Standing with Cuba & Iran at the World Cup

By Timothy Beyer

On Friday, June 12th in front of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California at the US vs. Paraguay game for FIFA World Cup 2026, a CPI member joined with local organizer Steve as well as other activists to protest the US imperialist naval blockade of Cuba, and the protest was warmly recieved by local residents.

The protesters advocated on concise yet informative signs to support Cuba, stop the imperialist naval blockade, and to let Cuba live. One banner lauded Cuba's advanced usages of renewable energy, and although substantial progress has been made, the sign also noted that the blockade on Cuba vastly restricts their access to oil currently needed at their stage in economic development to power farms, factories, schools, buses and hospitals, especially at night.

In addition to expressing concerns about US interventions in Cuba were general anti-imperialist concerns on US interventions in Ukraine, Venezuela and Iran.

The area was a hotbed for political organizing of various political positions, including a brief walk by of Iranian American pro-Shah royalists who carried signs explicitly calling for Reza Pahlavi to be installed by the US government as king, and a few days later, anti-Iran royalists posted video heckling the Iranian soccer team, although however likely, it is unclear if these were the same people.

However, locals did not share these anti-Iran sentiments. On Friday, members of a local mosque who were present nearby on the same street also strongly disagreed with the position expressed by the anti-Iran royalists and one member expressed a wish to end the blockade against Cuba and also expressed solidarity with Palestine.