May Day In Cuba - Many Commitments, No Demands

May Day In Cuba: Many Commitments, No Demands / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata

14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 1 May 2016 — With the slogan "For Cuba:
Unity and Commitment," massive Labor Day parades were held across Cuba.
The march in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution started at 7:30 in the
morning, with the presence of some 600,000 people and was marked by
references to the recently concluded 7th Communist Party Congress and
ex-president Fidel Castro's 90th birthday, coming up in August.

Among the thousands of posters on display, none addressed workers'
demands or wage increases. A peculiarity of the May Day parades that
have taken place on the island for the last half century has been that
their principle motivation was to show the commitment of professionals
and workers to the political system.

On the podium greeting participants in the parade, which lasted about an
hour and a half, were Cuban president Raul Castro, recently re-ratified
in position as first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC); first
vice-president Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez; Jose Ramon Machado Ventura,
second secretary of the PCC Central Committee; and Ulises Guilarte de
Nacimiento, director of the Cuban Workers Center (CTC), the only union
organization permitted in the country, with a membership of 3.4 million
state, private and retired workers.

In the speech that began the parade, Guilarte de Naciemiento, also a
member of the Politburo, described as "maneuvers" the problems
threatening several of the leftist governments of Latin America. In
particular, the protests or legal processes challenging the executives
in Venezuela and Brazil, as well as Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and El
Salvador.

The union leader also referred to the process of normalization between
the governments of Cuba and the United States, which he said could not
be completed as long as "the economic, commercial and financial blockade
against our country continues," and as long as there is a US presence at
the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

From the early hours of the morning, Havana workers from the city's
various districts and areas close to the Cuban capital began to gather.
The majority of them were brought on buses belonging to their workplaces
and some 3,257 vehicles that serve urban transport routes in the city.

References to the upcoming 90th birthday of former President Fidel
Castro also marked the day. (14ymedio)
The march was opened by a representation of 40,000 teachers in reminder
of the Literacy Campaign which is celebrating its 55th anniversary this
year. According to the official Cuban press, also participating were
1,600 guests representing 68 countries and 209 trade union
organizations. However, unlike previous years the event was not attended
by any foreign leader and on the foreign grandstand the highest ranking
figure was a deputy of the Venezuelan ruling party, Elias Jaua.

"We will not forget history," different speakers repeated at several
moments to encourage the parade, a direct reference to Barack Obama's
speech in the Gran Teatro de La Habana, when the US president said he
knew the history between Cuba and the United States but refused to be
"trapped by it." A reference that especially bothered the Cuban officialdom.

The parade proceeded as planned at the close of Party Congress last
April 19, when Raul Castro called on workers to show "the world" through
an "enthusiastic and massive participation," their "unity and support
for" the agreements reached at the Congress and "the socialist and
independent course of the Fatherland."

Source: May Day In Cuba: Many Commitments, No Demands / 14ymedio,
Zunilda Mata – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/may-day-in-cuba-many-commitments-no-demands-14ymedio-zunilda-mata/