Jesús Menéndez

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Jesús Menéndez Larrondo (14 December 1911 – 22 January 1948) was a Cuban labor leader, trade unionist, and communist politician. From a young age, he worked on the sugarcane fields and in sugar mills, and he began to organize his fellow sugar workers in strike actions, even as he faced retaliation from the government. He founded several trade unions, including the National Federation of Sugar Workers (FNTA), which he led as general secretary. In 1940, Menéndez was elected to the House of Representatives in the Congress of Cuba, representing the Communist Revolutionary Union party. Menéndez and the FNTA were involved in trade negotiations between Cuba and the United States after the end of World War II. He introduced important clauses into the agreement in 1946 that tied sugar workers' wages to the price paid for sugar, which increased year over year; this, combined with the increased post-war sugar exports to the US, was a boon to sugar workers. He also compelled the Cuban government to...

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