Funeral honors Roberto Veiga Menéndez.
The ashes of the outstanding union leader and member of the July 26 Movement rest in the pantheon of the combatants, in the province of Matanzas, where he died on August 29th at the age of 87.
White flowers, a couple of photos and the affection of many, even of absentees, accompany the ashes of Roberto Veiga Menéndez, the outstanding union leader, who died last August 29th.
From many places of Matanzas, veterans and young cadres have arrived to say the last goodbye to the man born on November 5th, 1936 in the Matanzas neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo.
Employees of centers near the headquarters of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), in this western territory, joined the guard of honor, headed by Isdalys Rodriguez, second secretary of the CTC in the country, and by Osmar Ramirez Ramirez, maximum representative of this organization in Matanzas.
Arnaldo Diaz Hiedra remembers Veiga as a born union leader, consistent with his criteria and similar to his time. «Not just anyone could replace Lázaro Peña,» confesses Diaz, secretary of the union bureau at the Sol Palmeras Hotel.
From Santiago de Cuba, Ricardo Martínez Masdeu, expresses the «honor of sharing with Veiga in several moments of his career as a trade union leader», especially in his time as general secretary of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) in the former province of Oriente, where he maintained links with commanders Guillermo García Frías and Juan Almeida, and also with Armando Hart.
«His intelligence and proletarian spirit is what I admire most about him,» says Martinez Masdeu, an opinion repeated by his fellow workers in Matanzas, province where Veiga also held the top leadership of the trade union movement.
On the way to the pantheon of the combatants, where his ashes were deposited, some comment on his libertarian ideas, endorsed in his incorporation to the 26th of July Movement.
Caridad Rodriguez, his life companion for 33 years, remembers Veiga’s beginning as a foundry worker and his contribution to the emergence of the Metalworkers Union in Matanzas.
However, those close to him recall with great pride that moment when Lázaro Peña, already very ill, proposed Veiga to replace him in the position, a sign of confidence in his friend and faithful collaborator.
After the death of the Captain of the Working Class, on March 11th, 1974, Veiga was elected General Secretary of the CTC and remained in that position for 15 years, during which time he also served as vice-president of the World Federation of Trade Unions.
Selected as a member of the Central Committee at the First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, Veiga was a member of the Political Bureau at the second and third Congresses of this organization and was a member of the National Assembly and the Council of State.
In the last stage of his life, his performance as a member of the CANEC Economic Consultancy and as an advisor to several companies became very notorious, which he was extremely happy about, as he told me in one of the meetings organized by the CTC in Matanzas with former leaders, on the occasion of May Day.
On one of those occasions, he assured me that the most important thing in any performance must always be the results. With that maxim he traveled the roads, fought and overcame obstacles until his death.
Photos: Noryis
Written by Eva Luna Acosta Armiñán.
