BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS AND MARTÍN KOPPEL
SAN DIEGO, Villa Clara Province, Cuba - "Mister Clinton, there won't be any transition to capitalism here!" This was one of the most popular chants at a march of 1,500 people here April 24. Many workers and farmers carried homemade cardboard signs with similar slogans as they paraded through the streets and into the soccer stadium for a rally in this town of 8,000, where the surrounding sugarcane fields stretch to the horizon.

The demonstration was one of many taking place in cities, towns, and villages throughout this Caribbean island in preparation for May Day, the international working-class holiday. Everywhere, the mobilizations have become an opportunity for Cuban working people to express their response to the latest threats and pressures from Washington against their revolution.

The celebration in San Diego was festive and defiant. Contingents of workers from all the local trade unions marched through the streets to the beat of an Afro-Cuban band. Interspersed was the singing of the International - an anthem of the working-class movement dating back to the Paris Commune - and the anthem of the July 26 Movement, the organization headed by Fidel Castro that led the revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed tyranny in 1959 and opened the first socialist revolution in the Americas.

Most prominent were the sugar workers, who marched behind a sugar cane combine decked in banners; the workers from the canned foods factory with their own colorful float; and restaurant workers, transportation workers, teachers, artists, and elementary and high school students. A large group of workers from the local garment factory, almost all women, was particularly vocal.

Marchers young and old carried placards and banners with a multitude of hand-lettered slogans such as: "Helms-Burton, Noooooo!" "No transition, no surrender!" "Cuba yes, interventionist law no!" and "We are the mambises of the 20th century and this is our Protest of Baraguá."

The common theme of these signs was condemnation of Washington's economic war against Cuba, especially the embargo-tightening legislation generally known as the Helms- Burton law. What has drawn particular scorn in Cuba, however, is a January 28 report by U.S. president Clinton, which offered $4 - 8 billion in "aid" if the Cuban people removed Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro from the revolutionary government and accepted a "transition" to capitalism, as demanded in the Helms-Burton act.

In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of Cuban workers, peasants, military officers, students, and others have signed their names to a manifesto rejecting this bribe. The Declaration of the 20th Century Mambises, as it is called, affirms their resolve to defend their national sovereignty and socialist revolution.

The mambises were the fighters in the plebeian armies of the late 19th century that fought for Cuba's independence from Spanish colonial rule. At the end of the first of two wars of independence, Antonio Maceo was among the handful of military leaders of the liberation forces who refused to sign an accord ending the hostilities in 1878. He made public his rejection in the Protest of Baraguá, and later commanded the second liberation war.

Clinton draws special scorn
At the demonstration, the U.S. president was the subject of special ridicule and contempt for his underestimation of the Cuban people. One sugar worker in his 50s marched with a sign that stated, "Clinton, cabrón, remember Girón!" using a derogatory term for Clinton and referring to the decisive defeat of Washington's mercenary invasion of the island in April 1961 by Cuban workers and farmers at Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs).

Unionists at the march gathered around visiting reporters, eager to voice their opinions. Ramón Castellón, a grade school teacher, was carrying a giant pencil labeled "We will be like Che," referring to Ernesto Che Guevara, a central leader of the Cuban revolution. "The United States shouldn't even try to impose a `transition' government in Cuba because they would fail," he said, flanked by some of his co-workers. "First they would have to fight us and burn the island to the ground."

Washington's effort to pit working people against their revolutionary leadership has likewise failed, as interviews with numerous workers in Villa Clara and Cienfuegos provinces, as well as Havana, indicated. Eladio Martínez, a worker at La Esperanza farm cooperative near Cienfuegos, expressed a commonly heard sentiment: "They [Washington] want Fidel's head. But we're not going to let them do that. Today they would have to cut off too many heads."

At the San Diego rally, Amarillis Jiménez, from the municipal leadership of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC), gave the keynote speech. This year's event, she noted, was dedicated to Che Guevara on the 30th anniversary of his death. Guevara fell in combat in October 1967 while leading a guerrilla unit in Bolivia that set out to build a mass revolutionary movement of working people that could take power in that country and extend the socialist revolution in South America.

The U.S. government wants to reimpose capitalism in Cuba, Jiménez explained. "We reject going back to exploitation of man by man," she declared. "We reject the discrimination against women. We reject a society where selfishness prevails."

The CTC leader described how working people and youth had expressed their repudiation of Washington's attacks on the Cuban revolution by massively signing both the Declaration of the Mambises of the 20th Century and the Law for the Reaffirmation of Dignity and National Sovereignty.

This Cuban law was passed last December by the country's National Assembly in response to the Helms-Burton act, which among other things sanctions non-U.S. companies "trafficking" in formerly capitalist property expropriated by Cuba's workers and farmers. Under the Law of Dignity, which declares the Helms-Burton law null and void, all those in the United States who seek to implement the U.S. law will be excluded from any future negotiations on compensation for nationalized property. Another provision guarantees Cuban citizens the right to sue for compensation if they are victims of any U.S.-backed aggressions against Cuba since 1959.

Resisting impact of Helms-Burton act
In her speech, Jiménez highlighted the current effort to bring in this year's sugar harvest, scheduled to end in early May. "This harvest demonstrates our determination and resistance," she stated.

Most workers at sugarcane cooperatives and sugar mills interviewed by Militant reporters said they expect this harvest will reach or slightly exceed last year's production of just under 4.5 million tons. In 1996, production of sugar was 30 percent higher than the 1995 level of 3.3 million tons, -the lowest in half a century. Before the abrupt end of aid and trade on favorable terms with the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in the early 1990s -which opened what Cubans refer to as the "special period" - sugar production reached or exceeded 8 million tons annually. The subsequent drop has cut into Cuba's capacity to import needed goods, since sugar remains the country's main export crop and a primary source of hard currency.

