Given such evidence, it should not have surprised us to hear the leader of the Cuban Revolution’s last wishes – announced by Raúl in Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo Plaza – that after his death, neither his name or likeness should ever be used to name any institution or public site, nor should monuments, busts, or statues in his memory ever be erected.

Even prior to this announcement, certain media had been perplexed when President Raúl Castro Ruz communicated Fidel’s death this past November 25, and reported the Comandante en Jefe’s request that his remains be cremated.

More than one international journalist asked if plazas and other public spaces would soon bear the name Fidel Castro. Speculation fueled expectations. Some even recalled that Fidel had previously opposed honoring leaders with statues and avenues bearing their names, while they were alive.

The man who resisted the hostility of eleven U.S. administrations understood the dangers and consequences of personality cults. That is why one of the first laws adopted after the triumph of the Revolution, January 1, 1959, was an absolutely unprecedented prohibition on erecting statues of living leaders or using their names for any street, city, town, or factory… likewise ruling out official photographs of authorities in government offices.

Fidel, the statesman, talked about this law in a speech on March 13, 1966, saying, “It is not necessary to be seeing a statue on every corner, or the name of some leader on every town, all over the place. No! Because this would reveal a lack of confidence in the people on the part of leaders; this would reveal a very poor conception of the people, of the masses, as incapable of believing because of a lack of consciousness, or having confidence because of a lack of consciousness – artificially fabricating consciousness or confidence, using reflex responses.”

He referred to Karl Marx, Frederic Engels, and Vladimir I. Lenin in his remarks, saying that they never “made gods of themselves,” but rather “were humble their entire lives, until death, loath to cults,” he added.

Fidel knew the history of humanity and was clear on the role played by personality cults, without distinguishing between countries based on capitalism or socialism, ranging from Mao Tse Tung to Rafael Léonidas Trujillo, statues of whom proliferated across the Dominican Republic, where even churches were told to popularize the slogan, “Trujillo on earth, God in heaven.”

Reference texts indicate than the term “personality cult” was first used in 1956 by Nikita Khrushchev, secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in a speech denouncing Stalin, during the 20th Congress of the organization.

In Rosental and Ludin’s Dictionary of Philosophy, it is defined as “blind deference to the authority of a figure, excessive consideration of real merits, the conversion of a historical figure’s name into a fetish.”

Maintaining a philosophical lens, it is not difficult to see that underlying such cults is an idealistic conception of history – as Thomas Carlyle would say – which considers the will of individuals, as opposed to the action of the masses, as the determining factor in making history, precisely as Francisco Franco would have his compatriots believe his self-proclaimed status as god’s messenger and ruler of Spain by the grace of god.

As Fidel stated in 1966, events have confirmed the Marxist precept, “It is not men, but rather peoples who write history,” while at the same time recognizing, “The revolutionary leader is necessary as an instrument of the people, necessary as an instrument of the Revolution.”

In more than one international forum, Cuban researcher and journalist Luis Toledo Sande has spared no words denouncing the allegations of a personality cult of Fidel in Cuba, noting that such accusations are coming, in fact, from countries where university degrees are granted in the name of monarchies.

Toledo, who has also studied José Martí, noted that in Cuba, for example, the names of leaders’ family members are not attached to public institutions either, no matter how charming they may be, although it is here, some allege, where a personality cult exists.

Toledo recalled, years later, that his comments were not included in the summary of the event during which they were made, due, he was told, to space limitations. Nevertheless, he has said he would have liked them to have been published, so no one might think they were excluded because he used the metaphor, “the noose in the house of the hanged man.”

The supposed personality cult of Fidel and the media campaign against Cuba are two sides of the same coin; that is both seek to discredit the leader as well as his most important work: the Revolution, in which the people play the leading role.

When Nicaraguan Tomás Borge was asked about the issue, he responded, “In a country like this one, it is very difficult for some form of absolute power to exist, because Cubans, with their idiosyncrasies, their mentality, argue everything, analyze everything; it could just as well be baseball, agriculture, politics, anything; Cubans discuss it all, they have character, a special idiosyncrasy.”

These virtues, verified in the people by Fidel, are far removed from the perspective of Plato, the first to address the elements associated with the charisma of leaders, who described the masses as ignorant and malleable, at the whim of charismatic individuals.

Leadership and political charisma, are terms which have inspired many to think:

Aristotle, Machiavelli, Weber, Freud and Bourdieu, and have been epitomized in the person who headed the Cuban state for more than 50 years and survived

638 attempts on his life, emanating basically from the entrails of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency, looking to eliminate his example that inspired the world.

Despite such real – not mythical – greatness, his body was reduced to ashes, which have been resting, since December 4, inside a massive rock in Santiago de Cuba’s Santa Ifigenia Cemetery. The site dedicated to his memory, could well have been placed on top of Mt. Turquino, exemplifying modesty and austerity, contrary to the forecasts of detractors of the man who did not seek glory, but encountered it along his way.”

(From Escambray newspaper)

The brigadistas also demanded the definitive lifting of the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for over 50 years on the island, the return of the territory illegally occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo, an end to subversive programs directed toward Cuba and compensation for the human and economic damages caused to the Cuban people as a result of Washington’s failed unilateral policy of aggression against Havana.

From August 1-14, the solidarity brigade, based at the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp, located in the municipality of Caimito in the western province of Artemisa, participated in agricultural work, spoke with experts on the updating of Cuba’s economic and social model, visited sites of historic interest and met residents of Havana, Matanzas and Villa Clara.
This was Honduran teacher Javier Rivera Zamora’s first visit to the island, who was keen to learn about the country’s history and revolutionary social project.

The young educator noted that the press in his country intentionally distorts information about Cuba in order to discredit the nation. However, he highlighted that during his experience on the island he has felt great faith in the revolutionary government and appreciated the safety on the streets.

