UITBB mourns Comrade Carlos Antonio De Dios Oquendo of Cuba
It is with great sadness that the Trade Unions International of Workers of the Building, Wood and Building Materials Industries (UITBB) has been informed of the passing of Comrade Carlos Antonio De Dios Oquendo, former General Secretary of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Construcción (SNTC) Cuba and UITBB Executive Committee member.
Comrade Carlos was one of the most militant trade unionists of SNTC and UITBB in Latin America and the Caribbean. Carlos’s life was defined by his practical commitment to workers’ rights and his belief that construction workers deserve dignity and safety. From his early days in Cuba’s construction sector to his international work with UITBB, he remained true to his working-class roots and revolutionary principles.
As a leader within SNTC Cuba, Carlos worked tirelessly to improve conditions for construction workers, focusing on workplace safety, training, and ensuring workers had a voice in their industry. His direct connection to workers on building sites earned him deep respect from colleagues and comrades alike.
During his time on the UITBB Executive Committee, Carlos brought valuable perspective from the Cuba and shared his revolutionary ideas with the rest of the world through the ranks of UITBB. His contributions strengthened our campaigns against capital exploitation across continents. International solidarity was always very important to Carlos, who was committed to building real connections between workers worldwide facing similar struggles.
We honor comrade Carlos not in words only but in continuing his work. The lessons he taught us—about solidarity, about standing firm against exploitation, about the dignity of labor, about the courage against the long and inhuman blockade by successive US administrations—will guide our ongoing struggle for construction workers worldwide. His legacy lives on in the relationships between construction unions across continents and in our collective commitment to a world where workers build not just structures but a just society.
Comrade Carlos Antonio De Dios Oquendo, you will be missed but you will not be forgotten.
The UITBB Secretariat