Cuba – a better world is possible

"Cuba demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities - health, education, and literacy." Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General

May Day Parade, Havana

The current changes sweeping across Latin America have their roots in the same principles of social justice that transformed Cuban society 50 years ago.

On 1 January 1959 the Cuban Revolution freed the country from the brutal US-backed Batista dictatorship. Immediately, the government committed itself to a sweeping programme of health and education reforms, and to returning to the people the country’s natural resources and land from the hands of a local elite, foreign governments and multinationals.

Just as progressive Latin American governments are facing a backlash from the right today, Cuba has withstood extreme propaganda and attacks from the most powerful state on earth for 50 years. For 48 of these it has suffered under sustained economic warfare in the form of an inhumane and illegal US blockade – the longest in history.

Even the US itself admits the severity of its actions. According to the United States Government Accountability Office in 2009: “The embargo on Cuba is the most comprehensive set of US sanctions on any country, including the other countries designated by the US government to be state sponsors of terrorism”.

In 2007, the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated:

The restrictions imposed by the embargo help to deprive Cuba of vital access to medicines, new scientific and medical technology, food, chemical water treatment and electricity.

Numerous reports, most notably the 300-page, 1997 report by the American Association for World Health (AAWH) identify that the blockade contributes to the malnutrition of women and children, poor water quality, and lack of access to medicines and medical supplies. The AAWH declared that “a humanitarian catastrophe has been averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a health care system designed to deliver primary and preventive health care to all of its citizens.”

The United Nations and human rights groups including Amnesty International have condemned the blockade for violating international law, and on moral, political and economic grounds. Yet, President Obama has taken no steps to dismantle it.

US academic Noam Chomsky argues that the blockade remains in place for the same reasons it was imposed by President Kennedy in 1962:

The actual reasons for the terror and economic warfare were explained clearly at the very outset: the goal was to cause “rising discomfort among hungry Cubans” so that they would overthrow the regime (Kennedy); to “bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of the government” (Eisenhower’s State Department). The threat of Cuba, as Kennedy’s Latin American advisor Arthur Schlesinger advised the incoming president, is that successful independent development there might stimulate others who suffer from similar problems to follow the same course, so that the system of US domination might unravel.

Almost half a century after Kennedy, US aggression towards Cuba continues. Aside from the everyday deprivations caused by the blockade, undercover operations and open backing for invasion and terrorist attacks have been replaced by USAID funding that increasingly focus on the internet to promote so-called democracy programmes. In this manner, the US government continues to fund groups and individuals in and outside Cuba intent in bringing down the government and imposing neo-liberal models and privatisation on the island.

Despite this, Cuba maintains a healthy, educated and vibrant society. Cuba is not perfect. Like anywhere it faces problems and struggles, but its achievements and spirit of international solidarity reach across the globe. As Nelson Mandela said: “The Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people.”

Cuban internationalism from playing a pivotal role in the liberation of Angola and downfall of Apartheid in South Africa, to the 938 medical staff currently volunteering in Haiti, and the tens of thousands of students from developing countries receiving free Cuban medical scholarships are an inspiration to millions of people, especially in the developing world.

Through free health and education programmes for the poorest and most vulnerable on the planet Cuba offers hope that a better world is possible. And just as Schlesinger feared, US domination in the region is unravelling. As Noam Chomsky said:

Cuba has become a symbol of courageous resistance to attack. It has been invaded, subjected to more terror than maybe the rest of the world combined--certainly any other country that I can think of--and it's under an economic stranglehold that has been ruled completely illegal by every relevant international body, It has been at the receiving end of terrorism, repression and denunciation, but it survives.

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign works in the UK to campaign against the illegal blockade of Cuba and for Cuba’s right to self-determination. Please join CSC today!

Natasha Hickman, Communications Manager at the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Please email for more information.

Venezuela’s social progress under threat from US intervention

For decades most Venezuelans lived in poverty, in barrios (shanty towns) with unreliable electricity, unsafe water and desperately inadequate public services. In recent years, ordinary people’s lives have been transformed.  This inspiring process has been made possible by a sustained rise in social investment, with the government redistributing the country’s oil wealth from a small and privileged elite to the majority of people.