Cristian Mora (right) from Ecuador highlights Cuba’s solidarity efforts with his country, especially the island’s medical brigades, which treated victims of the devastating earthquake which hit Esmeralda and Manabí in April of this year. Photo: Orlando Perera
Rivera Zamora emphasized that where he lives in the city of Santa Bárbara, on the border with Guatemala, and in the country in general, it is common to see “gang wars and young people killing one another. They kill us adolescents every day in an unstoppable violence.”

He also recalled an extraordinary experience, when on arrival to Havana his luggage failed to appear and he was left with nothing more than a small bag of travel documents. His compañeros at the camp offered him shoes and clothing. Today, he believes that friendship and solidarity are the most important human values.
Meanwhile, Duban Vélez Mejías from Medellín, Colombia, is visiting Cuba for the fifth time with the brigade and explained that members carry out various actions in their home countries to encourage people to visit the island.
”We have the accumulated experience of over 10 years struggling for the release of the Cuban Five, who were unjustly imprisoned in the United States from 1998 to 2014,” she stated.

In this regard, Vélez Mejías noted that on the fifth of every month Cuba solidarity activists would gather in a public square to explain the case and distribute informative material. “Such actions consolidated us as a solidarity movement and we continue to celebrate important dates, hold cultural activities and meetings, in order to spread the truth about Cuba,” she added.

Vélez Mejías continues to work to promote the brigade in Colombia and inform citizens about the opportunity to share with friends from different countries on the continent, as well as reflect on common problems caused by neoliberal policies imposed by governments responding to U.S. dictates. She also highlighted the importance of activities geared toward promoting Cuban culture.
Vélez Mejías expressed her hope that Cuba continue to be an example for Latin America and the world.

Peruvian, Justiniano Rodríguez Flores, who was accompanied by his daughter Flor de María and has participated on four brigades, shares a similar opinion. He noted substantial changes toward the country’s development and expressed his admiration for this dignified people, who have overcome obstacles imposed by the West.

“In Peru we hold congresses and forums to organize promotional activities and protests against the economic blockade of Cuba. We encourage people to come on the brigade so they can learn about socialism as an example to help strengthen our struggle as workers. I witnessed various strikes against mass lay-offs in my country, in a relentless and hard struggle,” noted the Peruvian friend.

Meanwhile, Cristian Mora Larrea from Ecuador, stated that he discovered the brigade after receiving an invitation from the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) sent to the Alliance-Country Movement. Several young members of this movement signed up to participate, motivated among other reasons by the opportunity to participate in the main act for the 50th anniversary of the Continental Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Students, held on August 11, at the University of Havana.

“We have come with a message of peace,” stated the young Ecuadoran, “we oppose the arms race, wars and at the same time we are fighting for a better world, to abolish class exploitation and achieve equality and social justice. We want to establish a new world order, based on a political system which benefits the people and not financial institutions.”

(Granma)

Author Elier Ramírez Cadeño, a young historian, put together the compilation, gathering 16 articles by prestigious Cuban scholars, among them Graziella Pogolotti, Armando Hart, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, Lisandro Otero and Fernando Martínez Heredia.

Historian Eduardo Torres Cuevas called the Fidel Castro 1961 address transcendental for the subsequent development of Cuba’s revolutionary process.

The speech outlined the place that culture and letters were to have in the defense of the Cuban Revolution.

(Radio Habana Cuba)

The firing of a battery of six 122 millimeter shells M-30, by 30 cadets from the Revolutionary Armed Forces’ General Antonio Maceo School resounded in the night air to welcome a new year of challenges.

The first squad fired 12 rounds, the second nine, and 12 young women were included among the cadets who are studying land artillery.

“Being part of this battery of salutes is a recognition for the results we have achieved in our studies and work, both for the cadets and officers who are here,” explained Captain Ariel López Miranda, head of the operation and one of five officers participating in the ceremony.

Claudia Tarancón Benítez and Yoan Cruz Páez were two of the cadets, both in the fourth year of their land artillery studies, and have participated on other occasions.

“It is a great privilege, another celebration of the triumph of the Revolution, and for me, a brilliant close to the year of my graduation,” Claudia commented.

“It is our tribute to this important moment in Cuban history, and with the firing of the cannons we salute the entire Cuban people, this new year of victories,” Yoan concluded.

(Granma)

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.

University of Limerick

A 90-minute ride from Dublin will take you to Limerick, a beautiful city where for various reasons great progress has been made in the last 20 years.

This name seems to have very little meaning to most Cubans until they realize that part of Ireland is home to the city of Shannon, a regular port of call for Moscow-bound Aeroflot flights in times of the USSR.

A major engineering center, Limerick has become Ireland’s third most important university, oweing largely to the presence in its surroundings of the huge National Technology Park and its National Center for the Excellence of Mathematics and Science.

The University was hosting a discussion on the “50th Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Victory”, but a totally unexpected complication arose: a large audience had gathered at the University’s sports arena that same day for a speech to be delivered by none other than the Dalai Lama.

As I waited for my turn and the Dalai Lama spoke, the main local radio station called to ask whether I would be willing to grant a live interview about Cuba. I said yes, and a few minutes later I was on the air.

My interviewer began with the usual boilerplate topics, namely the “embargo” (that’s right, the well-known 50-year-old blockade), but no sooner had I started to answer than he interrupted me: “Sir, we’re sorry, but we must go to cover the speech the Dalai Lama is giving right here in our University as we speak. But if you don’t mind, please stay on the line. We’ll be back.”

By then the Dalai Lama was preaching “forgiveness, acceptance and serenity”. Suddenly I heard the voice of my presenter saying: “We’re back with Mr. Taladrid, the Cuban journalist, and my question is: Sir, what is Cuba like today, a brutal dictatorship or the picture-perfect paradise we see in your tourist ads?”

