International Women’s Day, Solidarity between women from Cuba and Iran, and misogyny by regimes in Havana and Tehran
“Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees.” – Fidel Castro, Tehran, May 2001
osa María Payá Acevedo of Cuba and Masih Alinejad of Iran addressed the plight of their home countries, with a special focus on the treatment of women in their respective nations on March 5, 2026. Today is International Women’s Day and it provides an opportunity to examine an instance of transnational solidarity between Cuban and Iranian women.
Rosa María had spoken up for Iranian women in the past.
In an urgent appeal sent out on November 1, 2022, a number of prominent Cuban American women asked President Biden to remove “the murderous Iranian regime from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.”
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on October 15, 2022 called on President Biden to demand the removal of Iran from the U.N. Women’s Rights Commission in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini (age 22), and the ongoing bloody crackdown that continues to intensify.
Carmen Julia Arias, a former political prisoner; Kristina Arriaga, former vice chair, Commission on International Religious Freedom, former member of US delegation to UN Human Rights Commission, scholar; Sirley Avila Leon, human rights activist; Rosa María Payá, founder and director, CubaDecide and Fundación para la Democracia Panamericana; Carolina Barrero, art historian, human rights activist (Spain) and Rosa Carbonell, a community activist, led the appeal.
These Cuban American women called attention to the Iranian people protesting the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022 by the morality police of the misogynist mullahs. In addition they asked if perhaps First Lady Jill Biden “could ask women leaders around the world to call on Iran to stop its repression of women.”
Also signing the appeal were Olga Connor, PhD, university professor and author; Belkis Cuza Male, poet, Linden Lane Magazine publisher; Miriam de la Peña, human rights activist; Ileana Fuentes, feminist activist and author; and Janisset Rivero, human rights activist and author.
The Islamist Iranian theocracy had announced over a 1,000 Iranians arrested in protests over the murder of Mahsa Amini in Tehran would be subjected to summary trials, and over another thousand outside of Iran, according to The Guardian. Since protests erupted in Iran in mid September 2022, over 32,700 Iranian protesters were estimated to have been killed, according to journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad.
Below is the text of the appeal to President Biden.
November 1, 2022
President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden:
We are Cuban women who are writing to ask your help on a very important matter: removing the murderous Iranian regime from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
We urge you to respond affirmatively to Ambassador Nikki Haley’s request for your support on this matter. The Iranian people are protesting the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the police of the misogynist mullahs. Parallel to your effort, First Lady Jill Biden perhaps could ask women leaders around the world to call on Iran to stop its repression of women.
We would be remiss if we did not call your attention, also, to the plight of Cuban women unjustly imprisoned in the island for their participation in widespread peaceful protests.
Thank you very much for your kind consideration.
Respectfully,
Carmen Julia Arias, former political prisoner
Kristina Arriaga, former vice chair, Commission on International Religious Freedom; former member of US delegation to UN Human Rights Commission; scholar
Sirley Avila Leon, human rights activist (Florida)
Rosa María Payá, founder and director, CubaDecide and Fundación para la Democracia Panamericana
Carolina Barrero, art historian, human rights activist (Spain)
Rosa Carbonell, community activist (Connecticut)
Maria Juana Cazabón, translator, human rights activist (Florida)
Olga Connor, PhD, university professor and author (Florida)
Belkis Cuza Male, poet, Linden Lane Magazine publisher (Texas)
Miriam de la Peña, human rights activist (Florida)
Ileana Fuentes, feminist activist and author (Florida)
Sandra Gómez, MD, neurologist and author (Alabama)
Deborah Gómez, PhD, college professor and author (Florida)
Angelica Franganillo Diaz , university student (Georgetown, Washington, DC)
Kiele Alessandra Cabrera , Jóvenes por la Resistencia (Florida)
Iliana Lavastida, journalist (Florida)
Maritza Lugo, Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, former political prisoner
Yoaxis Marcheco Suarez, Baptist missionary, author (Maryland)
Adriana Méndez Rodenas, PhD, university professor and author (Missouri)
Elena Montes de Oca, college professor, human rights activist and poet (Florida)
Alicia Perez, MD, physician (Maryland)
Lourdes Quirch Zayas-Bazán, president, National Association of Cuban American Educators (Florida)
Yarai Reyes, member, Ladies in White
Janisset Rivero , human rights activist and author (Florida)
Victoria Ruiz Labrit, human rights activist (Florida)
Martha Valladares, human rights activist (Florida)
Josefina Vento, DDS, dentist (Florida)
The letter was featured in the Cubanet and Marti Noticias news outlets in November 2022. The 54-member United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on December 14, 2022 adopted a resolution introduced by the United States to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for the remainder of its four-year term that ends in 2026. The resolution passed by 29 to 8 with 16 abstentions.Below is a breakdown of the vote.
