A delegation of labor leaders from the United States, including one man from Alabama, recently traveled to Cuba for a week as part of the Building Relations With Cuban Labor movement.
The delegation was led by Bill Camp, a political and social activist who has been a vocal critic of the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Camp is also the younger brother of longtime Walker County resident, the late Dr. Tom Camp.
Michael Franklin, nephew of Tom Camp and a teacher in Jefferson County, was one of the members of the delegation that traveled to Cuba.
Franklin, a longtime missionary to Honduras with the AHMEN group started by Tom Camp, said the group he was with spent a week in Cuba meeting with labor leaders, government officials and ordinary citizens. They discussed the economic and social situation in Cuba, as well as the impact of the embargo.
“It was a way to build relationships with our Cuban counterparts and learn more about their experiences,” Franklin said. “We also want to raise awareness about the impact of the embargo on the Cuban people.”
Franklin said even more pertinent than the embargo is trying to get Cuba removed from a list of state sponsors of terror.
“The Cuban people beg of us to force President Biden to lift Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism,” he said. “They were put on the list unfairly when Trump was in office. Biden has said he would remove them, but it has not happened.”
As an educator, Franklin was most impressed by Cuba’s 99.1 percent literacy rate. He said the illiteracy rate in the United States is 21 percent.
“Cuba devotes 30 percent of its GDP to education. In the U.S. we dedicate 3.5 percent of the GDP to educating K-12 students,” Franklin said. “They have basically solved a problem that our country is not close to solving. There are things we can learn from Cuba, and there are plenty of things they can learn from us. We need easier access to be able to learn from each other.”
The delegation’s trip is one of the few legal ways to travel to Cuba under the current U.S. restrictions. The Building Relations With Cuban Labor movement has four goals:
- To bring awareness to the economic and social situation in Cuba.
- To eliminate the economic blockade that the United States government has imposed upon Cuba.
- To close the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay and return the land to Cuba.
- To build relationships between labor leaders in the United States and Cuba.
“These trips are steps towards achieving those goals. It is an opportunity to build relationships and learn more about the Cuban people and their experiences,” Franklin said. “It is also an opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of the sanctions against Cuba and the need for change.”
