Solidarity-based partnerships are both a commitment and an exercise. They involve listening, learning, sharing, and mutual uplifting to flourish. These elements radiate partner-partner exchanges, whether in Latin America or Canada. When CoDev’s partners visit one another, they breathe new life into a partnership and invigorate their shared struggle for social justice.
This past October, the Canadian Public Employees’ Union (CUPE) held its 60th Biennial Convention in Quebec City. CUPE, a CoDev partner since 1995, invited a number of their international partners to the week-long event, among them Arisleydis Hidalgo Leyva, Secretary General of the Provincial Union of Public Administration Workers for the Havana Provincial Division (SPTAPH) in Cuba; Berenice Celeita Alayón, founder and President of the Association for Research and Social Action (NOMADESC), a human rights organization in Colombia; and Leocadio Juracán, National Coordinator of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) in Guatemala, who was accompanied by Steve Stewart of BC Casa.
CoDev’s Executive Director, Deanna Fasciani, and Human and Labour Rights Program Director, Nadia Revelo – both CUPE members – were invited to accompany Arisleydis and Berenice during the Convention. Beyond interpretation, Deanna and Nadia worked to facilitate connections between the Latin American partners and CUPE members and introduce, or reintroduce, to CUPE members the work of SPTAPH and NOMADESC, the struggles that they face, and the victories they have achieved.
For Berenice, this exchange marked the twentieth year of partnership between NOMADESC and CUPE, and this latest trip was one of several memorable occasions of connection between partners. For Arisleydis, her visit to Canada marked her first trip outside Cuba as well as a highly anticipated follow-up to the CUPE-CoDev delegation to Cuba in October 2022. Upon Arisleydis’s arrival to Canada, she partook in the first of what she would select for many of her meals that week: poutine. It was immediately evident that wherever we dined or explored in Quebec City, many people whom Arisleydis encountered, upon their discovery of Spanish being her mother tongue, were all too eager to respond to Arisleydis in whatever Spanish words or phrases they could utter, a gesture that touched Arisleydis throughout the week.
Sunday, October 22nd, was the orientation session for CUPE’s international guests, where Arisleydis was introduced to fellow labour leaders and activists from Guatemala, Haiti, the Philippines, and the United States. The day closed with the Delegates’ Reception, where Arisleydis was reunited with her dear compañera (comrade), Karen Ranalletta, President of CUPE BC, who, as SPTAPH’s partner, had participated in the CUPE delegation to Cuba in 2022 and who returned from Cuba on a mission to share with CUPE members across B.C. what she had witnessed, heard, and experienced.
Even before the official inauguration of Convention 2023 the following Monday, an aura of welcome and spirit of solidarity permeated Convention, enhanced by a vibrant live rendition of "Hasta Siempre, Comandante" ("Until Forever, Commander"), which was being performed in the Convention Hall just as Arisleydis entered the packed room. That morning, Arisleydis and Berenice joined fellow international guests on stage before a sea of over 2,000 CUPE delegates. Later that evening at CUPE’s Human Rights Forum, Arisleydis and Berenice heard about the work CUPE members are undertaking to promote equity and social justice in their union and communities. Arisleydis was particularly struck by facts shared by the Canadian Council of Refugees regarding discriminatory barriers faced by Latin American migrants seeking asylum in Canada. Immediately following the forum, Arisleydis and Berenice, partners of CUPE BC in addition to CUPE National, participated in a meeting of CUPE BC members to hear members voice their priorities and ambitions for convention.
Left to Right: Arisleydis Hidalgo Leyva of SPTAPH (Cuba), Sarah Bjorknas of CUPE BC’s International Solidarity Committee, Karen Ranalletta, CUPE BC President, and Berenice Celeita Alayon of NOMADESC (Colombia), at the CUPE Human Rights Forum, Quebec City, Oct. 23, 2023.
Tuesday, October 24th, Arisleydis delivered a powerful speech at CUPE’s International Solidarity Reception, where she spoke of her union’s and CUPE’s nearly three decades of partnership which has endured in face of a relentless extraterritorial blockade. She underscored the role that solidarity from CUPE has played in her union’s efforts to train and service its members amidst the 60-plus year blockade. Arisleydis, moreover, expressed her union’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and linked the oppression of the Palestinian people to struggles of oppressed people around the world.