My answer: “Cuba is not a paradise; no country on Earth is. We have as many and diverse problems as any other country, although I’m glad to see that you’re familiar with our tourist industry. I suggest to your listeners that they should visit the Island, where they will find a very beautiful, safe, cultured and honorable nation. Whatever made you think that Cuba is a brutal dictatorship? What happens sometimes to honest, albeit misinformed, people is that they overlook the fact that Cuba is constantly examined in minute detail through the Hubble telescope, but those who describe it usually do it after a simple look through a pair of low-strength glasses that give you blurry, mistaken images.” But all of a sudden, as I was about to mention specific examples…

“Sir, I’m sorry, we’re going live again with the Dalai Lama’s speech, but please hold the line, because it seems our listeners are calling to ask questions about Cuba.” Over the phone I hear again the Dalai Lama’s voice saying: “…We must unite above all religions.” And as if on cue, my presenter again: “We’re back on the air with the Cuban journalist Reinaldo Taladrid. Sir, my next question is: if Raúl Castro succeeded his brother Fidel, does that mean another Castro will succeed Raúl? That is, could Cuba become a communist monarchy?”

“Absolutely not,” I replied. “Raúl was on his own merits the second in command of the revolutionary movement to free Cuba from Fulgencio Batista’s brutal dictatorship. I don’t know whether you’ve heard of it. Tell me, have you? No? Well, then you would be well-advised to read up on the subject so you can understand what we stand for in Cuba nowadays, and also for the sake of your own personal culture.” And there again:

“Look, sir, we must interrupt to go back to the Dalai Lama’s message from the University of Limerick.” Now the Dalai Lama was saying, “We are all the same.”

Then came my presenter again: “We’re back with the Cuban journalist who is paying a visit to Limerick. Mr. Taladrid, did Castro win at Bay of Pigs as a result of the U.S.’s failure to intervene or not?”

“Look, you should learn about that epic feat. The CIA’s masterminds had thought the Cubans would rush en masse to join the mercenary army organized to set them free from the Brutal Dictatorship, but what happened was exactly the opposite. As soon as they landed the Cuban people grabbed the arms the Revolution had given them and received the invaders with bullets instead of flowers. But even if the American troops had come as planned, our country was already prepared to wage a war of attrition against the enemy from [Cuba’s westernmost province of] Pinar del Río –where Fidel had posted Che Guevara– to the eastern region, guarded by Raúl Castro. Yes, Fidel Castro directed the military operations brilliantly, but it was the whole Cuban people who followed him and fought. Fidel alone could have never won. You should ask yourself why a whole people followed Fidel and socialism in such great numbers and…”

“Sir, I’m sorry, but we’re going again with the Dalai Lama”. I keep the receiver stuck to my ear and hear someone in the audience ask the Tibetan leader, ‘Your Eminence, what do you think about the terrible economic crisis facing Ireland and other countries?” Almost at once the Dalai Lama replied: “My knowledge of money issues is zero…”

I hear someone at the radio station’s recording studio say, “Hey, go back with the Cuban and put him on the air again; people are making calls about Cuba.” And again the presenter’s announcement: “Well, we’re back with the interview given by the Cuban journalist visiting Limerick these days. Mr. Taladrid, we’d like you to listen to and talk about what our listeners are saying… Good morning, you’re on the air.”

A first call comes in: “Look, I totally agree with the Cuban. Cuba is neither a paradise nor the awful place they say it is. They have the same problems as any other country. Why don’t you use the Hubble to see what’s going on here with the crisis?” A second caller: “I perfectly understand the Cubans. After all the things they have done and are still doing to them, of course they have to defend themselves above all else. Or do you expect them to commit suicide?” Another call: “I’m from Latin America and live in Limerick. We’re very proud of Cuba and its Revolution. What they do in Cuba they do it for us here and others anywhere else. Long live Cuba and long live Che Guevara…”

Then, without giving so much as a chance to say thanks and goodbye, the presenter brought the interview to a close: “Well, thank you very much for your time, Mr. Taladrid. We’re back to the Dalai Lama”. Had we really run out of time or did they choose to put a stop to the calls?

You have the floor.

It was a march brimming with youth, in an irrefutable demonstration of support for the Cuban Revolution, Raul Castro stated.

Fifty years have passed since April 1961, when the people prepared to safeguard our greatest conquests, the president said.

Since then, millions of Cubans have defended the Socialist Homeland from diverse trenches, Raul Castro noted.

This April, honor should go from this historic Party Congress and on the respective commemorative dates, to the combatants of the Territorial Troop Militias, the Antiair Defense, the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the tank crewmen, Raul Castro said.

(Stenographic versions – Council of State)

This time the closing speech will be a little longer than on former occasions, but this has been indeed an exceptional session, because of the issues that have been discussed, the opinions that you have expressed and the documents that have been approved.

On my way here to attend this Assembly session, when I looked at the newspaper’s date, December 18, a simple historical event immediately came to my mind.  It has been exactly 54 years ever since –back then we did not expect to live for so long, due to the circumstances surrounding us- when we were part of the newly-formed Rebel Army, which are today the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Revolution in itself.  On December 5 of that same year, three days after the landing of the Granma, we suffered a major setback in a place known as Alegría de Pío.  After that debacle we had to walk for 13 days in small groups, trying to cross through the two sieges that had been laid around us.  Finally, with the help of some peasants, I could join the small group headed by Fidel.

It was already dark when we met.  After the initial hug the first question he asked me was: “How many rifles are you bringing?” “Five”, I answered. And then he said: “Five plus the two I got make seven.  Now I am sure we will win this war!” (Applause).

And it seems he was right.

This is a happy coincidence.  That is why I wanted to begin my closing remarks by evoking such a nice memory.

Comrades all:

We have been meeting for several days now discussing extremely important matters for the future of the nation.  This time, in addition to our customary work in commissions, the deputies have met in plenary with the purpose of discussing the details of the current economic situation as well as the proposed budget and economic plan for the year 2011.

The deputies have also devoted long hours to the thorough evaluation and clarification of some doubts and concerns about the Draft Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution.