 

Inspiring social changes include:

• More than 2.7 million Venezuelans have been lifted out of poverty since 1998, with extreme poverty halved, and poverty rates continuing to fall.
• Over 17 million people now have access to free healthcare for the first time, with a national heath service being built for the first time.
• Over 1.6 million adults have benefited from literacy campaigns with illiteracy now abolished according to UNESCO standards.
• More than 6 million more people now have clean drinking water, with access increasing from 80% in 1998 to over 92% today.
• 98 per cent of Venezuelans now eat three times per day thanks to government provision of subsidised food and free school meals.
• New rights for working people - Venezuela’s minimum wage is now the highest in Latin America, unemployment has been significantly reduced and outsourcing made illegal.
• The creation of a Women’s Development Bank and new Ministry for Women, giving opportunities to millions of previously excluded women.
• Historic racism is being tackled with new constitutional rights for indigenous people and recognition of the rights of other black and minority ethnic communities.
• The expansion of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra programme, which provides free musical education to thousands of children from poor backgrounds.

Due to these progressive social policies, amazingly, Venezuela has met the UN Millennium Development Goals six years ahead of schedule, whilst many countries are decades behind.

 

Additionally, although against the backdrop of global recession the Venezuelan economy shrank by 3% in 2009, the government held firm on its commitment to maintain and increase spending in areas such as health, education and poverty reduction.

 

It is the case that much still needs to be done to overcome decades of neglect of the interests of the vast majority of Venezuelans, especially in the cities, but the achievements of the current government stand in stark contrast to previous governments, who oversaw rising poverty and failing living standards for 25 years.

 

Freeing Latin America from exploitation

 

As well as this social progress domestically Venezuela is seen as a beacon of hope across Southern America, encouraging progressive regional co-operation, as an alternative to decades of US domination and neo-liberalism.

 

Venezuela’s inspiring work internationally includes:

• The joint programme with Cuba ‘Operation Miracle’ which is providing free eye operations to hundreds of thousands of poor people in Latin America, the Caribbean and now Africa.
• Supplying oil at preferential prices to 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries to help their economies.
• The ALBA (‘Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas’) agreement with other Latin American and Caribbean nations - an alternative to the US-promoted Free Trade Area of the Americas.
• Creating a Latin American television station, Telesur, to challenge US cultural domination and the distortion of the truth by the media.

Chávez’s Democratic Record

 

These changes in Venezuela have received enormous democratic approval, with Chávez and his supporters have won fourteen out of fifteen national elections and referenda since 1998.

 

In this time, democratic participation in Venezuela has increased, with millions of previously excluded people being enfranchised. Grassroots democracy has also been expanded with the formation and funding of thousands of ‘Community Councils’ across the country.

 

Contrary to distortions in the media and from opponents of the government, the annual survey of Latin American views, by the respected Latinobarametro, shows that Venezuelans have a strong approval for their democracy.

 

Venezuela next goes to the polls for National Assembly elections in September 2010. In these elections, the right-wing opposition will inevitably increase its number of seats, as it boycotted the previous parliamentary elections – in a blatant attempt to undermine their legitimacy – when it was clear they would lose.

 

Threats to social progress and sovereignty — solidarity needed!

 

Inevitably, the progressive changes of recent years have not been welcomed by the former ruling elite in Venezuela and their allies internationally who remain committed to neo-liberalism. In particular, many within the United States want to regain control of Venezuelan oil resources, by putting the old Venezuelan elite back into power, and prevent a further strengthening of national sovereignty and economic independence across Latin America.

 

In recent years, this has seen various attempts to undermine Venezuela’s elected government. The US appeared to be behind a failed military coup in 2002. The following this, organised attempts to sabotage fist the oil industry — the mainstay of the economy — strongly indicated US involvement.

 

This threat has not gone away under the Obama administration. The US National Director of Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, in his annual report for 2010 classifies Venezuela as an “anti-US Leader” in the world.

This followed the announcement of more US bases in neighbouring Colombia meaning that Venezuela is surrounded by 13 US military bases in addition to the aircraft carriers and ships of the US Fourth Fleet, which was reactivated in 2008 in order to patrol the Atlantic Coast of South America.

