COSATU sends best wishes to Comrade Fidel Castro

The Congress of South African Trade Unions sends revolutionary greetings to Comrade Fidel Castro on the occasion of his resignation as president of Cuba. We wish him a long and happy retirement. We also send greetings and best wishes to the new leadership, headed by Comrade Raul Castro Ruz, who are taking over the government.

Fidel Castro is a struggle hero, an inspirational leader of the poor and oppressed throughout the world. As General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on 7 November 2000, "Comrade Fidel Castro represents and continues to be a symbol of freedom, love, selfless sacrifices for the human kind and is clearly the leader of the left forces who yearn for a world free of exploitation and oppression"

Under his leadership, for nearly 50 years, Cuba has been a shining symbol of hope for the workers and poor people of the world. The government has consistently put the interests of the people first and proved to the world that national liberation, democracy and socialism are not just words in speeches but can become a living reality. He has proved that there is an alternative to the barbarism of capitalism and imperialism and has kept the banner of socialism flying high.

All this has been achieved despite cruel by fruitless attempts by ten American presidents, from Eisenhower to Bush, to overthrow the regime and assassinate its leaders. None of their threats, sanctions, blockades and propaganda, which continue to this day, have succeeded in removing the socialist government.

Its achievements, despite the US's economic sabotage have been stunning. Even James Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank, conceded in 2001, has done a "great job on education and health." There is a teacher for every 12 children, and illiteracy was reduced from 40% to virtually zero in ten years. The infant mortality rate for children under age of five in Cuba fell from 13 to eight per thousand in the 1990s.

There is a doctor for every thousand people, the best ratio in the world, and they have exported their medial skills to help the poor of the world, as South Africans know from the Cuban doctors who have worked here for next to nothing to help improve our health services.

Comrade Fidel holds a special place in South African hearts because of his decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to help our African liberation struggles. His intervention in the civil war in Angola became a crucial turning point in our struggle against apartheid capitalism. At the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1987, Cuban troops threw back the advance of apartheid South Africa's forces and started a process that led to the unravelling of the old regime, culminating in our victory for democracy and national liberation in 1994.

COSATU will continue to stand in undying solidarity with its fellow workers in Cuba in resisting the Bush government's latest threats to the people's rights to national independence and to control their own future. COSATU pledges to play its full part in the international campaign to end the US blockade and to free the Cuban Five, the Cuban citizens who have been illegally and unjustly imprisoned in the US for the last five years.

Viva Comrade Fidel Viva! Viva Cuba viva!"

Issued by Patrick Craven National Spokesperson of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, February 19 2008