In a Cuban television report, it was reported that among the novelties, the presentation of a collection of books on the work and legacy of Eusebio Leal Spengler stands out. One of the texts is You have to believe in Cuba, a compendium of interviews conducted with the historian by the journalist Magda Resik, Director of Communication of the OHCH.

According to Resik, under the seal of Ediciones Boloña, the El Historiador collection has already begun, bringing together the best of Leal Spengler’s thought and work.

It will be a kind of anthology of the thoughts and ideas of Leal Spengler on various topics: heritage, history and national culture, argued the Director of Communication of the OHCH.

Resik added that the Andar La Habana collection is also being expanded, which includes all the programs that the eternal Historian of the City led for more than 20 years.

As part of the program of activities, there will be new presentations of the documentary The Capitol of all Cubans, by the OHCH, which summarizes the restoration work carried out in that building.

Resik announced that the Beloved Homeland room will be inaugurated in the Eusebio Leal Spengler House, a space that shows his close relationship with Cuban identity, his defense of Cuban values ​​and his passion for Cuba.

As usual, the traditional ceremony is planned in the Bandstand, the founding site of the city.

September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh read Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence in the capital city’s Ba Dinh Square, confirming the defeat of French colonialism.

On the 75th anniversary of this transcendental event, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez sent their Vietnamese counterparts messages of congratulations.

In his note to Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary general of the Communist Party and President of Vietnam, Raúl expressed “cordial congratulations” in the name of the PCC and the Cuban people.

“The occasion is an opportune moment to reiterate our commitment to continue strengthening the unbreakable ties of friendship and cooperation that characterize the relations between our two countries,” he wrote, according to Prensa Latina.

President Díaz-Canel, for his part, conveyed to Phu Trong, and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the “most sincere congratulations in the name of the Cuban people and government,” and reconfirmed “the firm intention to continue strengthening the relations of friendship and cooperation between our nations.”

The President likewise expressed the pride felt by all Cubans in the “historic ties and solidarity forged by our two peoples in the common struggle for freedom, independence, and development.”

Also in the name of the Cuban people and government, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero extended to his Vietnamese counterpart “the warmest congratulations,” and reiterated the will to continue promoting bilateral cooperation in all spheres, as well as the longstanding friendship shared by the two countries.

The sisterhood of our peoples is based on the Marxist principles of our parties and the legacies of our historic leaders Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh.

(Source: Viet Nam)

Raul highlighted the Ministry as “a bastion of state Security, citizen tranquility and internal order,” and reaffirmed his confidence that current work honors “those who offered their lives in this trench of the Revolution and those who today with firmness and consecration are fighting new, complex battles.”

The “strong embrace” of the Army General was joined by that of the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who stated: “Honor and glory to their heroes and martyrs, who are always in the vanguard of the vanguard,” in a tweet praising the work of Minint combatants.

MORAL AUTHORITY, IN UNIFORM

An unfortunate incident on the eve of the commemoration, which resulted in the death of a police officer and injuries to two others, brought multiple expressions of solidarity and condolences, many on Twitter with the hashtag #MiVidaPorTi (MyLifeForYou).

Other expressions of congratulations and praise for the Ministry from authorities, including the president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Esteban Lazo Hernández, Comandante de la Revolución Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, were joined by a flood of messages from citizens, many on social media, condemning the violent act and expressing respect and admiration for the work of these guarantors of citizen tranquility in the fight against crime, and promoting compliance with measures to contain COVID-19 in the nation.

According to the most persistent historians, the villa was founded on the banks of the Tuinucú River, between two valleys that would later be called El Fraile and Pueblo Viejo, although within a few years a move was made toward the Yayabo, where the city took root, became involved in national life, was awarded its status as a city by Royal Order in 1867, and became provincial capital in 1976.

Upon announcing the festivities, Alexis Lorente Jiménez, deputy to the Cuban National Assembly and president of the municipal government, told Granma, “Some say that Sancti Spíritus is a city that seems to be asleep, but I can assure you that it is very much awake.”

Although festivities had been underway for some time, the celebration began last Friday and will continue through Tuesday, when a solemn session of the Municipal Assembly will be held, to pay tribute to the city and remember the participation of its men and women in all the country’s struggles.

June 4 will be commemorated with a cultural gala around the bridge over the Yayabo River, one of the city’s distinctive sites, and the Teatro Principal, an institution that reaches its 180th anniversary today.

“Thank you for giving life, home, care, food. For maintaining daily heroism. For giving birth to this people who you make so proud,” wrote the President, adding: “A beautiful day of mothers, reminding us of the tribute we owe to these heroines every day.”

Mariana Grajales Cuello is a living example of a woman who gave her children and all her energy for Cuba’s freedom. This is the name her parent gave her, but Cuba knows her as the Mother of the Nation, symbolizing great love and great sacrifice for the homeland.

