- by Yimel Diaz
- The Guardian
- Issue #1957
Gilda Chacón Bravo (right) with Nidia García Berenguer, then General Secretary of the National Union of Tobacco Workers, during the International Congress of Women Workers held in March 2018 in Panama. (Photo: Yimel Díaz Malmierca)
“The physical disappearance of our dear colleague Gilda Chacón Bravo constitutes a sensitive loss for the Cuban and International Trade Union Movement. She was a true militant of the Revolution, with a high commitment to the workers and her country, she always shone for her professionalism, self-denial and perseverance,” those were the words published on social media by Ismael Drullet Pérez, member of the National Secretariat of the CTC international relations.
“Gilda was an inexhaustible source of knowledge on complex issues of global unionism” he added and thanked the “the many friends around the world who have sent us their condolences, expressions of admiration, respect and appreciation for our unforgettable colleague.”
Among those displays of affection, the general secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) stands out George Mavrikos, who on the same 8th April published on his Facebook profile: “Our dear Gilda has left us. An hour ago, the comrade, leader of the CTC of Cuba and the WFTU, died in Havana. Your loss is irreparable. The WFTU loses a great woman and a militant. In the years that she lived and worked with us at the Athens Headquarters, she earned the love and appreciation of all of us. We have lost a comrade and sister. She was defeated by cancer. We express our sincere condolences to her family members and to the leadership of the CTC.”
Another page of the international class organisation asserted that “The WFTU family is losing a beloved member, a fighter, long-time militant, and internationalist who dedicated her entire life to the struggle so that the working class could have a better life. Gilda represented the WFTU on all continents, in many missions and in multilateral organisations, always protecting the rights of ordinary people who fight against social injustice and imperialism […] she has served the WFTU from different positions always with efficiency, determination and orientation to the principles and objectives of the class-oriented trade union movement.”
The Encuentro Sindical Nuestra América (ESNA), another of the articulating endeavours to which Gilda gave herself passionately, recognised that “a great comrade, a fighter, a revolutionary, a woman committed to the Cuban Revolution, to the continental and global struggle of workers. She accompanied the ESNA project and worked side by side with us. Her only objective was always to enhance our space of unity in diversity.”
The Trabajadores newspaper, for its part, had Gilda’s authorised voice on more than one occasion, always solicitous and professional, and answered each of our questions.
Trabajadores
