All humans have fibrous tissues between the calf muscles and the heel bone that form a connection without which we could not stand on tiptoe when walking, running or jumping, but it is thanks to the imagination of the ancient Greeks that we give it a name that alludes to a weak point.
It is said that Achilles’ mother bathed him in magical waters that would protect him, but when she held him by his heel, he did not get wet and remained as his only vulnerable part, so for the prophecy of his death to be fulfilled, he had to be wounded in that part.
In this regard, most of the references say:
It was the god Apollo -who supported the Trojans- who guided the arrow to their vulnerable point: the heel.
Only in this way they manage to defeat the warrior who appears in the first line of the «Iliad», whose anger sets the whole story in motion, that demi-god, murderer, plunderer, bad-tempered, temperamental, ruthless and cruel but also the one who is always faster, sharper, bigger, brighter, more important and more beautiful than other men.
In Avanzar con toda la tropa it is explained that in circumstances of danger the workers show that they are ready for anything, which is not always the case with everyone united in the everyday, the daily, and it is then like an Achilles Heel, about which Lázaro Peña said:
The best of the troop opened the way, they have already traced it, now we have to take positions, we have to advance with the whole troop, and we have to add everyone, mobilize everyone, win everyone, unite everyone for the necessary action.
Those words of the Captain of the Cuban working class were said in a plenary session prior to the XIII Congress of the CTC, and now in another one that precedes the 22nd Congress of the CTC, it is considered that to achieve that unity, it is necessary to identify the ideal worker to lead the section or the union bureau, for which according to what is reported in The 22nd Congress has to be a mobilizing exercise that the general secretary of the CTC Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento affirms:
To fight for the rights of employees, it is necessary to select the most capable person, with recognition and authority, and, after choosing him/her, to train him/her in legal, economic and labor matters, only in this way he/she will be able to represent.
The article entitled Transformar el escenario económico y perfeccionar lo ideológico (Transforming the economic scenario and perfecting the ideological) includes these reflections by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento:
The 22nd Congress of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) has the responsibility to transform the economic scenario of the country and to improve the ideological influence of the unions in the workers’ collectives.
He adds:
It will be necessary to discuss the distortions of the non-state sector in order to transform it and turn this scenario into a productive one and not only a commercial one, as well as to improve the linkage of all the actors of the economy.
Note the final words: The chaining together of all the actors of the economy, which is the key to ward off the modern version of the prophecy of the declared enemies of Cuban workers and their families.
Although in the economic field it is necessary to chain all the actors of the economy, during the process prior to the 22nd Congress of the CTC, the ideological aspect is also essential in favor of unity, for which we must take into account what Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento said:
Transforming the country’s economic scenario and improving the ideological influence of trade unions on workers’ collectives.
Regardless of the fact that this Guagua addresses the issue in a general way, in the workers’ collectives it is necessary to deal with it according to the concrete situation and the moment in which they develop, in order to successfully confront the enemy that has many resources dedicated to target the Achilles Heel that represents disunity, division, fractioning and insufficient level of unity.
Divide and conquer
The Treasury Department of the Biden administration announced new measures towards the private sector in Cuba to give it some possibilities without lowering the intensity of the pressures, since they are still governed by the objectives formulated on April 6, 1960 by Lester D. Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, who in a declassified secret memorandum of the State Department defined the philosophy of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed months later unilaterally against Cuba:
The majority of Cubans support Castro (…) the only foreseeable way to undermine his internal support is through disenchantment and dissatisfaction arising from economic malaise and material difficulties (…) all possible means must be rapidly employed to weaken the economic life of Cuba (…) a course of action which, being as skillful and discreet as possible, will achieve the greatest progress in depriving Cuba of money and supplies, to reduce its financial resources and real wages, to provoke hunger, despair, desperation, and the destruction of the Cuban economy. ) a line of action which, being as skillful and discreet as possible, will achieve the greatest progress in depriving Cuba of money and supplies, in order to reduce its financial resources and real wages, to provoke hunger, despair and the overthrow of the Government.
He recommended Mallory to be as skillful and discreet as possible, for which the union movement must be alert, as they can skillfully squeeze everyone and loosen up a little on some to discreetly create fissures among the workers.
We are all workers, including those in the cooperative and MSME sectors that, thanks to the new measure announced, will have certain benefits, as reported by the AP agency under the title «US opens banking to Cuban businesses in order to boost the private sector»:
One of the main changes would allow owners of private Cuban companies to open U.S. bank accounts and access them online once they are back in Cuba, something they could not do previously. In addition, the United States will again allow so-called «U-turn» transactions, in which money is transferred from one country to another but routed through the United States.
In this regard, MINREX stated:
The Cuban government will study these measures and, if they do not violate national legislation and represent an opening that benefits the Cuban population, even if only a segment, it will not hinder their implementation.
Of course, the Cuban trade union movement does not oppose the application of these measures, which will benefit around 11,000 private companies that have employed approximately one third of the employees.
In addition to cautiously awaiting the development of events, the trade union organizations immediately have elements for the analysis of decisions that are suspiciously announced shortly after the US withdraws Cuba from the list of countries that fully cooperate in the fight against terrorism.
However, and most significantly, it maintains Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, which discourages U.S. or third country banks from having relations with Cuba due to the threat of fines and sanctions or fears generated by the Helms-Burton Act and the influence of that powerful nation in the financial system.
Undoubtedly, one cannot lose sight of the U.S. government’s reaction to the growth of the Cuban private sector in the heat of the economic transformations that include a growing participation of foreign businessmen and Cuban citizens.
If their intentions are good, they are welcome, but we must also be prepared if they persist in undermining internal support for the Revolution through the disenchantment and dissatisfaction arising from the economic malaise and material difficulties, and for this purpose they are now trying to use the new private economic actors.
Let us not lose sight of the blockade in its double aspect, the one they impose from the outside and the one they introduce to act from the inside, not only to cause inefficiency, but also the division of workers and family members to confront the legal and political structures.
In summary: There is an Achilles’ heel, but above all, a protective shield in the unity of all workers and their families.
If the enemy allocates considerable resources, including monetary ones, so that the new economic players become a factor of change, the trade union movement could help it to be a factor of change, so that private companies become integrated together with the rest of the actors, for the benefit of its people.
One of the most forceful ways to respond to these attempts to artificially and maliciously separate the private and public sectors is for the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba and its unions through unionization to give unity to all workers in order to strengthen the business system and society as a whole.
There are enough motivations to achieve unity among all the components of the entrepreneurial system, and also of its workers, since all within Cuban society are victims of the economic, commercial and financial blockade that creates difficulties for all equally and then they try to confuse them with certain advantages for the private ones.