 

The coup against the progressive government in Honduras, and the discovery of similar plots in Ecuador and Paraguay, also show the continuing threat of social progress in Venezuela being overturned.

 

Within Venezuela, the right wing opposition also continues to hold democracy and the rule of law in contempt, seeking to destabilise the government.

 

Media Distortion and Misrepresentation

 

Alongside these developments, opponents of Venezuela’s elected government have also orchestrated an international media campaign of distortion and misrepresentation aimed at isolating support for the Chávez-led Government.

 

Within Venezuela, there is great concern that such international demonization of Chávez could be used as a pretext for further interventions and ‘regime change.’

 

That is why the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign works to explain the truth about Venezuela and support the country’s right to self-determination – you can help by joining VSC today.

 

Matt Willgress, Coordinator of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

"United, organised and trained we are invincible!"

Helen Yuill, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, interviews Orlando José Mercado Mendoza who is appearing at Latin America 2010 about how informal sector workers are organising and the new spaces created for them under the recently elected FSLN government.

Helen and Orlando

Orlando Mercado is Secretary of the Confederación de Trabajadores por Cuenta Propia (CTCP) in Nicaragua. From its formation in 2002 the membership has grown to 40,000 and the Confederation now coordinates a network of informal sector unions throughout Central America. As Orlando points out, this is a great achievement but, with an estimated one million workers engaged in informal sector activity in the country, there is much to be done.

Informal sector work comprises many different activities. Orlando Mercado is General Secretary of the Currency Exchangers Federation, one of seven federations which unite to form the CTCP. Workers could be street traders, traffic lights vendors, craftspeople, tricyle taxi drivers, agricultural workers, rubbish pickers or tortilla producers. As well as running training workshops in union organising and labour rights, the CTCP also run workshops aimed at raising workers’ self esteem and provide training in business administration and literacy. The union is also fighting for greater recognition of the valuable contribution they make to the economy.

Orlando emphasised that self employed work is growing in Nicaragua and worldwide. Although over 65 per cent of Nicaragua’s workforce are working within the informal sector, between 1990 and 2006, under successive neoliberal governments they were largely ignored. When the current FSLN government was elected in 2007, they were finally given formal recognition. As most workers in the sector are not covered by social security the union has set up mutual health funds allowing access to cheaper medication and health promotion. International support has been important to this work and a number of external organisations, including UNISON from the UK, have supported their activities.

Through the union, members are enabled to act collectively to oppose evictions. In a protest in early 2009 unionised workers from the different unions within the CTCP mobilised in solidarity with the currency changers to protest their eviction by a local supermarket, blocking entrances and bringing sales to a standstill. The owners were forced to negotiate and the union achieved an agreement that they could stay, something they have had to fight for since 1990.

As Orlando points out, ‘In the UK you are learning about informal sector workers and how we are organising. In other parts of the world people do this kind of work too but it’s hidden. This is a country that is starting to know about our work and what we do for the economy in our country.  The CTCP works with the hungry, dispossessed and forgotten. We are not afraid to mobilise because it is the only way to defend our right to work. Our work can only happen through solidarity between our members. This is why the CTCP has the slogan: UNIDOS, ORGANIZADOS Y CAPACITADOS SEREMOS INVENCIBLES! United, organised and trained we are invincible!’

Mandate for Morales in Bolivia

Evo Morales’s sweeping victory in the 6 December 2009 general elections is a clear indication that the Bolivian MAS party (Movimiento al Socialismo) has emerged strengthened from its first period of government, having passed key constitutional, economic and social reforms in the face of often undemocratic challenges by a determined opposition.

As well as winning over 64%of the vote for president, the MAS also won a majority in both houses of Congress (now called the Plurinational Legislative Assembly). This will greatly help passage of the large number of laws required to implement the new Bolivian constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009. The MAS benches in both houses now include more social movement leaders, such as Isaac Avalos - executive secretary of the powerful peasant union, the CSUTCB, as well as middle-class professionals such as Ana Maria Romero, a journalist who was Bolivia’s first human rights ombudsman.

While the MAS has shown great strength and unity at the ballot boxes, the opposition was divided and lacked credible leadership. Of two main opposition fronts, the most successful was Plan Progreso para Bolivia (PPB) headed by Manfred Reyes Villa. 

