A protester in Tampa stands on a street corner, holding a handmade sign that reads "STOP THE MISSILE ATTACKS NOW." She is wearing a white medical mask and a patterned keffiyeh-style scarf, with out-of-focus cars and street background.
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

American intervention in two different parts of the world were top of mind for Tampa activists over the last week. Last Thursday, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society was just outside the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus to call for an end to the ongoing embargo on Cuba. 

SDS argues that despite the more than six decades long blockade, Cubans have been able to push their collective life expectancy and literacy rates beyond those of their American counterparts.

Yesterday, the many students from the same cohort, joined by folks from the Tampa Immigrants Rights Committee, were on the corner of 56th Street and Fowler Avenue near USF to protest the Trump administration’s new war on Iran, which has killed the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

WMNF News reports that close to two dozen people took part in the protest against the Iran conflict, shouting, “The biggest threat in the world today is Donald Trump in the U.S.A.”

Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Students protest near University of South Florida on Tampa, Florida on Feb. 26, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Tampa, Florida on March 1, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

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Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...

Dave Decker is a songwriter and photographer living in Tampa Bay.