HAVANA, Cuba.- The current secretary general of the official Central of Workers of Cuba (CTC) in Havana, Alfredo Vázquez López, was one of the supporters of Castroism who took to the streets on July 11, 2021 in response to the call of President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with the aim of repressing the people who on that day showed their disagreement with the island’s regime.
In recent statements to the newspaper workersand when referring to what his union must do to avoid a repetition of the events of July 11, the official expressed that “it is necessary to study the essences. Not only prepare to respond directly to any incident of enemy subversion, but analyze what led to that situation.”
The Havana trade unionist never mentions the appalling living conditions that Cubans faced ─and still face─, and that led them to carry out those massive protests. The constant blackouts, the endless queues to acquire basic necessities, the shortage of markets, sky-high prices, as well as the large number of interrupted workers who had to “invent” to survive, were some of the anomalies that suffocated to the Cuban on foot.
For the Castro official, the workers who joined the protests did so motivated by the deficiencies and the inertia of these unions attached to the CTC. He regrets that in the hard times of the pandemic, people became more concerned about their health and about doing work remotely, and consequently the political-ideological work that these unions carry out on the mass of workers decreased or disappeared.
Mr. Vázquez López, when arguing the actions that his unions will undertake to try to regain control over their workers, pointed out that “the key element in our centers is called dialogue, which is why we have to involve the worker more, commit him in everything, to make the concept of social ownership of the means of production more valid”.
This is a curious way, through dialogue, of making the workers believe the story that, through the vaunted social ownership of the means of production, they are the owners of those means. In this way, among other things, the head of the CTC in Havana avoids getting involved in the dispute between the dispossessed (the mass of workers), and the true owners of the means of production (the dome of power).
On the other hand, the double standards and the good dose of hypocrisy exhibited by these official trade unionists stand out ─of course, following the line drawn by the Castro hierarchy─ when comparing the social explosions that have occurred in several Latin American countries with the protests of the Cuban people. The former are described by the insular ruling party as authentic processes that demonstrate the feelings of the masses that no longer resist the “neoliberal policies” that have been imposed on them. On the contrary, the Cubans’ marches are seen as actions instigated from abroad, and even described by Díaz-Canel himself as a vandalistic coup attempt.
And when Mr. Vázquez López was asked about what he would do if the protests were repeated in Cuba, he replied that “of course, under similar conditions, he would do the same thing again. The political, economic and social order must be respected”.
Neither more nor less than another example of the servility that guides the actions of these official unions.
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