Raising her children with her customary strictness, in the fierceness of her traditions, and her understanding of education, which was necessary to inculcate within young men, when the moment of struggle arose, she took a crucifix from the wall and called, “On your knees, all fathers and sons, before Christ, who was the first liberal man who came into the world, let us swear to liberate the country or die.”

With this traditional Cuban firmness, the people of Santiago honored Mariana on Sunday, on behalf of the entire people, in Santa Ifigenia cemetery. A floral wreath was placed next to the pantheon that holds her remains, by a Revolutionary Armed Forces ceremonial detachment and guard of honor composed of young women.

The event was led by the members of the Party Central Committee and the highest authorities of the Party and government in the province, Lázaro Expósito Canto and Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, respectively.

(Granma)

Weighed down by the severe impacts of the Special Period, the tightening of the U.S. economic, commercial. and financial blockade, the persistence of policies unadjusted to the country’s new realities, and other factors, performance in such a vital sphere was impaired by a fall in the number of scientists, associated with the retirement or death of specialists who graduated in the initial stages of the Revolution; emigration; and the move to better-paying domestic sectors.

Likewise, the technology installed in different institutions aged, laboratories were decapitalized, and there were setbacks in doctoral training. The insufficient links between university science and productive and service enterprises also became more evident.

Taking into account the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution, approved in the 6th Communist Party Congress, held in April 2011, the country assumed the challenge of designing a comprehensive science, technology, innovation, and environment policy, aimed at responding to economic and social development needs in the short, medium and long term. In addition, efforts are directed toward increasing economic efficiency, expanding high value-added exports, substituting imports, and contributing to the population’s welfare.

As Dr. Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya, Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment (Citma) highlighted recently on the Mesa Redonda television program, today, one of the main priorities of the national science, technology and innovation system is preserving and developing the available human capital.

She also stressed the importance of paying the utmost attention to the rejuvenation of personnel linked to this sphere, promoting motivation and the interest of young people in the sciences. An essential part of the work in this regard is to recover scientific reserves, which help define which new professionals meet the required conditions to assume highly important research tasks in different disciplines.

Natural curiosity should be encouraged from an early age, and the use of scientific methods as an indispensable tool of the learning process should be promoted among secondary, pre-university, and technical and professional level students.

Other challenges outlined by the Minister include expediting the introduction and generalization of results; boosting innovation; enhancing the transformative role of science in Cuban society; improving methods to measure its real impact on economic development and GDP growth; and ensuring that this sector rapidly becomes a thriving productive force that generates new exportable goods, and further contributes to import substitution.

On the path of transformations leading to the science and technology sector playing an even greater role in the improvement of citizens’ quality of life, and the nation’s progress in the most diverse spheres, mechanisms are being sought to ensure fair wages for professionals and technicians, based on the final results of their work, and the creation of innovative, useful, and economically profitable contributions.

One of the well-known steps undertaken in this respect is the new organizational and management forms of collaboration in the research sphere, implemented by the BioCubaFarma Enterprise Group and several higher education centers. Examples include joint laboratories with the University of Havana in the nanobiotechnology field, to develop vaccines and innovative drugs, and to increase the added value of existing products; and with the University of Computer Sciences (UCI), in the areas of Medical Informatics, Bioinformatics, and Neuroinformatics.

No less significant is what was outlined on the Mesa Redonda program of December 27, by Minister of Higher Education Dr. José Ramón Saborido, to create a national doctoral training system that, in addition to encouraging growth in the number of professionals at this academic level, makes it possible to lower the average age of Cuban PhD graduates (today this stands at around 40 years old).

According to DSc Luis Alberto Montero Cabrera, professor emeritus of the University of Havana and president of its Scientific Council, a researcher who completes a doctorate before the age of 30 has a much longer professional life to contribute valuable knowledge, and at the same time to promote the scientific education of younger generations.

He likewise emphasized that a solid doctoral promotion program in all possible scientific and technological disciplines offers an immediate and efficient source of results with impacts on the transformation of society.

With eyes set on the years to come, Cuban science is committed to making a reality what was expressed by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, the driving force of this sector, on February 10, 1993, during the inauguration of the Center for Medical Biophysics in Santiago de Cuba: “One day, science and its production must occupy first place in the national economy… We have to develop the production of human intelligence. This must be our place in the world, because there will be no other.”

(Granma)

This is our way of reaffirming that we will continue to build socialism, with the ongoing perfection of our economic model, the union leader emphasized.

Promoting efficiency, savings and compliance with production and service plans, as well as supporting the implementation of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines approved by the 7th Party Congress, constitute concrete actions with which the Cuban workers’ movement not only expresses its joy on celebrating this important date, but also demonstrates its daily commitment to the Concept of Revolution as expressed by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz.

This year, Cuba’s May Day celebrations are dedicated to young people, on the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Young Communist League (UJC), the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Ernesto Che Guevara in Bolivia, and the 50th anniversary of the victory at Playa Girón.

Likewise, they will offer an opportunity to express solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuelan people in their struggle for sovereignty and self-determination.

