Comrade Ismael Drullet, Director of International Relations of the Workers' Confederation of Cuba, intervened yesterday, September 19, at the sessions of the 13th National Congress of the Congress of Trade Unions of South Africa (COSATU), held this week in South Africa . Below we reproduce his intervention in its entirety.
Dear comrade Sidumo Dlamini, president of COSATU
Dear comrade Zingiswa Losi, new elected president of COSATU
Dear comrade Bheki Ntshalei Ntshalei
Leadership members of the ANC and the Communist Party
Distinguished delegates to the congress
Distinguished guests of international trade union organizations
On behalf of the Workers' Confederation of Cuba, we express our solidarity message to the South African workers. Also receive greetings on behalf of the National Council and its General Secretary, Comrade Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento.
Our organization maintains historic relations of friendship with the African Trade Union Movement, to which we are united by indestructible bonds of brotherhood, forged in the struggle for the emancipation of the working class and the liberation of the dispossessed.
We want to especially thank COSATU and its affiliated unions for the support provided to make our presence possible in this historic conference.
Our people are twinned by the same roots, here are our ancestors who were taken as slaves to our continent by the force of colonization, the strength of their culture and tradition could not be destroyed despite the suffering and estrangement, thousands of those humble men took part in our struggles for independence.
For that reason and as our undefeated Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz said, for Cubans to be internationalist is to pay our own debt to humanity, our soldiers and teachers took part in the liberation of the African continent and we are proud of that great epic, because together, Cubans and Africans shed their blood to eliminate the ignominious regime of apartheid.
Today our country provides collaboration in the field of health, education and other spheres in more than 60 countries of the so called third world, especially in the African continent, the South Africa-Cuba cooperation agreement on health, a legacy of the genius of Fidel and Mandela qualified as successful by the UN, in the current scenario it is necessary to give it a greater impulse, in the same way to extend it to the rest of the areas of cooperation.
As an example of cooperation, millions of lives have been saved by our Health System, with the miracle operation, a program through which different eyesight conditions are operated, hundreds of thousands of people without resource have had the opportunity to recover their vision, in the sphere of education through the Yes I Can program, more than 12 million people have become literate, mainly in the countries of Latin America and Africa, as a result of the political will of the Cuban Revolution.
We can say that our brotherhood cannot be destroyed because we are also united by the common struggle to achieve the social justice that our workers deserve.
Today we are immersed in the process of transformation to strengthen the economy and especially, in compliance with the guidelines of economic policy and the objectives of political work approved in the 6th Congress of the party and the First Conference to strengthen socialism and to maintain the conquests reached.
The people of Cuba and their workers will continue the struggle to maintain our independence, achieved by the sacrifice of men and women through more than 50 years of struggle, despite economic difficulties, the genocidal policy of the US government The US maintains an economic, commercial and financial blockade against a people whose only crime was to achieve their independence and sovereignty.
The blockade violates international rights and the UN Charter and is a policy that tries to surrender our people through starvation and needs, however, we are convinced that only unity, resistance, together with international solidarity will lead us to a definitive victory.
Cuba continues to count on the support of many friends throughout the world, of which we are eternally grateful and especially of our South African brothers and friends
Today our federation and its affiliated unions are developing the discussion process of the Base Document of the 21st Congress that will take place next year, a document analyzed in all the work collectives with the aim of improving our work and reaching the fullest unity and union democracy.
Also as part of the process that is carried out to renew our constitution, the workers take part in the discussion in workplaces, educational centers and in each neighborhood, in order to achieve that the new constitution includes their interests and those of the people in general.
We wish to express in this framework our loyalty to the founding principles of the WFTU and the permanent militancy of the CTC, to respond to the call for the unity of our classist trade union movement.
Dear delegates and guests, the international situation is still very complex, the crisis of capitalism has a direct consequence on our workers, unemployment and the worsening of working conditions are growing, the situation is becoming more and more difficult, the imperial powers intend to impose their wishes, strikes and protests by workers are criminalized and the gap between rich and poor increases every day.
For this reason, the unity of all is required to face the onslaught of the global crisis, the result of the neoliberal policies imposed by capitalism, led by the United States of America.
Dear colleagues, we ratify the will to maintain our relationships and the permanent exchange, based on our bonds of friendship, respect and solidarity.
We are sure that the COSATU congress will be successful in the fight for the defense of the rights of workers and their families.
We will continue working for the strengthening of relations between the Workers’ Federation of Cuba and COSATU.
Long live to the international solidarity among workers
ViVA COSATU VIVA
AMANDLA