Be there!

Put the third Cuba/Venezuela/Mexico/North America Labor Conference on your calendar. It will be held Dec. 8, 9 and 10 in Tijuana, Mexico. From the dramatic to the tragic, events in the United States over the last year demonstrate how intertwined the future of workers and oppressed people throughout the Americas is becoming.

Workers from these countries will weigh critical issues, like the following:

In nine U.S. states, Venezuela has provided discounted home heating oil to ease the hardships of poor people trying to get through the winter in bitterly cold climates.

More than 1,500 Cuban doctors equipped with tons of emergency supplies to assist Katrina survivors waited vainly for a U.S. entry permit.

Immigrants have been boycotting and marching in U.S. cities, large and small, for basic rights.

General Motors, Ford and auto parts suppliers have stolen future opportunities for young workers by eliminating jobs through buyouts and early retirements, while sanitation workers and farm workers are organizing in states where the most backward anti-union laws exist.

This conference will discuss the growing progressive integration and cooperation that is challenging imperialist globalization and neoliberal privatization across borders. Topics include U.S./Cuba relations—the blockade and the Cuban Five; the right to universal health care and affordable medications; and immigration.

Participants will be coming from the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), including from the Cuban health care workers’ union, from the UNT in Venezuela, from the Colombian union Sinaltrainal representing Coca-Cola workers, from the electrical workers in Mexico, from U.S. health care unions and more.

Organize a representative from your community, union or organization to attend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8, 9 and 10, at the Hotel Palacio Azteca in Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border from San Diego, Calif. Register now. Conference registration information is available at www.internationallaborexchange.org or contact the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, PO Box 39188, Redford, MI 48239, 313-561-8330. Or e-mail [email protected].