The mullahs in Iran did not improve their behavior, nor did their ally in Havana criticize their beating and murdering of women in Iran. The Cuban government never issued any public criticism of the killing of Mahsa Amini or other Iranian women killed or beaten for not wearing the hijab. Nor did the Cuban government criticize the mass killings of anti-government protesters in Iran during the first months of 2026. Instead, Cuba opposed international efforts to condemn Iran’s actions, including by voting against a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that denounced the bloody crackdown.
The Cuban dictatorship did however repeatedly praise the Islamist regime in Iran, and highlighter their long time relationship on national days and important anniversaries. Although Cuban officials did not comment on women and girls murdered by the Mullahs, Miguel Diaz-Canel did visit the Iranian Embassy in Havana to sign the book of condolences for the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
Violence against woman is not unique to Iran, and their Cuban allies have also dealt violently with non-violent female dissenters.
Cuban activist Daniela Roja, exiled in Germany, reported over her X account that “Marianela Peña Cobas was arrested by police after participating in one of the recent pot-banging protests in #Cuba. Her sister, Marisol Peña Cobas, reported on social media that her sister was brutally beaten, released, and is now in these terrible conditions. This is happening in #Cuba. For them, there is no Happy Women’s Day.”
Marianela Peña Cobas beaten by Cuban government agents.
Havana has been an ally of the Islamic regime of Iran since the Ayatollahs took over in 1979, and the Castro brothers met with them regularly over the decades. During a May 2001 visit to Tehran, Fidel Castro proclaimed,”Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees.”
On June 15, 2023 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel. “This visit reinforced our conviction that we have in Iran a friendly nation in the Middle East, with which to confide … and talk about the most complex global issues,” said Diaz-Canel, reported Nelson Acosta of the Reuters bureau in Cuba.
President Ebrahim Raisi visited the dictatorships in Venezuela and Nicaragua before arriving at the regime that spawned both of them.
Miguel Diaz-Canel and Ebrahim Raisi in Havana, Cuba on June 15, 2023
In Venezuela, President Raisi met with Nicolas Maduro and ” spoke about the need to confront the US and create a ‘new world order‘ that would overturn the US-led world order that has existed since the end of the Cold War.”
In December 2023, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei welcomed Cuban president Diaz-Canel to Tehran, stating that their strategic alliance “can take a common and effective position on important international issues such as the Palestinian issue.”
The Islamic regime in Iran does not mince words, and during the Obama Administration, when many were hailing the deal reached with Tehran, the Ayatollah continued to announce the destruction of Israel. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then Iran’s supreme leader, during a speech at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran in September 2015, said Israel “will not see (the end) of these 25 years.” This was just three months after the Iran nuclear deal was announced on July 14, 2015 in which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
This is the Islamist – Communist nexus that is profoundly anti-Israel, anti-American, and misogynist. It passes through Havana, Cuba to Tehran, Iran and has networks around the world that stretch back decades to the 1966 Tricontinental.
On International Women’s Day it is important to remember that threats to women come from many quarters.
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