also promoting a new strategy for economic and democratic development. 

The lifting of the blockade and a change in US policy could play an essential role in the process. However, that is beyond Cuba’s control. Solutions must be devised and implemented on an urgent basis despite this increased pressure, although the first priority is defending Cuba’s sovereignty.

Julio Carranza is a Cuban economist and a Tenured Professor at the University of Havana. Among his many professional activities he has served as Director of the Ecuador office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Quito and as its regional representative for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

GOP Accuses Jayapal of ‘Treason’ Over Efforts to End US Oil Blockade on Cuba

“Breaking news: Members of Congress meet with ambassadors of other countries every day. That’s literally our right and responsibility,” said the congresswoman.



Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) talks with reporters outside the US Capitol after the House passed a spending package to end a partial government shutdown on February 3, 2026.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Julia Conley
May 07, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


Two days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that “there’s no oil blockade on Cuba,” appearing to deny that President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening countries with tariffs if they provide energy to the island, Republican members of Congress accused a progressive lawmaker of “treasonous behavior” for her efforts to alleviate the crisis unfolding in Cuba due to its US-caused fuel shortage.

Rep. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) appeared on Fox News Thursday morning to suggest Jayapal (D-Wash.) violated the US Constitution by participating in talks with foreign ambassadors about efforts to send oil to Cuba.

“Treason is outlined right there in our Constitution, you can’t give aid or comfort to enemies,” said Moody. “This is astounding.”

Moody continued with what appeared to be a diatribe linking Jayapal to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has frequently been accused by the GOP of being a “communist” and has unveiled a plan to open a network of city-run grocery stores to compete with corporations: “Look at what they’re espousing around the nation by cracking down on businesses, government-run businesses, pushing people out of these areas. Making people rely on government. That’s communism 101.”

She then accused Jayapal of “meeting with cartel members,” an apparent reference to the congresswoman’s comments at an event on Monday, when she said she had been “in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places, and I know other countries in Latin America are trying to figure out how to get oil [to Cuba].”

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who is reportedly highly influential in President Donald Trump’s White House, also called for Jayapal’s arrest, prompting the lawmaker to issue a reminder of the regular duties of members of Congress.

“Breaking news: Members of Congress meet with ambassadors of other countries every day. That’s literally our right and responsibility,” said Jayapal.

The executive order Trump signed in January alleges that Cuba harbors terrorists and poses a threat to the security of the US, a claim that Cuban officials and experts have decried as baseless. The president has suggested he could take military action against Cuba numerous times, and last Friday he announced expanded sanctions impacting Cuba’s finance, energy, and security sectors, citing “national security threats posed by the communist Cuban regime.”

At the event on Monday, Jayapal noted that the White House itself has coordinated the arrival of a Russian oil tanker in Cuba after it began imposing the new policy.

“Since January, only one Russian tanker of oil has made it to Cuba,” said Jayapal. “In fact, it landed just a couple of days before I landed, and one tanker has enough oil basically for 10 to 14 days of Cuba’s oil needs—so it’s a very limited amount of time.”



Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) also appeared on Fox News to accuse Jayapal of treason, while Rep. Clay Fuller (R-Ga.) said her discussions with the ambassador of Mexico—a close US ally—were “deeply un-American” and a “clear violation of the Logan Act,” which prohibits US citizens from taking party in negotiations with foreign governments that are in disputes with the US.

“By definition, you can only commit treason in regards to a country against which the United States has declared formal war (you know, that power the Constitution gave to Congress, not the President),” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council.

Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News, recalled the comments of Rubio—the son of Cuban immigrants and a longtime proponent of regime change in the country—at his press conference Tuesday.

“Wait, Rubio said there is no blockade,” said Grim. “How can it be a problem to get oil to Cuba if there is no blockade?”

‘No Aggressor, No Matter How Powerful, Will Find Surrender in Cuba,’ President Warns Trump

After the US president again threatened invasion, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said he would only “find a people determined to defend sovereignty and independence in every inch of the national territory.”

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel (C) takes part in the “Anti-Imperialist” protest in front of the US Embassy against the US incursion in Venezuela, where 32 Cuban soldiers lost their lives, in Havana on January 16, 2026.
(Photo by Yamil Lage/ POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Jon Queally
May 02, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez of Cuba on Saturday responded with stark and defiant words to the latest attacks coming from US President Donald Trump, who on Friday signed a new executive order authorizing even more aggressive sanctions against the island nation and later threatened to invade the country.

“The President of the United States escalates his threats of military aggression against Cuba to a dangerous and unprecedented scale,” said Díaz-Canel in a statement. “The international community must take note and, together with the people of the United States, determine whether such a drastic criminal act will be allowed to satisfy the interests of a small but wealthy and influential group, driven by desires for revenge and domination.”



‘This Is Insane’: Alarm Bells Follow New Report of Looming US Plan to Attack Cuba



Citing Bogus ‘Threats’ to US, Trump Expands Already Devastating Sanctions on Cuba

“No aggressor, no matter how powerful, will find surrender in Cuba,” he added. If Trump were to attack the country, the Cuban president said, “he will find a people determined to defend sovereignty and independence in every inch of the national territory.”

“What does ‘No Kings’ mean when one man can snap his fingers and kill innocent Cubans on a whim?”

In addition “to blocking the US assets of foreign individuals and entities operating in Cuba’s energy, defense, financial services, metals, mining, and security sectors, as well as anyone acting on behalf of the Cuban government,” as Drop Site News notes, Friday’s executive order also “authorizes sanctions on foreign financial institutions that conduct significant transactions with designated Cuban entities, potentially cutting them off from US correspondent banking.”

As such, the outlet continued, the new sanctions “could further isolate Cuba from the international financial system, limit foreign investment, and exacerbate the island’s already severely restricted access to medicine, food imports, and basic goods.”

In addition to the signed executive order, Trump said during a Friday campaign-style event in Florida that the US “will be taking [Cuba] over almost immediately.”

Upon their return from Iran, where Trump has waged a deeply unpopular war, the US president told the crowd, “We’ll have maybe the USS Lincoln [aircraft carrier] come in offshore, and they’ll give up.”

In a floor speech earlier this week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) rebuked the Trump administration for the humanitarian disaster it has unleashed in Cuba, which follows what he described as a “failed” policy towards the island country over decades.



“If we want to avoid war with Cuba,” said Van Hollen, “we must rein in this lawless president and learn from the failed, bipartisan policies that led us to this point.”

David Adler, the co-general coordinator of Progressive International, condemned the relative silence of US opponents to the Trump administration, who have not done, in his mind, nearly enough to challenge the blockade or condemn the administration’s repeated and ongoing threats to invade the island nation or overthrow its government.

“ Donald Trump has given [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio the green light to annihilate a peaceful nation and its people—and the ‘resistance’ is silent,” said Adler. “What does ‘No Kings’ mean when one man can snap his fingers and kill innocent Cubans on a whim?”