Arisleydis presenting CUPE President Mark Hancock with a Cuban flag at CUPE’s International Solidarity Reception, Quebec City, Oct. 24, 2023
Arisleydis with Yolanda McClean, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario, at International Solidarity Reception, Quebec City, Oct. 24, 2023
That night, Arisleydis and Berenice hit the dance floor with CUPE members at the Convention Social, where the DJ took note of the vibe on the floor and played a number of Latin American tunes in celebration of internationalism and CUPE’s Latin American guests.
Arisleydis with CUPE provincial division presidents! Left to right: Judy Henley, President of CUPE Saskatchewan, Karen Ranalletta, President of CUPE BC, Arisleydis Hidalgo Leyva, Secretary-General of SPTAPH (Cuba), Ashley Clark, President of CUPE Prince Edward Island, Sherry Hillier, President of CUPE Newfoundland, Natalie Webber of CUPE Global Justice Committee - Newfoundland representative, Convention Social, Quebec City, Oct. 24, 2023
Wednesday, October 25th, Berenice delivered an impassioned speech to hundreds of CUPE members at the plenary, bringing delegates to their feet and generating a thunderous applause. Berenice spoke of the deadly state security response to the historic National Strike in Colombia in 2021 and of NOMADESC’s quest for justice for the victims, the families of the victims, and survivors; of NOMADESC’s work in forming new generations of social leaders through the Intercultural University of the Peoples; of the continuing political violence targeting youth and Indigenous, Afro-descendent, and peasant communities; of the connection between the violence experienced by Palestinians and targeted communities in Colombia; and of CUPE’s steadfast solidarity with Colombian human rights defenders. Later that night, Berenice spoke again as part of an international panel for CUPE’s Global Justice Forum, where she and fellow activists from Haiti and the Philippines shared insight, lessons, and strategies around community and broad-based organizing and global solidarity.
Thursday, October 26th, Happy Birthday, Arisleydis! A year ago, to the day, CUPE National and CUPE BC delegates celebrated Arisleydis’s birthday in Cuba during the CUPE BC delegation. Arisleydis’ birthday this year occasioned a stroll around the historic city centre before her sit-down chat with Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, where she connected with Fred on his experience in Cuba, an exchange whose potency was palpable to both provincial union leaders. Meanwhile, Berenice and Nadia participated with hundreds of CUPE members in a rally in solidarity with the Common Front, a labour coalition counting 420,000 members, including CUPE members in Quebec, which has mobilized to press the provincial government for respect and a decent wage increase.
That evening, Berenice spoke at Tintico, a local Colombian café and meeting space, accompanied by Nadia, Arisleydis, and Deanna and surrounded by members of the local Colombian community. As the event centerpiece, photos were displayed with the names and ages of just some of the dozens of youth killed by Colombian state security forces during the 2021 National Strike. Berenice and the attendees shared their experiences, lessons, and strength. Later that night, Berenice attended a special reception where she met Parliamentarians and CUPE leaders. Arisleydis capped her night with a celebratory dinner, a reunion of sorts, with some delegates from last year’s exchange in Cuba, along with co-chairs of the CUPE National Global Justice Committee and CUPE BC International Solidarity Committee.
Throughout convention week, Arisleydis delighted in the animated exchanges in which she participated in the inviting atmosphere of CUPE Village, a collection of displays and outreach teams with whom CUPE delegates were invited to interact. One highlight was Arisleydis’s discussion with members of CUPE New Brunswick about the Let Cuba Live Campaign and the CUPE New Brunswick members’ efforts to combat privatization and underfunding of long-term care in New Brunswick. Arisleydis expressed her astonishment at the paucity of resources allocated to the care of society’s elders and the most vulnerable. She also shared her experience of living under a blockade, of the devastating effects of the U.S. imposition of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terror, and of the critical role of working people around the world to exert pressure on U.S. authorities to remove Cuba from the list.
Arisleydis with CUPE New Brunswick members at CUPE Village, holding a Let Cuba Live Campaign flyer, Quebec, City.
Reflecting on the busy week, as she embarked on her return trip to Cuba, Arisleydis expressed her fondness for the people of Quebec City, her affinity with CUPE members, the fulfilment of her mission on behalf of her union, her cherishing of the experience, and the realization of a dream of hers finally come true. For Berenice, the final leg of her journey in Canada saw her head to Ottawa, where she met with Global Affairs Canada, accompanied by her Canadian partners under the Americas Policy Group, to press for Canada’s support for human rights in Colombia. Leocadio, likewise, met with Global Affairs Canada and toured eastern Canada to call for Canadian Government and civil society to support peaceful strikes, democracy, and human rights in Guatemala. Although Convention is over, the connections cultivated there endure, grow, lend power, and promote unity in struggle for years to come.