Reyes Villa, a former captain in the Bolivian army who had close ties to the highly repressive Garcia Meza dictatorship of the early 1980s, had already suffered electoral defeat in the national recall referendum in August 2008 when he was removed from his post as prefect of Cochabamba. His running mate, former Pando governor Leopoldo Fernandez, an associate of former dictator Hugo Banzer, also had a history of close involvement with Bolivia’s authoritarian-right. He campaigned from his jail cell where he awaits trial for his alleged role in the 2008 Pando massacre of indigenous peasants. They managed a showing of just 26.6% of the national vote.

As well as receiving the firm backing of its support base in the western Andean region, the MAS also made important inroads in the eastern lowlands, the focus of opposition activity during the government’s first term. The MAS vote in the department of Santa Cruz increased from 33% in 2005 to nearly 41% this time round, and the MAS came first in the gas-rich department of Tarija. Voting percentages for the MAS in the other two eastern departments of Pando and Beni more than doubled from their 2005 totals.

An element that contributed to this increase in support in the country’s eastern departments was the inclusion of departmental autonomy in the new constitution, an issue that the opposition had used to rally local support against the government. As well as paving the way for greater decentralisation of power and resources through departmental autonomy the constitution also includes autonomy for indigenous areas, allowing indigenous communities to control the territory where they live and benefit from the resources on it. Among the congress members elected, there were seven – nearly all MAS candidates – who will represent special indigenous constituencies. Special autonomy was also approved by referendum for the gas-rich province of the Gran Chaco in the department of Tarija, in the extreme south-east, an area peopled largely by Guaraní indians.

Alex Tilley, Coordinator of the Bolivia Information Forum

The impact of the Honduran coup on women maquila workers

The Honduran Women’s Collective, known as Codemuh, is a women-led rights organisation and long-term War on Want partner that works to empower women workers in Honduras’ Export Processing Zones (EPZ). Over the last 20 years the “maquiladora” industry, as it is known in Latin America, has become an integral part of the Honduran economy. Codemuh has monitored and documented human and employment rights violations in EPZs, especially among women workers.

Honduras’ maquila industry is highly dependent on the US and Central America markets. It is one of the largest exporters of textile products to US and the leading exporter to Central American and Caribbean countries. Employing 133,000 people , of which 70% are women, the country’s main export product is clothing, including well-known names such as WalMart, Adidas, Hanes, HBI, Fruit of the Loom and GAP. Though the maquila industry has bought much needed investment to Honduras, the benefits are felt by a minority, and these benefits have come at the expense of employment  rights.

Codemuh, as well as other Honduran grassroots organisations, is campaigning against the human and employment rights violations in the maquila industry in the aftermath of the coup. 

In July Codemuh reported that maquila workers were forced by factory owners to join in so-called "Marchas de la Paz" – Peace Walks – organised by the de facto president Roberto Micheletti and financed by the business community with the support of the military. Despite the fact that the majority of workers opposed the coup, they felt forced to attend these rallies two or three times a month for fear of  losing their jobs.  Workers were told  that they would be paid the daily minimum salary (around 100 lempiras,  roughly £3), but Codemuh informed War on Want that workers have received no payment. In fact, after attending demonstrations they were forced to make up for the ‘lost’ time by working an extra day.

As a consequence of  a curfew imposed by the de facto government, workers are forced to make up for the “time lost” by working two additional hours each day without pay. Codemuh condemns this flagrant violation of Article 23 of the Honduran Labour Code.

Codemuh has also denounced the actions of the Honduran Council of Private Companies, which is using the crisis to try to push through legislative reforms that would relax employment laws in EPZs. Under this proposed legislation, factory owners would be able to employ workers on a temporary or part-time basis. For EPZ workers, who already face appalling working conditions, long hours and low pay, such reforms would result in losing social security benefits, less job security and other long-term consequences that would affect their livelihoods.
 

Codemuh has been campaigning against these proposed changes, as well as raising awareness among  women workers of the impact of the current crisis on their civil liberties and employment rights. Working in partnership with Codemuh, War on Want is dedicated to exposing and taking action against the violation of basic human rights in sweatshops.

This article was originally published by Central American Report