Unions+in+Cuba+support+Fidel+Castro,+Enrique+Orta,+Saturday+Star

Saturday Star, Johannesburg, Letters, October 28 2006
=The main unions in Cuba support Fidel Castro for his true revolution=


 * Enrique Orta**

Last Saturday your newspaper published an article titled “When Castro fails, trade unions will celebrate” which in our opinion is not only an inaccurate and distorted vision of Cuban history in general, but also shows the ignorance of Michael Schmidt about the historical militant role of the Cuban working class.

Cuba was not “handed on a silver plate” to the revolutionaries and workers, as Schmidt stated. A long and tough struggle in the mountains and in the cities against the Batista dictatorship, led by Castro, made the revolution possible. In this process the workers not only played a decisive role, but were the main beneficiaries of the revolution’s fruits. That was the start of the real social transformations made by, with and for the humble people.

This has been the true Cuban trade unionism, multiplied and enriched throughout 47 years of revolution.

The affiliation of over 96% of workers, the voluntary payment of union fees and the election of all leaders by means of a direct and secret vote among candidates who are not proposed by any union, but with the workers’ own voices, are strong pillars that guarantee the strength of the Cuban unions.

It is not our intention to reply to all of the misleading statements made by Schmidt, but just to mention one: He has stated that “he (Castro) established relations with the Vatican”. In fact, diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Cuba were established in 1835.

Let me share this excerpt from Osvaldo Martinez, head of the Cuban Centre for World Economic Studies and president of the economic portfolio of the National Assembly, on the occasion of Castro’s 80th birthday.

“Fidel has a profound sense of social justice, not in a theoretical way or in abstract categories. His social justice is demonstrated in concrete actions. He combines the sense of ethics and morals – ingredients that are unfortunately very rare to find in this neoliberal world of globalisation. This is the strength that allowed him to be the man the people completely believe in… Fidel’s legacy, his moral, political, intellectual and ideological teachings have had an ideal recipient in the people of Cuba today.”


 * Enrique Orta**
 * Counsellor, Cuban Embassy**
 * Pretoria**


 * The following is printed below Cde Orta’sletter:**

//Counsellor Orta oddly tries to laud the militancy of the Cuban working class by slaving it to the state and its airbrushed version of history. My position is based on my wide reading and personal friendships with both the exiled Cuban free trade union movement in France, Spain and Mexico and with unionists who have visited Cuba to assess the situation first-hand. It is only in dictatorships where 96% of workers “voluntarily” join the official state-corporatist unions – Michael Schmidt//

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