Photographer Questions the CTC's Role: "If the Union Answers to the Party, Who Stands for the Workers?"

Cuban photographer and journalist Kaloian Santos Cabrera has sparked a conversation on the authenticity of the Cuban Workers' Central Union (CTC) as a true representative of workers. His essay, published on Facebook, comes in the wake of the XXII Congress of the CTC.

The essay was a direct response to the reappointment of Osnay Miguel Colina Rodríguez as the general secretary of the union. Colina, who was placed in this role by the ruling Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in August 2025, took over from Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, who led the organization for over 12 years.

Questioning the Leadership's Legitimacy

Santos Cabrera criticizes the fact that Colina's entire career has been tied to the Young Communist League (UJC) and the PCC—rising to become the First Secretary of the Party's Provincial Committee in Villa Clara—without any experience in a union, factory, hospital, or other workplaces.

"Does it really make sense for a Communist Party official to defend the workers? Someone whose entire career has been within the UJC and PCC, moving directly from First Secretary of the Party's Provincial Committee in Villa Clara to general secretary of the CTC, without ever having worked in a union, factory, hospital, school, or any workplace?" the journalist questions.

A Critique Beyond Individuals

He emphasizes that his critique is not personal but targets a political practice institutionalized over decades. "It's not about Osnay Colina. I met him when he was the ideological chief of the National UJC, while I was a journalist at Juventud Rebelde. I remember him as a polite official. My criticism is directed at a political practice that's become normalized," he clarifies.

Historical and Theoretical Context

Santos Cabrera highlights a fundamental contradiction: "The person who should be defending workers against the nation’s largest employer—the State—belongs to the same political structure that controls the State."

The essay ties this critique to the Marxist tradition that the Cuban regime claims to embody. The journalist reminds readers that Karl Marx saw unions as autonomous worker organizations, Rosa Luxemburg advocated for their independence, and Vladimir Lenin described them as a bridge between the State and workers, not as an extension of political machinery.

"It was under Stalin that unions became wholly subjugated to the State and Party, losing much of their independent representation of workers," Santos Cabrera notes, pointing to Cuba’s current approach.

The Need for Independent Unions

The XXII Congress, held at Havana's Convention Palace with 759 delegates—198 in person and 561 via videoconference—took place as Roberto Morales Ojeda discussed "union democracy" and Díaz-Canel concluded the event, dismissing any capitalist drift and upholding 176 economic and social changes approved in June 2026.

Santos Cabrera broadens his analysis to Cuba's economic future. With private sector growth, the increase of micro, small, and medium enterprises (mipymes), and self-employment, the demand for truly autonomous unions transitions from an ideological debate to an urgent necessity. "As the economy transforms, so too must the institutions designed to protect those who live by their labor," he writes.

Having previously worked in official Cuban media before pursuing an independent career, Santos Cabrera ends his essay with a pressing question: "Perhaps it's time to ask if the Cuban Workers' Central Union genuinely represents the workers or if, in practice, it represents the State to the workers. This distinction is not mere semantics; it is the very essence of what a union should be."