Our media has broadly covered these discussions in order to make it easier for the general public to receive this information.

In spite of the impacts of the world crisis on the national economy, the irregular rain pattern during the last 19 months -from November 2008 until June this year-, and without excluding our own errors, I can affirm that the performance of the 2010 economic plan could be deemed as acceptable considering the times we are living.  We will attain the goal of 2.1 per cent growth of the Gross Domestic Product, better known by its acronym (GDP); exports of goods and services have increased.  The annual forecast figure of foreign tourists has already been reached even when the current year is not yet at a close.  Although, once again, we will not be able to meet the planned revenues goals, we have strengthened the domestic financial balance and, for the first time in several years, we have begun to see a favorable dynamic, still somewhat limited, in work productivity in relation to the average salary levels.

Withholdings of foreign transfers or, what amounts to the same thing, the restrictions we were forced to impose on payments from Cuban banks to foreign suppliers at the end of 2008 -which shall be totally suppressed next year- have continued to decrease.  At the same time, significant progress has been achieved in the rescheduling of our debt with our principal creditors.

Once again I would like to thank our commercial and financial partners for their confidence and understanding and I reassure them of our most steadfast determination to punctually honor our commitments.  The Government has given precise instructions not to take on new debts without guaranteeing their payment within the terms agreed upon.

As was explained by the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy and Planning, Marino Murillo Jorge, next year’s economic plan foresees a 3.1 per cent GDP growth, which should be reached in the midst of a scenario that is not any less complicated or tense.

The year 2011 would be the first of the five covered by the midterm projection of our economy.  During this period we shall be gradually and progressively introducing some new structures and concepts in the Cuban economic model.

During the coming year, we shall decisively move on to reduce unnecessary expenses, thus promoting the saving of all types of resources which, as we have said on several occasions, is the quickest and safest input of revenues at our disposal right now.

We shall do likewise in the areas of health, education, culture and sports, without neglecting in the least – but rather raising- the quality of our social programs, where we have identified enormous reserves of efficiency through a more rational use of the existing infrastructure.  We shall also increase the exports of goods and services, while continuing to concentrate investments in those areas providing the quickest returns.

Regarding the economic plan and the budget, we have insisted that the old story of non-compliances and overdrafts must come to an end.  The plan and the budget are sacred.  And I repeat: from now on, the plan and the budget will be sacred; they are drafted to be complied with, not for us to be contented with justifications of any sort or even with imprecisions and lies -whether deliberate or not-, whenever the goals previously set are not met.

At times there have been some comrades who, without pursuing a fraudulent purpose, convey the inaccurate information reported by their subordinates without previously checking them and so they unconsciously fall into lying.  But these false data could lead us to make wrong decisions with major or minor repercussions on the nation.  Whoever acts in that manner is also a liar, and regardless of whom these persons may be they must be definitively -not temporarily- removed from the position they hold and, after an analysis by the corresponding bodies, they must also be removed from the ranks of the Party, should they belong to it.

Lies and their harmful effects have accompanied mankind since we learned the art of speech in ancient times, motivating society’s condemnation.  We should recall that the eighth of the Ten Commandments of the Bible reads:  “Thou shalt not bear false witness or lie”.  Likewise, the three basic moral ethical principles of the Inca civilization stated as follows: do not lie, do not steal and do not be lazy.

I am going to repeat these three principles that are still observed by Inca descendants today: do not lie, do not steal and do not be lazy. Those are correct principles, aren’t they? Let us try to bear them in mind.

We must struggle to eradicate, once and for all, lies and deceit from the cadres’ behavior at all levels.  No wonder Comrade Fidel in his brilliant definition of the concept of Revolution, pointed out, among other things: “… not to ever say a lie or violate ethical principles”. These are concepts that appear on the first page of the booklet containing the Guidelines that we have been discussing.

After the publication of the Draft Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy on November 9th last, the train of the Sixth Party Congress has taken on steam.  The true congress will be the open and honest discussions –as is being the case- of said Guidelines by Party members and the entire people.  This genuine democratic exercise will allow us to further enrich that document and, without excluding divergent opinions, we intend to achieve a national consensus about the need and urgency of introducing strategic changes in the way the economy operates, so that Socialism in Cuba could be sustainable and irreversible.

We should not be afraid of opposing criteria.  This instruction, which is not new, should not be construed as one applicable only to the discussions of the Guidelines. The differences of opinion, preferably expressed in the proper place, time and way, that is, at the right place, at the right moment and in the correct form, shall always be more desirable than the false unanimity based on pretence and opportunism.  Moreover, this is a right nobody should be deprived of.

The more ideas we are capable of inspiring in the analysis of any given problem, the closer we shall come to its appropriate solution.

The Economic Policy Commission of the Party and the 11 groups which make it up, have worked long months to draw up the abovementioned Guidelines which, as we have explained, shall constitute the leitmotif of the Congress, based on the conviction that the analysis of the economic situation is the most important task of the Party and the Government and the basic subject of cadres at all levels.

During the last few years we have been insisting that we could not let ourselves be carried away by improvising and haste in this area, considering the magnitude, complexity and inter-relations of the decisions to be adopted.  For that reason I think that we did the right thing when we decided to defer the celebration of the Party Congress, even when we have had to patiently bear with the honest and also the ill-intended protests both inside Cuba and abroad urging us to rush into the adoption of a score of measures.  Our adversaries abroad, as we might expect, have challenged our every step, first by calling the measures cosmetic and insufficient and now trying to confuse public opinion by prophesizing a sure failure and concentrating their campaigns on extolling an alleged disappointment and skepticism with which they say our people have welcomed this draft.

Sometimes it seems that their most heartfelt wishes prevent them from seeing the reality.  In making their true desires evident, they blatantly demand that we dismantle the economic and social system that we created, just as if this Revolution were willing to submit to the most humiliating surrender or, what tantamount to the same thing, steer its own destiny by submitting to denigrating conditions.

