Oppose NAFTA, immigrant bashing and war
Cuban unionists meet with U.S. & Mexican workers
By Sako Sefiani
Tijuana, Mexico
After repeatedly being denied U.S. visas, five leaders of
the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) traveled to Tijuana,
Mexico, just south of California, to meet with trade unionists
from the U.S. and Mexico on Dec. 10-12. They discussed issues
affecting workers of all the Americas, such as immigration, the
Free Trade Agree ment of the Americas (FTAA) and U.S.-Cuba
relations. Organized by the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, the
conference was supported by the Sindicato Mexicano de
Electricistas, National Network on Cuba, Latino Movement USA,
International Action Center and ANSWER.
U.S. and Mexican trade unionists and community activists
heard first-hand from Cuban labor leaders and were able to
discuss issues affecting workers on both side of the
U.S.-Mexican border, such as the maquiladora factories and
immigration policies.
Leonel Gonzalez Gonzalez, head of the Cuban delegation,
provided data on how the FTAA and neoliberal policies have
contributed to poverty throughout Latin America while
accelerating the transfer of wealth from the South to the
North--$29 billion in 2003 alone. Four billionaires in the U.S.
now have a fortune equal to the annual budget of 42 nations
combined, with an aggregate population of 600 million people,
he said.
While 70 percent of Coca-Cola sales and more than 50 percent
of the 23,000 McDonalds restaurants are outside the U.S., U.S.
corporations still need more markets for their products.
Mexico, to use just one example, has turned from an exporter of
corn to an importer of corn from the U.S. Does anyone really
believe, Gonzalez asked, that the U.S. will open its doors to
Latin American products?
But neoliberal policies hurt U.S. workers, too, he
cautioned. When U.S. transnational corporations set up
maquiladoras in special zones on the border to take advantage
of cheap labor, U.S. workers lose jobs. Cuba, he added, has
been playing a key role in the struggle against neoliberal
policies.
Jose Antonio Almazan Gonzalez of Mexico's Electrical Workers
Union (SME) summed up the results of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) after 10 years: poverty for 50 percent
of the people in Latin America, with 25 percent in extreme
poverty and 90 percent living on less than $8 a day. Farming,
he said, has been ruined. Mexico's foreign debt stands at $276
billion; the yearly interest alone is $28 billion. The SME is
central to the current fight to stop the privatization of
electricity and oil and dangerous revisions of the Mexican
labor law proposed by the Vicente Fox government.
"This is imperialism," he said. "We must talk about an
alternative for Latin America to counter this devastation. We
must accomplish what the Venezuelans have accomplished."
Manuel Montero Bistilleiro, director of the Department of
Foreign Relations of the CTC, told how the U.S. economic
embargo and naval blockade have affected the Cuban economy and
people. Cuba cannot get raw materials for its industries,
medical supplies, any of the new generation of antibiotics,
leukemia medication, pacemakers, spare parts for dialysis for
children, or cancer treatment medicine pro duced in the U.S. In
1980, Montero added, the CIA, as part of biological warfare
against Cuba, spread the dengue virus and then prevented Cuba
from getting medication for it. As a result, 150 people
died.
In 2003, said Montero, the U.S. dedicated $59 million to
destabilizing the government of Cuba. Another $23 million was
given to nongovernmental organizations for the same purpose.
But when Cuba reacted by arresting these mercenaries, the U.S.
cried foul.
Montero admonished labor leaders in the U.S., specifically
the AFL-CIO, not to align themselves with the profiteers of
finance capital against the workers of Cuba and Venezuela.
He reminded the audience that although President Hugo Chavez
of Venezuela has held seven elections, U.S. policy makers still
talk of lack of democracy in Venezuela. They are targeting
Venezuela because it is the fifth-largest producer of oil in
the world and is located in the strategically import ant
Amazonian region, and also because it refuses to comply with
Wash ing ton's orders. The Chavez government is using the oil
revenue to address poverty and homelessness. It has enacted
laws guaranteeing living wages, education and affordable
housing and is proposing new laws defending the right of women
to abortion and the defense of the rights of gay people and
Venezuelans of African heritage.
