•  HOME 
  •  ARCHIVES 
  •  BOOKS 
  •  PDF ARCHIVE 
  •  WWP 
  •  SUBSCRIBE 
  •  DONATE 
  •  MUNDOOBRERO.ORG
  • Loading


Follow workers.org on
Twitter Facebook iGoogle




Workers discuss U.S.-Latin America relations

Published Dec 12, 2007 11:56 PM

Workers from Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States shared information and solidarity at a labor conference here on the weekend of Dec. 7-9. Plenary talks discussed the case of the Cuban Five; relations among the U.S., Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico; U.S. “free trade” agreements versus the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA); and the immigrant rights struggle.

Irma Sehwerert, a deputy in Cuba’s National Assembly and mother of René González, one of the Cuban Five, represented the five political prisoners held in U.S. jails and their families in an opening event on Dec. 7 dedicated solely to the case. The International Committee to Free the Cuban Five screened “The Trial” (El Proceso), a new documentary jointly produced by the Cuban Institute for the Cinematographic Arts and Industry (ICAIC) and Venezuela’s Telesur.


Cheryl LaBash of U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, Raymundo Navarro Fernandez of Cuba and Oswaldo Vera of Venezuela discuss how to build solidarity in U.S./Cuba/Venezuela International Relations panel.
WW photo: Bob McCubbin

A Saturday panel featured representatives of the Cuban Workers Central (CTC) and Bolivarian Socialist Workers Force of Venezuela. Raymundo Navarro Fernández, director of foreign relations for the CTC, reviewed the history and methods of U.S. domination in Latin America. He said, “You can vote for a government but you cannot change the political system—it means that there is a neoliberal project that is above everything.”

Osvaldo Vera, a national coordinator of the Venezuelan workers’ group, discussed the results of the recent constitutional referendum in his country and plans to continue to deepen the revolutionary process there.

Elvira Arellano—called the “Rosa Parks” of the immigrant struggle, who was recently deported from the U.S. to Mexico and separated from her son, Saulito—and Emma Lozano of La Familia Latina Unida participated in the immigration panel, as did José Medina, a member of the Mexican Congress who was key in founding a new cross-border organization for the rights of Mexican/Chicano people.

Namibia Donadio of the youth group FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together—discussed why youth are inspired by and stand in solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela. She recounted her experiences on a FIST-organized trip to Cuba this summer.

An open letter calling on the leadership of the AFL-CIO and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to stop slandering Cuba regarding its labor rights was introduced and signed. The letter also called on affiliates to work to free the Cuban Five and end the U.S. blockade of Cuba—the U.S. trade and travel ban that blocks U.S. workers from traveling to Cuba and denies visas for CTC representatives to enter the United States, making it necessary for such gatherings to take place in other countries.

A call for activities for immigrant rights on May 1—the international workers’ day and third anniversary of the “Great American Boycott” of 2006—was well received.

More will be reported on this conference in future issues of WW.

E-mail: [email protected]