Throughout 500 years, from Hatuey to Fidel, our people have shed too much blood to accept the dismantling of what we have built with so much sacrifice (Applause).

To those who may entertain those unfounded illusions, we must remind once and again what I said before this Parliament on August 1, 2009, and I quote: “I was not elected President to restore capitalism in Cuba nor to surrender the Revolution.  I was elected to defend, maintain and continue improving socialism, not to destroy it”, (Applause) end of quote.

Today, I add that the measures we are implementing and all the modifications that need to be introduced to the updating of the economic model are aimed at the preservation of socialism by strengthening it and making it truly irrevocable, as was stated in the Constitution of the Republic at the behest of the vast majority of our population in the year 2002.

We need to put on the table all the information and arguments behind every decision and also suppress the excessive secrecy to which we became used to during these 50 years that we have lived under the enemy siege.  Any State must reasonably keep some matters secret; that is something nobody can deny.  But matters defining the political and economical course of the nation shall be no secret.  It is vital to explain, provide arguments and convince the people of the fairness, need and urgency of any measure, no matter how tough it appears to be.

The Party and the Communist Youth, as well as Cuba’s Workers’ Central and its unions, along with the rest of the mass and social organizations have the capacity to mobilize the support and the confidence of the people through debate, free from unviable dogmas and schemes that emerge as a colossal psychological barrier that we need to dismantle little by little.  Together we can make it (Applause).

That is exactly the fundamental agenda that we have reserved for the National Conference of the Party to be held in 2011, after the Congress, at a date to be fixed later.  On that occasion we shall analyze, among other matters, the modifications of the working methods and styles of the Party since, as a result of the deficiencies found in the performance of the Government administrative bodies throughout the years, the Party has had to engage in the exercise of functions outside its duties, which restricted and compromised its role as the organized avant-garde of the Cuban nation and the top leading force of society and the State, as established by Article Five of the Constitution of the Republic.

The Party should lead and supervise; it should not interfere with the activities of the Government at no level.  It is the Government that governs.  Each body has its own norms and procedures, depending on what their missions are within the society.

It is necessary to change the mentality of the cadres and of all other compatriots in facing up the new scenario which is beginning to be sketched out.  It is just about transforming the erroneous and unsustainable concepts about socialism, that have been very deeply rooted in broad sectors of the population over the years, as a result of the excessively paternalistic, idealistic and egalitarian approach instituted by the Revolution in the interest of social justice.

Many of us Cubans confuse socialism with freebies and subsidies; and equality with egalitarianism.  Quite a few of us consider the ration card to be a social achievement that should never be gotten rid of.

In this regard, I am convinced that several of the problems we are facing today have their origin in this distribution mechanism.  While it is true that its implementation was inspired by the wholesome idea of ensuring people a stable supply of foodstuffs and other goods to counter the unscrupulous hoarding by some for profit, it is an evident expression of egalitarianism that equally benefits those who work and those who do not, or those who do not see the need to work, which generated practices such as bartering and resale in a submerged black market, etc, etc.

The solution to this complex and sensitive matter is not a simple one, since it is closely related to the strengthening of the role of salaries in society.  That will only be possible if, at the same time, freebies and subsidies are reduced and the productivity of work and the supply of products to the population are increased.

In this matter, as well as in the eradication of overstaffing, the Socialist State shall not leave any citizen unprotected and, via the social welfare system, it shall ensure that people who are unable to work will receive the minimum required protection.  In the future there will be subsidies, not to products, but to Cuban men and women who for one reason or another really need them.

As is known, as from September this year, the cigarette rations were eliminated.  This product was being delivered only to a part of the population. Obviously, due to its harmful effects to human health, it can not be considered a basic commodity.

Next year –and we have already discussed that here- we can not afford to spend around 50 million dollars -47, to be exact- to import coffee to sustain the rations that have so far been distributed to all consumers, including newborn children.  Since this is an unavoidable necessity, we intend to mix it with peas, as we used to do until 2005, since peas are much cheaper than coffee, whose price is almost three thousand dollars per ton, while the cost of a ton of peas is 390 dollars.

Therefore, if we want to keep on drinking pure, un-rationed coffee, the only solution is to produce it in Cuba where it has been proven that all the required conditions for its cultivation exist, and where we can produce enough quantities to satisfy the demand and even to export it with the highest quality.

After the US war against Vietnam, the heroic and undefeated Vietnamese people asked us to teach them how to plant coffee, and there we went. We taught them how to plan it and conveyed to them all our experience.  Today Vietnam is the second biggest coffee exporter in the world. A Vietnamese official asked one of his Cuban colleagues: “How come you, who taught us how to plant coffee just recently, are now buying coffee from us?” I can not figure out what might have been the Cuban official’s answer, but most certainly he might have said: “the blockade.”

These decisions, and others that we shall have to apply, even though we know they are not popular ones, are a must in order to be able to maintain and even improve the free public health, education and social security services for all of our citizens.

The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Comrade Fidel himself, in his historical speech on November 17, 2005, stated, and I quote: “Here is a conclusion I’ve come to after many years: among all the errors we may have committed, the greatest of them all was that we believed that someone really knew something about socialism, or that someone actually knew how to build socialism”, end of quote.  Hardly one month ago, exactly five years later, in his message on the occasion of the International Students Day, Fidel reiterated these concepts which are still fully valid.

I for one remember an idea expressed by a Soviet award-winning scientist who about half a century ago –around the times when the first man ever traveled to the cosmos, who was Gagarin- was thinking that even though the possibility of a manned flight into space had been theoretically documented, it was still a journey into the unknown, the undiscovered.

While we have counted on the theoretical Marxist-Leninist legacy, according to which there is scientific evidence of the feasibility of socialism and the practical experience of the attempts to build it in other countries, the construction of a new society from an economic point of view is, in my modest opinion, also a journey into the unknown –the undiscovered.  Therefore each step must be profoundly meditated upon and planned before the next step is taken; mistakes are to be timely and quickly amended so that the solution is not left up to time, which will make them grow bigger and, ultimately, our invoice will be even more costly.

