Warm welcome to Cuban friends

Three of the 'Group of Five', from left, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Gonzalez meet Cuban President Raul Castro during a reception in Havana, Cuba, in December. The five were sentenced to life imprisonment in the US and were released after a campaign by activists worldwide.

Three of the 'Group of Five', from left, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Gonzalez meet Cuban President Raul Castro during a reception in Havana, Cuba, in December. The five were sentenced to life imprisonment in the US and were released after a campaign by activists worldwide.

Published Jun 21, 2015

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Cosatu remembers the Cubans’ unwavering dedication to SA’s revolutionary struggle for freedom and justice, writes Sdumo Dlamini.

Johanneburg - History is about to be written during the months of June and July, when the working class of South Africa are to pay respect to the revolutionary visit by the Cuban delegation.

The Cubans’ relationship with many African liberation movements began as early as the 1960s and later mushroomed after the triumph of the struggle against the Batista dictatorship.

These relations were cemented by Che Guevara’s trips around the African continent in 1963, during which time the symbiotic revolutionary relations were nurtured with liberation movements, including the movement in Algiers.

The Cuban victory in Angola in 1998, which forced the apartheid regime to set Namibia free and broke the backbone of the brutal regime, will never be eroded in the minds of many South Africans and Africans in history.

Throughout the African states’ struggle for liberation, senior members of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) developed relations with Che Guevara in Algiers, among other places, discussing the strengthening of revolutionary relations, the role of Cuba in the liberation of South Africa and the nature of the armed struggle to be pursued.

The trade union federation Cosatu recognises that the Cubans were generous to share their armed struggle tactics with the rest of the African continent.

We appreciate that the relationship was not naive to the development of a Cold War across the globe and the implications of this.

With the nurturing of a strong and vibrant anti-apartheid movement, the South Africa revolution was given a boost against a system hell-bent on undermining the universal rights that should be enjoyed by all nations of the world.

Cosatu acknowledges the various roles played by the Cubans.

At the 1961 First Summit of Heads of States and the Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, the then president of Cuba, Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, publicly condemned the apartheid government of South Africa and its policies of separate development.

And these relations were taken from one generation to another, with former president Fidel Castro and current president Raul Castro cementing the humble beginnings of the friendship, which dates from the 1960s.

The Cubans remained heroes of the revolution in the minds of all South Africans.

The battlefield of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola – where the self-praising apartheid South African Defence Force surrendered under the heavy gunfire of the joint forces, which led to massively denied casualties by the SADF and their withdrawal, ending the hostilities – will never evaporate in our minds.

This led to the settlement and democracy we are enjoying today.

Namibia got its independence in 1990, a mere two years after the conclusion of the hostilities in 1988. Angola was able to achieve internal peace after Jonas Savimbi’s death, which ended the civil war.

South Africa never shied from expressing its views on their support for the discontinuing of the US economic blockade against Cuba.

A recollection of all Congress Movement leadership never veered from the SA-Cuban relationship.

Many of the Cosatu-affiliated trade unions in their own right have maintained sound relations with the Cuban workers through exchange programmes. These have enriched the working class in general, providing for sustainable and revolutionary solutions to challenges caused by capital.

Today, Cosatu is proud that the Department of Health’s Human Resource Strategy has factored in, among others, the importance of the perennial supply of Cuban doctors in all rural-based provinces.

It is on record that more than 23 407 South African doctors are spread across the world in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and US after completion of training because of other “pulling factors”.

Cosatu argues that a full staff complement at all health centres is a pre-condition to have an efficient and effective health system.

The extensive and changing burden of diseases across the globe need international collaborations to enhance human beings’ lifespan.

Cuba has without failure played that role in the interests of the South African masses.

Every year, students across all provinces are enrolled for medical studies in Cuba. Cosatu supports such government programmes.

This must be done to further cement South African/Cuban revolutionary collaboration and co-operation.

Cosatu vividly recalls the words of Nelson Mandela when he said in 1988: “If today all South Africans enjoy the rights of democracy, if they are able at last to address the grinding poverty of a system that denied them even the most basic amenities of life, it is also because of Cuba’s selfless support for the struggle to free all of South Africa’s people and the countries of our region from the inhumane and destructive system of apartheid.”

The Cuban delegation to South Africa must be utilised to rekindle the revolutionary relations to solve challenges in all aspects of our society, such as in the health system, the combating of the communicable and non-communicable diseases burden, exploring construction ideas and other important exchanges of ideas and tactics.

The visit, to be carried out under the theme, “The Cuban Five Heroes’ Tribute to African Solidarity” is welcomed by Cosatu and all its affiliates. It is under the leadership of the ANC, the SACP, the South African National Civic Organisations, mass democratic movement structures, progressive civil society and the active participation of the Friends of Cuba Society that today we are celebrating all the strides we have made.

Many Cosatu affiliates have been active and financially supported the struggle, calling for the release of the “Cuban Five” and for the US embargo on Cuba (which has been in place since 1961) to be lifted.

The five’s ordeal began in September 1998, when they were arrested by the FBI and held in US jails. They were placed in solitary confinement for the entire 17 months before their trial.

Their mistrial lasted six months. The US government could not prove the main charge against Gerardo Hernandez (conspiracy to commit murder), but the jury nevertheless found them guilty of all charges.

The peace treaty signed in 1988 and observed by Chester Crocker, the then US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, led to Namibian independence in 1990, and South Africa’s in 1994.

The five Cuban comrades were sentenced to “four life sentences plus 77 years and imprisoned in five separate maximum security jails spread across the US without possibility of communicating with each other”.

During this period their relatives were unable to visit and see them due to visa denial problems.

Two in particular were “being prevented from receiving visits from their spouses, with their entry permits to US repeatedly denied. This in effect meant that they were denied from visiting their spouses for nine and 11 years respectively.”

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez became heroes in all communities and workplaces.

Their names remained engraved in the minds of all workers in various workers’ parliaments throughout the hard years. Many may recall that workers wore various T-shirts depicting their faces to demand their release from US jails.

Many workers carried placards depicting their faces in workplaces, in front of government offices and at the US embassy.

And the Cuban Five campaign was led robustly on all platforms until they were all released.

The central executive committee of Cosatu recently eloquently appreciated all the platforms that unions shared with the people of Cuba by infusing ideological work with theoretical and practical approaches.

Cosatu joins all Alliance-led masses in welcoming the Cuban delegation in South Africa.

Cosatu welcomed this week the working visit by Cuban Vice- President Salvador Valdés Mesa in South Africa.

We wish to receive the Cuban delegation this month to cement the revolutionary relationship the South African working class has shared with the people of Cuba.

Cosatu reiterates what Nelson Mandela said that “inasmuch as Cuba was a home from home for many South Africans during the dark night of our oppression, we now welcome you home to the sunshine of our freedom”.

Cosatu pays its respects to all former MK members, the leadership of the Congress Movement and all progressive forces who made it possible for South Africa to be free. Accordingly, social and economic justice for workers and the working class in particular are key inscriptions of our Bill of Rights and the constitution of South Africa.

Cosatu remembers the Cubans’ unwavering dedication to the revolutionary struggle for freedom and justice for South Africans.

Indeed, Cosatu welcomes the people of Cuba to celebrate with us the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter on June 26.

Forward towards the radical economic transformation!

* Sdumo Dlamini is president of Cosatu.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Sunday Independent

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