Florida, Mar. 11 – Lázaro Peña González took his first steps in syndicalism organizing protests against low salaries in the tobacco sector; a man of extraordinary intelligence and human quality, he was a militant in the ranks of the clandestine Communist Party since 1929 and had the merit of creating the Confederation of Cuban Workers 10 years later.
He was jailed several times for his activity against the tyranny of Gerardo Machado, and in 1934 he was elected member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, he contributed to organize the workers’ movement in its confrontation to the excesses of the governments in power and was general secretary of the Tobacco Workers Union, and member of the Executive Committee of the National Workers Confederation of Cuba.
Lázaro Peña was at the head of the National Workers Confederation of Cuba during the strike of March 1935; in 1939 he was elected general secretary of the Confederation of Cuban Workers; he was a delegate to the Constituent Assembly of 1940.
His work in favor of the unity of the workers of the world led him to found the Confederation of Latin American Workers, with headquarters in Mexico, and in 1945, when the World Federation of Trade Unions was constituted, he was among its founders and also occupied the responsibility of secretary and, later, vice-president of its executive committee.