We are fully aware of the mistakes we have committed and the Guidelines we are right now discussing precisely mark the beginning of the road to rectification and the necessary updating of our socialist economic model.

No one should claim they have been deceived: the Guidelines will signal the road towards a socialist future, adapted to Cuba’s conditions and not to the capitalist and neo-colonial past which was defeated by the Revolution.  Planning, and not free market, shall be the distinctive feature of the economy.  As was outlined in the third general Guideline, the concentration of ownership shall not be allowed.  This is as clear as glass, but there is no one as blind as the one who doesn’t want to see.

The building of socialism should be according to the specific features of every country.  That is a History lesson that we have learned very well.  We do not intend to copy from anyone again; that brought about enough problems to us because, in addition to that, many a time we also copied badly, as we said yesterday. However we shall not ignore others’ experiences and we will learn from them, even from the positive experience of capitalists.

Speaking about the necessary change of mind, I shall mention one example:  we have arrived at the conclusion that self-employment is one more alternative for working-age citizens, aimed at increasing the supply of goods and services to the population, which could rid the State of those tasks so that it could focus on what is truly decisive, what the Party and the Government should do is, first and foremost, facilitate their work rather than generate stigmas and prejudices against them, much less demonize them.  Therefore it is fundamental that we modify the existing negative approach that quite a few of us have towards this form of private job.  When defining the features that ought to characterize the building of a new society, the classics of Marxist-Leninism –particularly Lenin- stated, among other things, that the State, on behalf of all the people, should keep the ownership over all the basic production means.

We turned this precept into an absolute principle and almost all the country’s economic activity started to be run by the State.  The steps we have been taking and shall take towards broadening and relaxing self-employment are the result of profound meditations and analysis and we can assure you this time there will be no going back.

Cuba’s Workers’ Central and its respective national trade unions are currently studying the forms and methods to organize the provision of assistance to this labor force, promote full compliance with the Law and the payment of taxes and encourage these workers to eschew illegalities.  We should defend their interests just as we do with any other citizen, as long as they observe the approved juridical norms.

The introduction of the basic concepts about the taxation system at different levels of education becomes very important, since younger generations will become permanently and concretely acquainted with the implementation of taxes as the most universal form of redistribution of the national income, in the interest of covering social costs, including the assistance to persons in greatest need.

From the point of view of the society as a whole, we have to encourage among all taxpayers the civic values of respect for and compliance with tax payments; we should educate people in that discipline and culture, reward those who comply and sanction tax evaders.

Another area where there is still much to do, in spite of the advances made, is the attention to the different production modalities in agriculture to remove the existing obstacles that hinder the promotion of productive forces in our rural areas so that, depending on the savings obtained by reducing the import of foodstuffs, farmers could receive just and reasonable revenues for their hard work.  However this does not justify the fixing of extremely high prices to the commodities consumed by the population.

After two years since we started to distribute idle lands in usufruct, I think we are now in the position to evaluate the allocation of additional land plots, above the limits regulated by Decree-Law 259 of July 2008, to those agricultural workers who have achieved outstanding results in the intensive use of the lands they have been tilling.

I think it timely to clarify that the ownership of the lands distributed in usufruct continues to belong to all the people.  Thus, if for any reason these lands are required for uses different from these in the future –namely, the construction of a social facility, a highway or whatever- the State shall compensate beneficial owners for their investments and would pay to them the value of the benefits created.

In due time, once we conclude the studies based on the experience we have been accumulating, we shall submit the corresponding proposals to modify the abovementioned Decree-Law to the Council of State, where farmers have their own representative, who is comrade Lugo Fonte, the chairman of the National Association of Small Farmers.

One of the most difficult barriers to overcome in the effort to create a different view  -and  we should publicly recognize that-, is the lack of  knowledge about the economy among the people, including quite a few cadres who, giving clear proof of a supine ignorance on the subject, adopt or propose decisions while facing customary problems without stopping for a single minute to evaluate their effects and costs, or without knowing whether there is a budget or resources  assigned to that end according to a plan.

I am not announcing any new discovery when I state that improvisation in general, particularly when it comes to the economy, leads to a sure failure regardless of the lofty ends one intends to attain.

On December 2 last, on the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the landing of the Granma, the official newspaper of our Party published an excerpt of the speech delivered by Fidel on that same date in 1976, when we were celebrating the twentieth anniversary of that historical event.  Given its validity and relevance I find it appropriate to quote it.  Thirty four years ago Fidel said:  “The strength of a people and a revolution lies precisely in its capacity to understand and cope with difficulties.  Despite everything, we will move forward on numerous fronts and we will struggle tirelessly to increase the economy’s efficiency, save resources, reduce non-essential costs, increase exports and raise economic awareness in every citizen.  I said earlier that we are all politicians; now I add that we should all be economists, and I repeat, economists, not economic reductionists.  A mindset oriented to saving and efficiency is different from that oriented to consumption”, end of quote.

To become an economist does not mean that we should now try to get a degree in Economics –we have enough of those. It means to have a domain of the main principles of Economics, not to pursue a PhD in Economics.

And Fidel continued to say: “…now I add that we should all be economists, and I repeat, economists, not economic reductionists.  A mindset oriented to saving and efficiency is different from that oriented to consumption”, end of quote.

That is the essence of the Guidelines you have in your hands and of the precise instructions oriented to promote economic development right now, which is about producing whatever can be exported, reduce imports and invest in those areas that could yield the quickest returns.  It is also about increasing economic efficiency, saving resources, reducing unnecessary costs –we have discussed all that in these days-, increasing exports and raising an economic awareness in every citizen.  And I repeat: “economists, not economic reductionists.  A mindset oriented to saving and efficiency is different from that oriented to consumption”, end of quote.  This was said on December 2, thirty four years ago.

