Rap group Kneecap says crisis-hit Cuba being 'strangled'

The members of the Irish-language rap trio Kneecap said that they joined an international aid convoy to Cuba because they could not stay silent while the island - gripped by crisis under a US fuel blockade - was being "strangled".

The musicians are part of a group of public figures and aid organisations descending on the island by air and sea this week with medicine, water, food, solar panels and other supplies.

At a press conference in Havana next to former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Colombian Senator Clara Lopez, the Belfast-based musicians said there was a long tradition of Irish-Cuban solidarity.

Much like Cuba and Gaza, band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh said, Ireland suffered under colonialism, forced starvation and oppression.

"As Irish people, it's just not in our nature to watch these things happen internationally or domestically and stay silent," said Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh who performs under the stage name Mo Chara.

"We see the island of Cuba being strangled," said the musician sitting next to bandmates Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh

"It's important that people who have a platform like us, who reach maybe a certain number of audiences...that we use that platform for what's right and what's good," he said.

Kneecap made headlines last year when Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged under British anti-terrorism laws for allegedly displaying a flag of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during a 2024 concert. The case was later dismissed by a judge.

'Stand up' to Trump?

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that her government had also sent another ship with humanitarian aid to Cuba, as it seeks to help a Caribbean ally squeezed by the US energy blockade.

Her country was the main remaining fuel supplier to Cuba after Venezuela's shipments were halted with the ouster of Nicolas Maduro on 3 January, and the oil blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump.

Cuba's economic crisis has worsened since, with power blackouts exacerbated by the sudden suspension of oil supplies.

Trump has threatened Havana repeatedly since taking office, saying Monday that he would "take" the communist-run island.

Organisers of the "Our America" aid convoy say over 500 people from 30 countries in Latin America, North America, Europe and Africa are bringing more than 20 tonnes of supplies to Cuba.

The first shipment arrived from Europe on Wednesday, while a flight took off from Miami on Friday and ships have been coming from Mexico.

Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who also met with Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, acknowledged that the cargo would not be enough, and challenged Britain and European countries to "stand up" to Trump and ship oil to Cuba.

"If France, Germany and Britain instructed an oil tanker to go to Cuba to deliver oil, would the US really bomb that oil tank? Would they really stop that oil tanker going through?" Mr Corbyn said.

"No. Trump would back down. It's up to those countries that have allied themselves so closely to the USA to simply say enough is enough. Let the Cuban people survive," he said.