IMPLEMENT THE ARCOS PRINCIPLES!

George Plinio Montalván

"Don't give us the specifics, just tell us in general terms," said one of two Foreign Service officers while pointing to the walls and ceiling of a conference room at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, where we met last March, suggesting the room was bugged. They were inquiring about what I had seen and heard during my two weeks in Cuba, from the many conversations I had with people on the street to the lengthy meetings I held with dissidents from a variety of groups. I was incredulous.

Then it hit me: the same employment procedure used by the Cuban government to exploit workers in what the socialist constitution proclaims to be a "state of workers and farmers" applies not only to all foreign investors, but to all diplomatic posts in Cuba as well. Foreign investment is allowed in the form of joint ventures, with a Cuban holding company set up by the government as the local partner. However, the joint venture is prohibited from selecting and hiring workers directly; it must obtain them through a third party ¾a government employment agency¾ to which it must pay an average of $450 monthly per worker in dollars, or the equivalent in convertible currency. But the government agency pays each worker an average monthly wage of 203 pesos, equal to about $8.80 at the current exchange rate, and pockets the rest! If vice president Carlos Lage's figure of 60,000 workers employed by joint ventures is correct, this represents a tidy sum of $318 million per year in direct earnings, over and above its take in taxes and earnings as partner in the joint venture, to help keep the Castro regime in power. The diplomatic posts probably add another $10 million to the kitty.

This procedure, by which the government confiscates 98% of each worker's earnings, is also highly discriminatory in the hiring and firing of workers. First of all, while wages of $8.80 per month may seem paltry, especially considering that foreign investors are actually paying $450 and reportedly making handsome profits, these jobs are highly coveted because they bring the Cuban worker into direct contact with foreigners ¾thus increasing the opportunity to earn dollar tips¾ and/or with the supply of food destined for tourists in a terribly impoverished Cuba, where the peso has little value and finding the next meal is the principal activity of many.

In selecting "suitable" workers (trabajadores idóneos) to be assigned to a joint venture, revolutionary (i.e., Communist Party) credentials are the primary consideration, and when the joint venture wishes to remove a worker this is easily and summarily arranged through the employment agency. Staff assigned to diplomatic posts, supplied by Cubalse, S.A., are from the state security apparatus, and thus all embassies and diplomatic residences are thoroughly penetrated by Castro agents. While Cuban staff may be kept out of a top floor of the U.S. Interests Section in order to at least have a small secure area, this explains the warning given to me at the meeting.

The International Labour Organization, the UN Human Rights Commission, and the OAS Commission on Human Rights have all condemned the Cuban government for the systematic violation of several international labor conventions of which Cuba is a signatory, including freedom of association, freedom to organize independent labor unions and to bargain collectively, and non-discrimination in hiring and firing practices.

This is why the Arcos Principles were developed as a code of socially responsible business practices to be adopted by foreign investors in Cuba. They were inspired by the Sullivan Principles, which are widely credited for helping to bring about the end of apartheid and a multi-racial democracy in South Africa. The Arcos Principles were named for three brothers who were active in the revolt against the Batista dictatorship in the 1950's; one of the brothers, Gustavo Arcos, now a prominent dissident and secretary general of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by former laureates Oscar Arias, Maireal Corrigan and Desmond Tutu.

The Arcos Principles include: working actively for the establishment of a state of law, due process and respect for international human and labor rights conventions; using fair employment practices, including direct contracting of workers without discrimination; respecting employees' right to organize freely in the workplace and to choose an independent union to represent them in negotiations with management; and providing a safe and healthy workplace. In a country where "Foreign Capitalism or Death" would be a more accurate slogan than the ubiquitous "Socialism or Death," adherence to a set of principles such as these would effectively support an emerging working class and promote non-violent means to bring about democratic change.

The delegation of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress that visited Cuba late last year ¾including Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), Michael Barnes (D-MD), Jon Christensen (R-NE), Louis Frey, Jr. (R-FL), Toby Roth (R-WI) and James Symington (D-MO)¾ recommended that the Clinton Administration develop common strategies to support U.S. foreign policy goals and press the European Union to work for adoption of the Arcos Principles during 1997. Support for the Arcos Principles has also come from groups as diverse as Pax Christi and the Atlantic Alliance, and human rights and labor organizations such as the International Human Rights Society, the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, and Solidarity of Cuban Workers.

On April 10th, four courageous colleagues of Gustavo Arcos who form the "Working Group of the Internal Dissidence" ¾Félix Bonne Carcassés, René Gómez Manzano, Vladimiro Roca Antúnez and Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello¾ issued a call to foreign investors to observe the Arcos Principles as the best way to protect labor and human rights in Cuba and also their own future business interests, otherwise they might later be considered to have been accomplices of the tyrannical regime. For this and other bold acts of peaceful opposition, all four have been held and no doubt mistreated in Cuban state security dungeons pending charges since July 16th.

In July, the North American Committee, an influential group that brings together senior business, labor and academic leaders from Canada, Mexico and the U.S., released a set of principles for private sector involvement in Cuba very similar to the Arcos Principles. They were prodded by a prominent Mexican attorney and are an attempt to reconcile differences arising out of the Helms-Burton legislation, either through the continued suspension of application of Title III or agreed-upon amendments. However, pronouncements of this type will surely be unconvincing in Congress unless there is a real threat of disinvestment, as happened in the case of South Africa.

There appears to be a need for someone to take the initiative vis-à-vis the Cuban government in order for important investors to follow suit. It seems a logical strategy would be for European and Latin American governments, in concert with the U.S., to inform the Cuban government that henceforth they will only hire and pay Cuban staff directly for their diplomatic posts, not through Cubalse or any other government agency. Were the Cuban government to balk at this, the next step should be a joint communiqué calling for strict adherence by foreign investors to the Arcos Principles, with disinvestment as a consequence of a Cuban refusal to accept. Major investors today are from Canada, Chile, Israel, Italy, Spain and the U.K., countries which have taken strong positions on human and labor rights in Cuba. What are we waiting for to implement the Arcos Principles?

George Plinio Montalván is a Cuban-American economist living in the Washington, D.C. area.