Ten years later, on December 1 of 1986, during the deferred session of the Third Party Congress, Fidel stated, and I quote: “Many do not understand that the Socialist State, just as any other State or system, can not deliver what it does not have. And it will have much less if it does not produce, if it gives away money without any production backing.  I am sure that overstaffing, excess money paid out to people, idle stocks and wasting of resources are all linked to the great number of unprofitable companies that we have in our country…” end of the quote.

After 34 and 24 years respectively from the time when these two ideas that I have just quoted were expressed by the Leader of the Revolution, these and many other problems are still with us.

And, well, what did we do back then? Why weren’t the instructions given by the Leader of the Revolution complied with? We applaud every speech; we shout Long Live the Revolution! And afterwards things remain just the same.

He did his part, and now, trying to find an explanation, I express that Fidel, with his genius, was blazing a trail, showing the way, and the rest of us didn’t know how to ensure and consolidate our march forward to pursue those goals.

The truth is that we lacked cohesion, despite this people’s unity around its Party, its leaders and its Government, which has been our main strategic weapon for surviving more than five decades, inside a fortress under siege, facing the most powerful empire that has ever existed. But lacked cohesion, organization and coordination between the Party and the Government.  In the midst of the threats and the daily emergencies we neglected mid and long-term planning; we did not act strongly enough against the economic violations and the errors committed by some leaders and we also stalled in correcting decisions that didn’t have the effect we expected but managed to survive.

On more than one occasion –right here, before this Parliament- I have referred to the fact that in this Revolution almost everything has been said and that we should check which of the instructions given by the Leader of the Revolution have been fulfilled and which have not, ever since he made his vibrant statement “History Will Absolve Me” during the trial against the Moncada attackers until the present.  We will retake Fidel’s ideas, which continue to be valid even today, and will not allow the same to happen to us again. That is the reason behind the instructions oriented and the main line traced by the Party and the Government regarding errors, violations, etc. If we want to save the Revolution we have to comply with whatever we may agree.  We should not allow that, after the Congress is over –as has been happening so far in many very eloquent cases- documents go to desk drawers to sleep the eternal sleep, just as we have been explaining in these days of fruitful, democratic and truly profound discussions. That is how we want the people to continue discussing those Guidelines.  We have almost 100 days for that. We either rectify –because we no longer have time to keep on skirting around the precipice- or we will sink, and, as I said before, we will also be sinking the efforts made by entire generations since the times of Hatuey, the American Indian who came from the territory that is today the Dominican Republic and Haiti –the first internationalist in our country- until Fidel, who has brilliantly led us through these so complex situations since the triumph of the Revolution (Applause).

Those of us who are not so young, or those who, being older, are still feeling young and ready to keep up in the struggle (Applause), as well as those who belong to the younger generations –some of whom spoke eloquently yesterday- should never forget the words pronounced by Fidel in his first speech after coming into the capital, at the Batista’s military headquarters, the former ‘Columbia’, which is today the school named “Ciudad Libertad”.  From that place he said: “The Revolution has triumphed and there is an immense happiness, but there is still much to do. We should not make the mistake of thinking that from now on everything would be easier.  From now everything would be perhaps more difficult”.  And that precise and visionary advice has become true all along these more than fifty years.

We did not expect this to be a bed of roses; we knew the power we were going to challenge, for which we only counted on the people and the weapons that we grabbed from Batista’s army.  Later on we continued to acquire as many weapons as we could until the present, while we continued to further develop –and Fidel also taught us that- the great unity of our people, which we should always protect, as much as if it were the apples of our eyes or our own lives.  But that unity can not be achieved by decree.  We will have more unity because it will be everybody’s domain, if we apply absolutely democratic methods to political work in the entire nation, with patience, from the Party’s grassroots cells to the supreme organ of the State, which is this Assembly gathered here.

We have a cultured people that have attained a high educational level, and we have many other positive things.  Huge advances have been made, but this is not the right occasion to list up all of them; you already know about them.  Our media talks a lot about them, about the achievements of the Revolution.  In our speeches we also expand on that.  But we must go to the core of the problems, just as we have done in this Parliament session.

What I mean is that the issues that we have discussed and the errors that we have criticized can not happen again because it is the life of the Revolution what is at stake.

Errors, if they are just analyzed with honesty, can become experiences and lessons that could teach us how to eradicate them and avoid its replication.  Haven’t you heard the proverb saying that the human being is the only animal that stumbles more than once against the same obstacle? I have known some who have stumbled five, six, even ten times, and if we don’t stop them they will continue to stumble.  And we will not because they may injure an ankle or the tip of their toes; it is because the mistakes they make cost millions. You heard what was read by the Vice-President himself, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Murillo; or what was just read by the President of the Commission on Economic Affairs of the Parliament, comrade Osvaldo Martínez.  We stopped receiving some millions because of the low prices of sugar; throughout all these years sugar prices have been at rock bottom.  And now, when sugar prices are up, we stopped receiving some millions because, for some reason, we did not meet the sugar production plan. In such and such economic activity we stopped receiving so much because we did not meet the production plans.

I was telling Machado –I was making some comments while they were speaking; just some comments, right there by his side- that if you add up all the millions that we have failed to receive for not meeting our production plans, just imagine  how many problems we could have solved.

And so it happens in every other area.

That is why I am a staunch advocator of the eradication of excessive secrecy, although some secrets must be kept.  Yesterday we talked about some of them, which I do not intend to publish.  You may have noticed that nothing, almost nothing, has been published by the press about my interventions at the Assembly.  I asked for this to be done this way, so that I could speak straight.  The session was held behind closed doors so that we could discuss things as we commonly say here, stripping ourselves to our underclothes, although it was not necessary to take off so much clothes. But we discussed what we had to discuss.  That is the way it should be.

