Agosto 6, 2009
MIAMI, August 5, 2009 - The International Group for Corporate Social Responsibility in Cuba (GIRSCC) declares its strongest rejection and concern regarding the arrests and threats issued yesterday against four trade unionists affiliated to the Independent National Trade Union Confederation of Cuba (CONIC).
We are informed by Maria Elena Mir Marrero, General Secretary of CONIC who, together with Justo J. Sánchez, Hanoi Oliva and Daniel Sabatier, was one of the arrested trade unionists of the following developments, that on Monday, August 3rd at 10:00 AM they received an official summons to appear on August 4 at 10:00 AM at the headquarters of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) in the town of Guanabo, Municipality of Havana East.
Upon arrival at the police headquarters, police agents First Lt. Amaury Sánchez of the local PNR and René of the State Security Department 21 subjected the summoned trade unionists to harsh interrogation tactics and threatened them with court proceedings for the activities in which they were engaged, as well as for other actions they may be contemplating.
The police agents alluded to the march and the spreading of flowers in the bay last July 13, which are public acts organized to remember the victims of the tugboat “March 13”. The police also alluded to the interviews the trade unionists granted during the filming of the documentary titled “Under the Cuban Skies: The Worker and his Rights.” Such documentary was premiered last Thursday, July 30 during the 19th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) in Miami. They were also threatened with possible corporal punishments if they decided to join any public demonstrations on August 5, when the 15th Anniversary of the “Maleconazo” is commemorated.
The agents named above and a group of police officers proceeded to fingerprint the trade unionists; they took samples of their fingernails; they photographed them front and profile style, and with the intent to inflict on them further psychological pressure and humiliation, they forced onto their trousers and panties a rag that they had to hold for over 30 minutes. Then the rag was placed in a glass container and sealed. When the victims asked why that was done, they were told that it was to create an “odors bank.” -a procedure that can only be conceived by a repressive twisted mind.
During the interrogation the repressive agents of the regime cautioned the trade unionists they would not be permitted any further activities that may jeopardize the work of the Cuban Confederation of Labor (CTC), and that it was obvious that they were trying to discredit the CTC, playing the anti-Cuba game and carrying orders received from Miami, specifically from the GIRSCC.
The victims were also informed that other trade unionists that have also participated in the filming of the CSG documentary, such as Carmelo Díaz Fernández, Jorge Olivera Castillo, Victor Manuel Domínguez and Emilio Jerez, would be subjected to the same treatment.
At the same time that we strongly condemn these harassment tactics, the GIRSCC holds the Cuban government and the leaders of the Communist Party that run the CTC fully responsible for the dangers that may face such named trade unionists. We also remind them of their obligation to comply with and implement the ILO Conventions and Recommendations, to which the Cuban government is signatory. Furthermore, that they should observe the requirements of the reports issued by the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, wherein the government in the Island has been repeatedly urged to respect the freedom of association and the rights that workers have to express their views freely and to create, if they so desire, their own labor unions independently of the current structures.
The Freedom of Association is the corner stone of democracy, and thus we call on trade union organizations around the world, on the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICTU), and in particular on the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (CSA), to activate the mechanisms necessary for the defense of freedom of association and the promotion of those rights inside Cuba, requesting also that such organizations petition the Cuban government to abstain from conducting any further repressive actions, as well as new arrests and incarceration of independent trade unionists.
At the same time, we request from ICTU and CSA that, through their respective departments of human and trade union rights, they lend all necessary technical assistance to the independent trade union movement in Cuba so that this public indictment be effectively presented before all the ILO committees responsible for the monitoring and compliance with these basic trade union rights. (English translation by Jack Otero)