“Unity is our strength” is the main slogan of this year’s mobilizations, at a time when unity is crucial to facing the challenges of the economy and the current international scenario.

Among the main activities to be undertaken are voluntary work to contribute to production, sanitation and the decoration of work places; as well as meetings between trade union leaders and youths.

As every year, the event on Lenin Hill – to be held on April 22 in memory of the 146th anniversary of the birth of this hero of the global proletariat – will mark the final call to participate in the parades across the country this May Day.

The event will see recognitions awarded to outstanding workers and collectives, the traditional gala to mark the date, and the awarding of May 1st honorary condecorations and titles.

Ulises Guilarte also noted that the annual International Solidarity Meeting with Cuba will be held on May 2, while the Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) will meet in Havana May 3-4.

(Granma)

Yesterday March 8, on International Women’s Day, the eternal president of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), Vilma Espín Guillois, was honored for her decisive contribution to women’s equality.

The tribute to the heroine of the guerilla and underground struggles took place at the site where her ashes rest in the monumental mausoleum to the heroes and martyrs of the Frank País García Second Eastern Front, founded by Comandante Raúl Castro Ruz, where she joined the armed struggle and fought until the Revolution triumphed in 1959.

After the traditional march from the town of Mayarí Arriba to the site, two exemplary female officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces placed a floral wreath at her grave, in the name of the Cuban people.

Vilma’s legacy was recalled by Sunildes Montes de Oca Tito, a member of the FMC’s provincial secretariat, while poems and songs were performed by local artists.

Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, a staunch defender of women’s rights, was also honored on the occasion of International Women’s Day, in an event at Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, during which a group of young women received their FMC membership cards.

The placement of a floral wreath at José Martí’s mausoleum in the name of Cuban women, and flowers for Fidel, completed the memorable day. Participating were members of the Party Central Committee, provincial government and Party leaders, Beatriz Jhonson Urrutia and Lázaro Expósito Canto, respectively.

(Granma)

“In Cuba, the struggle for the equality and advancement of women is not only a matter of defending the legitimate rights of a sector of the population, but a condition for the development, with social justice, of the entire society,” Amarelle added, offering several arguments regarding the real empowerment that Cuban women have achieved in the Revolution: women constitute 48% of employees in state institutions, exceed 70% of the workforce in sectors such as education, health and the administration of justice, and make up almost half of the Parliament, with Cuba placing third among the countries of the world with greatest women’s representation.

Amarelle highlighted the recent measures to benefit women workers and recalled that the achievements of Cuban women within the Revolution are still the cause of mobilization and struggle for the majority of women across the world, to whom she reaffirmed Cuba’s solidarity.

The national anthem, “La Bayamesa”, was played by a female string quintet, children read out poems from José Martí’s Ismaelillo, various dances were performed and Fatima Patterson, National Theater Prize winner, read poetry, all providing for an artistic gala that emphasized the significance of Cuban women.

The event, also presided by Olga Lidia Tapia Iglesias, a member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, alongside the leading political and governmental authorities of Granma, also saw the host province presented with an award for its vanguard efforts in terms of the work of the FMC in the territory, while the territories of Ciego de Ávila, Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth were recognized as outstanding.

(Granma)

From their respective pioneer, student and workplace groups, Cuban youth decided that the event would see a mix of history, productive work, sports, culture, healthy recreation and a deserved tribute to outstanding members.

Beginning April 1, a program of activities will commence including campouts at historic sites, such as the Potreros de Jimaguayú, where in 1873 Major General Ignacio Agramonte died in combat, and La Yaya, the setting in 1897 of the approval of the fourth and last of the Mambi constitutions.

The following day, in schools, dairies, factories, workshops, cooperatives, hospitals, local communities, and the Tínima organopónico (urban farm), in the provincial capital, young people will undertake voluntary work to support the local economy.

Yoandris Ruiz Villalón, first secretary of the provincial committee of the UJC, noted that on Sunday, April 3, children’s activities will take place in parks and squares across the province, such as the Casino Campestre park, the Camilo Cienfuegos Amusement Park and the Lago de los SueñosRecreational Center.

In addition to the usual offers for both the young and old, in this latter venue, salsa competitions, sporting events and a kite festival will all take place, before a concert in the evening hours to celebrate the upcoming anniversaries.

The youth leader added that the main national event will take place at four in the afternoon on April 4, at the Casino Campestre park, with activities in the morning where children and adolescents will demonstrate some of the skills developed as members of interest circles and the pioneer explorers’ movement.

The program also includes activities with children at the Eduardo Agramonte Piña Pediatric Hospital, visits to children’s homes, and performances in local communities by socio-cultural projects of the University of Camagüey and the Hermanos Saíz Association.

Tributes will also be paid to founders of the Association of Young Rebels (precursor to the UJC), former youth and pioneer leaders, relatives of international collaborators and outstanding health professionals.

(Granma)