A-Infos (en) Cuba: Statement by Cuban Libertarian Movement (fr,it,ca)

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Proletarian solidarity? A large delegation of syndicalists
arrive in La Havana to the sound of La Marseillaise.
Because paper supports anything that is written on it, it is
stated that they came to "strengthen the bonds of friendship and
exchanges with the Cuban workers from the food industry",
already established for a decade. But they did not visit the
crumbling, half-paralyzed or non-productive factories of this
industry, they did not care to inform themselves about the hard
reality these workers must endure and even less, the systematic
violation of the workers labour and social rights. Either they
didn't have time or it was not "part of the programme" for the
virtual visit to this paradise of "revolutionary" labour.

They were met by Pedro Ros Leal, general secretary of the Cuban
Workers' Central, at the headquarters of the institution [a
branch of the Cuban Communist Party - tr]. There, they only hear
talk about productivity, victories, emulations, great
achievement at work, efficent ways to better the quality of
life, all those inexistant facts on the other side of those
doors in this building where they tend the tomb of the Cuban
workers' rights. The members of the Agro-food Federation (FNAF)
of the French CGT had no opportunity to witness "in situ" the
reality behind the cocktails, the "Cuba Libres" and other liquid
and solid specialities offered to them by those "representing"
the Cuban proletariat.

With a monthly income of 265 pesos - ten dollars at the official
exchange rate - the workers in the Cuban food industry from can
buy just one litre of oil, a kilo of meat and some instant soup
cubes to survive for the whole month.

Beyond that they need - but have no right to demand - minimal
decent working conditions, shoes and clothing, adequate tools
and machinery, or respect for the collective work agreements
between the unions and the bosses - the State - as there are
about 58,000 workers who, subjected to the different so-called
stimulation systems for production results, services and a
reduction of costs for raw materials, received just 57% of their
earnings for the year 2000, and less than that for  2001 and
2002.

Not to mention the lack of liberty to organise themselves in
self-managed unions, independently from the State.

This reality, where frequently there are disgraceful situations
regarding obligations outside working hours, namely ideological
and political brain-washing, was surely not brought to the
attention of the FNAF by the CTC officials.

While Christian Alliawne, general secretary of the FNAF and head
of the visting delegation was saying "surely from now on, this
already close relationship will become even closer", the
independent syndicalists Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, Carmelo Díaz
Fernández, Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, Nelson Molinet Espino,
Héctor Raúl Valle Hernández, Lázaro Felipe Fuentes and Iván
Hernández Carrillo, are suffering prison sentences of between 12
and 26 years in different prisons on the Island, for having
defended the rights of a working class which, according to the
French delegation, lives in liberty, something only possible due
to their blindness or to the exploiters' confabulations.

If in Cuba there is no freedom; if equality is a dream and
fraternity a sarcasm, the unavoidable question is: why don't
they go elsewhere with their Marseillaise and stop playing the
game of those who, insead of representing the workers and their
interests, repress and exploit them, and try to hide all this by
firing people from their jobs or throwing them into prison or,
at the very least, manipulating inforamtion?

If the Cuban-French syndicalist encounter was in reality for the
good of the workers, the French syndicalists should have
demanded that their Cuban peers, as a bare minimum, put into
practice the conventions of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), something which would have represented a
true act of solidarity.

The Cuban proletariat today is subjected to double oppression:
by international Capital, which is once more getting its claws
into the Island, making it again a paradise for exploiters, and
by the Castrofascist dictatorship that refuses the right to
self-organisation and, with this, the right to strike and to
demand better living conditions. This is why the proletariat
comes back to the fore of History and opposes itself clearly to
the Capital and the State.

The present-day fight of the Cuban proletariat against Castrist
totalitarianism is remarkable for its increasing tendency to
self-organise and for its proletarian practice against
capitalist exploitation, against the State, for their living
conditions and in defiance of the impositions of the party and
the official union.

For the self-organisation of the Cuban proletariat!

For international solidarity!

Solidarity with the Cuban People, not with Castro!

For the revolutionary destruction of the market society!

For Libertarian Communism!

Cuban Libertarian Movement (in Exile)

September 2003


[source: red-libertaria.net ]
[translation by A-Infos]


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