The flames of the fire that consumed 4 of the 8 warehouses at the Matanzas supertanker base sparked a large-scale solidarity response.
The CTC received dozens of messages from friendly organizations expressing condolences and offers of help. The vast majority also confirmed confidence that Cuba could move forward, as it has during more than 60 years of the inhumane blockade by the United States.
In these words, the Chilean National Federation of Construction, Wood and Building Materials Workers’ Union expressed itself. The Continental Front of Municipal Organizations from Mexico; the trade union federation from Spain; the National Center for Trade Union Studies – CES; the Autonomous Center of Haitian Workers; and the National Center of Workers of Panama.
A letter was received from the Oil Workers Union (OWTU) of the island of Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, acknowledging that “we as Caribbean people continue to face numerous natural disasters” that are severely affecting the small and vulnerable economies of the United States meeting. insular These catastrophes are made worse by the climate crisis, exacerbated by the capitalist economic model.
OWTU unionists recalled that during the critical moment of Ebola and Covid-19, the Cuban people risked their lives to serve many people from different parts of the world without asking about their faith, race or political position. They also criticized the imperialist blockade and sanctions against Cuba, which under the circumstances only stoked the flames unleashed in Matanzas.
The French Mining and Energy Federation of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (FNME-CGT) sent a letter of condolences to the victims’ families, recognizing the importance of the links between its organization and the National Confederation of Energy and Mining Workers (SNTEM):
“On behalf of the Federation, I would like to show you all our solidarity in the face of this terrible ordeal. You can rest assured that the CGT union organizations will continue to help you with any means at our disposal. Receive, dear brothers and sisters, the support of all unions of the FNME-CGT,” the letter affirms.
From the Provincial Union of Workers of Manabí (Ecuador), “ardent and recalcitrant country, our solidarity with the brothers of Matanzas and Cuba”; the Workers’ Union of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute; the National Union of Fund and Social Security Employees (UNDECA) of Costa Rica; and the Mesoamerican and Caribbean WFTU Coordination have received letters expressing the deep pain caused by the tragedy experienced by Cuba and calling on the organizations of the region and the world to “unite in effective solidarity” , which translates to “gathering and sending” means supplies and resources for the victims and the people of Matanzas.
Longtime leader of the international class-oriented labor movement and friend of Cuba, Greek George Mavrikos, stated: “At a time when the energy blockade is a tactical option for world imperialism, it is all the more important that the unions and all workers step up the struggle for the End the blockade and criminal sanctions imposed on Cuba by US imperialism to break the heroic resistance of the Cuban people”.
This position was also supported by the Pancypriot Federation of Labour, which submitted a letter acknowledging that “conditions make it all the more necessary to intensify the fight to end the US-imposed criminal embargo with the goal of heroic resistance.” of the Cuban people. Cuba is not alone.
The Friends of the Basque Country in Spain, on behalf of the LAB Union, made it clear that they “will continue to fight in all areas where we will defend the fruits of the Cuban Revolution and return all the solidarity that the Cuban people have sown all over the world .
The National Union of Education, Health and Allied Workers (NEHAWU) of South Africa recognized that the root of the unfortunate accident that occurred at the Matanzas supertanker base is hostile United States policies for more than 60 years.
“We all know that the US blockade denies Cuba the opportunity to engage in trade and acquire much-needed technical equipment among many necessary supplies, especially in an effort to improve Cuban infrastructure, NEHAWU points out. Successive US administrations must therefore take responsibility for such incidents because of the disastrous policies of financial, economic and trade blockade that they have maintained for more than 60 years. We reiterate the call to lift the criminal blockade of Cuba.”
In a letter to the CTC, they also state that they “have called on the South African government to urgently support the people of Cuba with medical supplies and firefighting supplies, including other materials, as well as financial support. No country made greater sacrifices in the liberation of South Africa than the people of Cuba, among others, whose patriots selflessly gave their lives to liberate South Africa from the yoke of the apartheid colonial regime.
They recalled that “Matanzas was the venue of the last congress of the South African Communist Party in exile” and that in that province they “have studied and still do many South African students with limited resources who train as doctors and engineers, in order to to work in the most difficult and rural areas of our country. We will do everything we can to support the Cuban people with solidarity and internationalism in the midst of this tragedy,” they concluded.