Jesús Menéndez Larrondo

Jesús Menéndez Larrondo was a Cuban labor union leader and politician. Belonging to the sugar sector, he stood out for his great influence over the Cuban labor movement and the conquest of the so-called "sugar differential," for which he was called the General of the Cane Fields. He died assassinated by Captain Joaquín Casillas in an event that shocked the nation.

He was born in the municipality of Encrucijada in the former province of Las Villas. He was a member of the Popular Socialist Party (Cuba) starting in 1931. In 1938 he began serving as Secretary General of the Provincial Federation of Workers of Las Villas.

He also served as Secretary General of the National Sugar Workers Federation. In 1940 he was Alternate Delegate to the Constituent Assembly, and on two occasions he was a Representative of the Chamber of the Republic, until his death. In 1941 the PSP replaced Jesús Menéndez as secretary general of the Federation of Workers of Las Villas, as he would go on to lead the National Federation of Sugar Workers (FNTA) of Cuba.

His struggles were related to the labor defense of sugar workers, the eviction of peasants, the exploitation of the humble, and racism.
[edit] The Sugar Differential

Jesús Menéndez led important labor struggles such as the conquest of the "sugar differential," considered one of the greatest achievements of the Cuban working class before 1959.1 Because of these struggles he is known in Cuba as the General of the Cane Fields.

After World War II, Menéndez opposed the decision of Ramón Grau San Martín's government to establish and freeze for two years the price of sugar for the United States at a level much lower than what the international market established.

Advised by economist Jacinto Torres and the mobilization of sugar workers, Menéndez demanded and obtained that the union participate in the negotiations that took place in Washington, managing to impose a "guarantee clause" that established that the price of exported sugar would increase in the same proportion as the price of basic necessities that Cuba imported from the United States. Because of this clause, sugar workers obtained an extra salary of 13.42% at year's end, which became known as the "sugar differential."

As soon as Washington had the opportunity, it would suppress what had been agreed upon. In 1947, the Grau San Martín government followed American pressures and accepted a drastic reduction in the percentage established for the "sugar differential" for that year.

Under these conditions, the labor movement's struggle actions intensified until the government ordered his arrest, in an obvious act of provocation because Jesús Menéndez enjoyed immunity in his capacity as a representative to the Chamber for the Popular Socialist Party (Cuba).

On January 22, 1948, Captain Joaquín Casillas boarded in Manzanillo the train on which Menéndez was traveling with the intention of detaining him. Due to his immunity, the labor leader rejected the order as illegal and refused to follow the military officer, turning his back on him. Casillas then shot him, causing his death.

Captain Casillas was tried and found guilty of murder in case 91 of 1948. The family's prosecutor was lawyer Carlos Rafael Rodríguez. However, he would soon be set free. In 1958 he was executed after being captured in the Battle of Santa Clara.

Impact on Culture
Poet Nicolás Guillén, an intimate friend of Jesús Menéndez, then wrote a famous and extensive poem, Elegy, which begins with these verses:
The cane fields came and went
desperate, waving
their hands.
They warned you of death,
the broken back and the shot.