Support for Cuban Five
The conference unanimously called for freedom for the Five
Cuban heroes held in U.S. prisons. Maria Del Carmen Machado,
head of the Department of Education, Communication and Culture
of the CTC, explained the Five were not trying to destabilize
the U.S. government for a foreign imperialist power, as the
mercenaries in Cuba were trying to do, nor engaging in acts of
terrorism, as CIA-backed mercenaries have done. They were in
Miami gathering information for the purpose of stopping the
terrorist acts of right-wing Cuban groups there.
Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five, sent a letter to the
conference that contrasted two worlds: one based on greed and
profiteering, the other based on meeting human needs. Gloria La
Riva of the National Committee to Free the Five praised their
courage and discipline in pretending to be defectors in the
interest of defending the Cuban Revolution. She also alerted
the assembly that a decision is expected very soon on their
appeal and announced plans for a national speaking tour. Cards
and letters supporting the Five and demanding visas for their
family members circulated in the crowd.
Andres Gomez, leader of the Antonio Maceo Brigade in the
U.S., discussed Wash ington's immigration policies towards
Cuba. A new law allows Cubans living in the U.S. to visit only
their immediate family members back home and then only once
every three years. He also talked about the Cuban Adjustment
Act, which gives Cuban immigrants special treatment,
encouraging them to risk their lives to get to the U.S.
Clarence Thomas, co-chair of the Million Worker March and
member of International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union
Local 10 in San Francisco, spoke about the need to build an
independent workers' movement that will speak for U.S. workers,
rather than put their hopes in the Democratic Party, which does
nothing for workers and everything for multinational
corporations.
John Parker of the International Action Center spoke about
the genocide taking place in Iraq as well as the atrocities in
Afghanistan, Haiti and Palestine. He also pointed out the U.S.
role in terrorism against Venezuela, where Danilo Anderson, the
lead prosecutor in charge of investigating pro-coup mercenaries
hired by the CIA, was just assassinated.
Parker said the U.S. government is afraid to let people see
Cuba. "But all actions have reactions and it backfires on
them," he said, referring to when Cuba decided not to allow
dollar transactions anymore.
"We must create unity between labor and the anti-war
movement. We must set aside our petty differences and unite for
the sake of the movement," Parker urged. He then called on
participants to support anti-war actions on March 19 and
20.
Juan Jose Gutierrez of Latino Movement USA said that capital
knows no borders, so we must internationalize the struggle.
"Capital creates borders to divide and weaken us," he said,
proposing Tijuana as the city where our struggles will be
united.
Leaders of Mexico's National Workers Union (UNT), Federation
of Electrical Worke rs and Aluminum Workers Union and United
Force of Teachers of Mexico also spoke, urging unity and
struggle. Work ers' struggles outside of unions included
representatives from the Mac lovia Rojas community in Tijuana
and veterans of the Bracero "guest worker" program.
Cristina Vazquez, regional director of UNITE HERE,
representing close to half a million workers in the U.S., gave
an update on her union's uphill battle against hotel
chains.
The conference ended by adopting resolutions, summarized
here:
*Send letters to U.S. authorities demanding visas for the
families of the Cuban Five so they can visit their loved ones
in U.S. jails.
*Support the travel challenge to Cuba in July 2005.
*Send a delegation to the Fourth Hemispheric Conference on
Neoliberal Globalization and FTAA to be held in Havana, Cuba,
on April 26-30.
*General amnesty for undocumented workers. Endorse a
National March in Washington, D.C. for amnesty for all
immigrants on a date to be announced.
*Demand the U.S. end its military occupation of Iraq--call
for troops out now. Endorse Jan. 20 demonstrations against the
inauguration of George W. Bush. Endorse unified international
days of action on March 19 and 20 against the war in Iraq
called by the Million Worker March.
*Demand fair compensation for those who worked in the U.S.
between 1942 and 1964 in the "Guest Worker Program" and had 10
percent of their pay withheld but never received the promised
payments.
*Support reclaiming May Day demonstrations in the U.S.
*Demand an end to the occupation of Haiti by all foreign
troops.
*Support the Bolivarian government of Venezuela.
For more information about activities of the U.S./Cuba Labor
Exchange write laborexchange@aol.com.
Reprinted from the Dec. 23, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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