Since the enactment of the Helms-Burton act in March of last year, credits that the Cuban government secured for the 1995-96 harvest to import fertilizer, herbicides, combine engines, and spare parts have begun to dry up. As a result, crucial supplies were late or did not arrive at all for this year's harvest. In addition, hurricane Lili and several months of drought have lowered sugarcane yields. This is especially the case in Villa Clara - until last year the number one province in sugarcane production - and Cienfuegos, hardest hit by the storm. Crippling shortages of everything from fuel and pesticides to work boots persist today.

Working people in the countryside have been waging a tough battle, often laboring 16-hour days seven days a week, to surpass last year's production. Many described this effort as being at the heart of their resistance to Washington's brutal economic assault.

A special May Day
"May Day is special this year," said Dalia Mino, 29, a nurse at the main clinic in San Diego, interviewed after the rally here. "We are celebrating 30 years since the murder of Che, by defying imperialism and fighting against all odds to increase production." She had just returned from 10 days of voluntary labor weeding cane fields.

The combine preceding the contingent of sugar mill workers and members of a Basic Unit of Cooperative Production (UBPC) carried a big sign reading, "We met the goal," referring to their quota for the sugar harvest. UBPCs are cooperatives that have replaced most state farms throughout the island since 1993.

Dozens of UBPC members interviewed in Villa Clara and Cienfuegos described in detail their struggle to keep tractors and combines running by fabricating spare parts when possible, organizing maintenance brigades, and cutting cane by hand, often with torn boots or even barefoot.

"Some thought that with the fall of the socialist camp, Cuba would fall too," said José Medina, a truck driver at the Matún UBPC in Cienfuegos during an interview there on April 25. "But that didn't happen. I think the special period made us stronger. We proved we are capable of doing more with less."

The identification with the Cuban revolution is prevalent even among many of those who express open discontent with the current economic hardships. María, a retired teacher, riding with Militant reporters on the road from Cienfuegos to Havana April 26, complained about high prices for food in the agricultural markets, irregular bus schedules, shortages of dairy products and affordable clothing, and inadequate housing. "Things are getting worse," she said. She added, however, that she was not willing to give up the social gains of the Cuban revolution for the brutality and individualism that prevail in countries like the United States, Mexico, or Peru.

"At least here no one has been thrown onto the streets in the middle of this crisis. You don't see thousands of people sleeping in cardboard shacks under the bridges." The Helms- Burton law, she said, "is an anti-Cuban law. Too many people spilled their blood to win sovereignty in this country for us to go back to slavery."

`We want them to know we are ready'
The resistance by Cuban working people to Washington's economic war has been intertwined with improving the military preparedness of the population to resist imperialist military aggression. This too was a prominent feature of the mobilizations leading up to May Day.

At the CTC-organized rally in San Diego, several unions were given awards for their achievements over the past year. The teachers union won first place based on outstanding performance in several categories, including participation in voluntary labor campaigns, military training, and building "people's tunnels." Working people and students have built these ubiquitous underground tunnels as part of their preparation for any imperialist military attack. They are now to be found near workplaces, at campuses, and in fields and residential areas throughout the island.

Coordinated rallies, demonstrations, and military training exercises were held April 20 in many cities as part of a national Day of Defense. At the Copacabana hotel on the shorefront of western Havana, for instance, about 100 hotel workers took part in grenade-throwing practice early that morning.

Defense coordinator Amaury Quintana, a veteran of the July 26 Movement and Rebel Army, explained that the exercise was organized by the Production and Defense Brigade at that workplace. "In case of enemy attack, workers here would be assigned a variety of related tasks: defending the facilities from sea attack, evacuation of tourists, and maintaining the functioning of the hotel during the attack." Such brigades are organized at workplaces everywhere, with special priority given to major industrial and other economic sites. Practical and theoretical training takes place monthly.

The Production and Defense Brigades in the workplaces, together with the Territorial Troop Militias and Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), are part of the massive military training and arming of the country's population in defense of the revolution against imperialist assault, a strategy known as the War of the Entire People that has been developed by the revolutionary leadership since Washington's belligerent moves against Cuba in the early 1980s.

Pointing to the workers drilling on the hotel's tennis courts, Quintana smiled and explained, "See, these defense activities are all public. You can go anywhere and people will tell you what they're carrying out in their neighborhood. We want them - 90 miles away - to know."

About 400,000 people took part in military exercises that day in the capital and the province of Havana, and similar actions were held elsewhere. The exercises included target practice, antiaircraft and antitank drills, distribution of food and fuel, and organization of centers to care for large numbers of wounded civilians.

Mass mobilizations took place in several cities on the Day of Defense. Twenty thousand people rallied in Ciego de Avila and 50,000 in Holguín, , with other actions taking place in Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas, and other cities. The rallies celebrated both Cuba's victory at Playa Girón and the 40th anniversary of the FAR, founded in December 1956 as the Rebel Army. At these events, thousands of military officials were given promotions and medals for distinguished performance.

The mobilizations in late April will climax with large marches and rallies in Havana and other major cities. In Havana, 40,000 vanguard workers are to head the May Day march. They will include workers from 34 work sites that have been recognized as Vanguard Workplaces, as well as from 14 voluntary labor contingents of construction workers.

Mike Taber and Mary-Alice Waters contributed to this article.  
 
 
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