Email: cubafriends.nz@gmail.com (NZ) or cubafriends.ak@gmail.com (Auckland)
Phone: Mike 029 525 4744
For some decades informal Cuba friendship societies have existed in New Zealand to promote solidarity with Cuba's revolutionary socialist project. We have supported political, cultural and economic exchanges between our two countries. This has included films, art, music and education.
Since the mid-1980s we have supported the Australasian work brigades to Cuba, organized primarily through the Southern Cross Brigade and solidarity campaigns. Over the last few years the work brigades have had to be cancelled but we hope to resume for the 42nd Southern Cross Brigade (2026-27), which is tentatively planned to be held between late December 2026 and early January 2027. More.
Until 2005, we helped Te Wananga o Aotearoa to develop a literacy programme suited for Aotearoa/New Zealand until that project was terminated by government intervention. More.
Since 2006, approximately 50 Cuban doctors have served in nations such as Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. While direct deployment programs were highly valued, they have significantly slowed down in recent years, following the pandemic, with only a small number (such as a single Cuban doctor in Kiribati) remaining in the region. We would regularly meet with doctors heading to the Pacific to work after some English language training in New Zealand, facilitated by the then National Party-led government. More.
We have raised tens of thousands of dollars for various emergency aid programmes, from hurricane relief to supporting the recent "Nuestra América" aid flotilla organised through Progressive International. More.