8th Cuban Emulation Tour | November 9-17, 2024:

Worker-owned cooperatives have been part of the Cuban Revolution since Day One. We visited agricultural, gastronomic, and furniture and ceramics cooperatives and participated in the 4-day 2nd International Symposium on Cooperatives at the University of Havana with co-op leaders from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, and other nations. This tour included lectures and dialogue on the history, economy, and political system including the effects of the 6-decade US blockade and the achievements and challenges of the Cuban Revolution. The participants in the tour had a major impact at the Symposium, where they: received lectures on the history of Cuba, the economy, Cuban cooperatives, the political system, and cooperatives (or communes) in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, and the United States; ate at 12 different restaurants or locations, including three coop restaurants; visited two agricultural cooperatives, two production cooperatives, and three service cooperatives (the restaurants); gave eight presentations during the 3-day Second International Symposium on Cooperatives at the University of Havana; visited CENESEX, the national sex education center, and the Fidel Castro Center; enjoyed cultural visits to Fusterlandia, Callejon de Hormel, the Canonazo; evening dancing to the rhythms of Cuba; experienced old Havana (Havana Vieja) with a Walking Tour; shopped, went to the beach, and enjoyed Cuba; and held three reflections with analyses, highlights, concerns, and hopes for Cuba and the participants.

Emulation Tour to Honduras | August 26-September 2, 2023:

LA PLATAFORMA AGRARIA in the Bajo Aguán Valley region has led the struggle against Dinant and other palm oil multinationals for three decades. They have lost many compañeros in their struggle to keep their land and cooperatives. Our delegation visited agricultural cooperatives, including El Chile, which has been established on reclaimed land in the Bajo Aguán, and La Mariposa Cooperative, composed of powerful Garifuna women in Tela. We met with local City Councilperson Juan Antonio Lopez in Tocoa, the largest city in the Aguan, to learn about the Honduran political system; visited Guapinol water defenders who have lost family members in their struggle to protect the environment; visited Macuelizo and their Partido LIBRE Mayor who is opposed to neoliberalism and is seeking alternatives; we demonstrated alongside campesinos in the capital Tegucigalpa to recall the attorney general and participated in an intercambios, where we and Honduran coop members shared experiences to create a better world.