Marzo
25, 2003
AFL-CIO's
Letter to Fidel Castro
March 25, 2003
His Excellency Fidel Castro Ruz President Republic of Cuba Plaza
de la Revolución Havana, Cuba E-mail: f_castro@cuba.gov.cu Fax:
011-537-333-085
Dear Mr. President:
We were informed that over twenty labor activists and independent
journalists were arrested on the afternoon of March 18. Mr. Ricardo Alarcon,
President of the Cuban Parliament, labeled these people as "leaders of the
counter revolutionary movement," during his appearance on the television
program "Round Table." A list of some of the labor activists is
appended to this letter.
State security agents also ransacked Pedro Pablo Alvarez's home for eight
hours, confiscating his personal documents as well as CUTC office equipment,
(computer, two fax machines, typewriters, radios and union files).
The arrest of these activists is a deliberate violation of their fundamental
labor rights as guaranteed by ILO Conventions 87 Freedom of Association,
and 89 Right to Organize, both of which Cuba ratified in 1952.
The AFL-CIO, along with its affiliated unions representing 13 million
workers in the United States, demands the immediate release of these labor
activists and an end to all attacks against independent groups. We will
continue to stand by the Cuban workers and we are urging the entire
international labor community to do the same.
Sincerely,
John J. Sweeney President American Federation of Labor and Congress
of Industrial Organizations
Among the labor activists detained are:
Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, General Secretary of the Consejo Unitario de
Trabajadores Cubanos (CUTC);
Carmelo Diaz Fernandez, CUTC executive board member and deputy of the
Centro Nacional de Capacitacion Sindical y Laboral;
Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, executive board member of the Confederacion
Obrera Nacional Independiente de Cuba (CONIC);
Activists threatened, under surveillance and house arrest but not
detained:
Nelson Molinet Espino, General Secretary of the Central de Trabajadores
Democráticos (CTDC), forced to suspend his hunger strike;
Victor Manuel Dominguez Garcia, director of the Centro Nacional de
Capacitacion Sindical y Laboral (CNCSL);
Aleida Godinez Soler, CONIC representative; and
Alicia Zamorra Labrada, director of Lux Infopress
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