- The National Assembly of People’s Power’s Ninth Legislature meeting in its Fourth Period of Ordinary Sessions can only be described as historic. Despite escalating attacks and the tightening of the U.S. blockade, Cuba is advancing, strengthening institutions, implementing our new Constitution, resisting economic decline, and defending the Revolution and socialism, with joy and in peace.
- With the presence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba; President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; Second Party Secretary José Ramon Machado Ventura; and Assembly President Esteban Lazo, deputies met December 20-21to approve a timetable for new legislation to reflect changes implied by the new Constitution’s transitory mandates.
- Reports on the performance of the 2019 Economic Plan and State Budget were presented and approved, as well as projections for 2020. Estimates indicate that the country’s GDP showed some slight growth this year, under very adverse conditions, avoiding a decline.
- On the proposal of President Díaz-Canel, in accordance with Transitory Stipulation III, proposed the designation of Manuel Marrero Cruz as Prime Minister, and as vice presidents of the Council of Ministers Comandante de la Revolución Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Inés María Chapman, Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, Alejandro Gil Fernández, and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, as well as other members of the body. All were approved by the National Assembly.
- In his comments closing the session, President Díaz-Canel stated, “Steeled by all these years of resistance, and supported by the strength of the work erected against all odds over six decades, we have been able to move through 2019 overcoming obstacles that appeared insurmountable, and today can rightly celebrate, without complacency and conscious that every goal met is a new starting point.”
(Granma)