And I am very much in favor of the struggle against excessive secrecy, because our failures as well as those who are interested in leaving things as they are so that they continue to be just the same, are all hidden under that well-decorated carpet. And I remember some of the criticisms that were made: “yes, let such and such criticism be published by the press”, I myself said in the past, many years ago.  And, of course, no specific reference was made to any entity, but to a product, and so on so forth.

All of a sudden the big bureaucracy began to mobilize: “Those things are not helpful; they demoralize workers”, they said.  What workers were going to be demoralized?

So it happened once at the big State-run dairy enterprise named ‘El Triángulo’. It was quite big then and continues to be so.  I believe it is now a genetic centre… (Someone reminds him that the center’s name is ‘Triunvirato’).  That’s right, Triunvirato. ‘Triángulo’ is the one in Camagüey. It had been weeks since one of the trucks of that dairy farm, a small truck, had been out of order.  Therefore, all the milk produced by the dairy farms of that region –not only by that enterprise- was being used to feed some pigs they were raising.

Then I said to one of the secretaries of the Central Committee responsible for supervising agriculture at that time:  “Go to the ‘Granma’ newspaper and tell everything that is going on; make a criticism.

I stirred up the hornet’s nest.  People did not know I had been the one who had given those instructions.  And some approached me and even said to me:  “Those things are not helpful because they demoralize the workers”, and so on so forth.

Nearby the city, close to the capital of the province, there were they, throwing away milk, using it to feed their own pigs.

That is why I say: ¿excessive secrecy? No way.  Let those wanting to keep their own deficiencies in secret to struggle and devote that huge effort to avoid them –I mean, deficiencies.

That is to say, errors, if they are just analyzed –as we said a while ago- with honesty, can become experiences and lessons that could teach us how to eradicate them and avoid its replication.

If we do not proceed this way, we will keep on making the same mistakes. That is why I am one of those who claim that in Cuba there are animals –I am referring to the proverb saying that man is the only animal who stumbles twice against the same obstacle.  But, in Cuba, there are more.

Do not forget about another Dominican, a great internationalist, who was the chief commander of our Liberation Army, Generalissimo Máximo Gómez, who knew Cubans too well.  He was married to a Cuban; his children were born in the battlefield.  Many of them died of poverty.  Manana was always behind him; she accompanied him wherever he went.  Gómez used to say: “Cubans either fall short of or go over the limits”. Isn’t that so? (The audience says ‘yes’).  Let’s see if we can go over the limits, but when it comes to the strict compliance with our duties.

I mean, that is precisely the great usefulness of a thorough analysis of errors.  That should become a permanent rule of conduct for all leaders, at all levels. Those who do not proceed this way would be infringing their main duty as leaders.

Besides, the reality of figures prevails over all of our hopes and dreams.  Since our early years in first grade, when we study elementary arithmetic, we learn that two plus two makes four, not five or six –as we said once, right here.  You don’t have to be an economist to understand that two plus two makes four.  On that occasion I added: “…but sometimes, as a result of or own deficiencies, two plus two happen to make three”.  That is to say, you don’t have to be an economist to understand that. Therefore, if at any given time we have to do something whether in the economic or social fields, whose cost can not be covered by the resources available, we may do that being aware of the consequences and knowing, ahead of time, that, ultimately, bare facts shall irremissibly prevail, no matter how well-intended we might be.

Besides, Cuba has tens and tens of thousands of professionals graduated by the Revolution in the specialties of Economics, Accounting and Finances, just to mention some within this profile, and we haven’t known how to make a proper use of their knowledge in the interest of the nation’s orderly development.

We have the most precious thing –mentioned by Comrade Fidel on several occasions-, which is human capital.  We must further consolidate it, with the help of the National Association of Economists and Accountants (ANEC) to take up the task of constantly and systematically educating our cultured people and their leaders at all levels in this subject.  A large representation from the ANEC National Board took part –together with us and several other cadres present here- in the first seminars that we organized to analyze these Guidelines, and many of its members are immersed in the process of discussions under way. The entire National Board attended these seminars and afterwards they took part in the discussions with the members of the Party and the people that were held in different municipalities and provinces.

In this regard, we should emphasize the decisive contribution made by thousands and thousands of accountants to recover the place Accounting deserves in economic management –and you know what I am talking about and how Accounting operates in this country and in almost all enterprises- which, as we well know, is an indispensable condition to ensure success and order in everything that we intend to accomplish.

In these circumstances, nobody should lose sight of the relevance of keeping a differentiated approach to the youth –and here I am dealing with a different issue, related to university graduates and medium-level technicians; that is, they deserve a different treatment and approach, as you saw it was described by the first resolution passed by the Ministry of Labor.  I should emphasize the decision of exempting new graduates from any overstaffing reduction process while they are completing their Social Service term. Otherwise they will be the first to be sacrificed.

Now then, we are not trying to assign them to jobs that have nothing to do with their professional profiles, as it has occurred in the past, when they were even employed as doormen at some work places while they were completing their Social Service term, regardless of the title or knowledge they have acquired, because that period is precisely designed to train them in the production and  provision of services, so that they could complement the theory they learned in school with practice and cultivate in them the love for work. If we do not do that we will be sacrificing the immediate future, those who will continue after us.

No less important is the work to be carried out by cadres and specialists involved in the drafting and review of legal documents, which are to be in tune with the modifications that are being implemented. For example, in order to create the legal framework –because not a single step should be taken without first taking into account this, the legal framework- for two Guidelines (158 and 159), referring to self-employment, its taxation regime and the reduction of overstaffing, we have had to issue almost 30 legal provisions, including decree-laws –today we adopted those that were proclaimed during this period-, Government agreements and resolutions from various ministries and national institutes.

Just a few days ago –listen to this example-, a resolution issued by the Ministry of Finances that modified the prices set by collecting centers for a series of agricultural products had to invalidate another 36 resolutions issued by that same body on different dates in previous years, but all of them  were still in force. Who could control an activity like that, the pricing of agricultural products, when the prices fixed are not governed by supply and demand and there are 36 different documents governing it? No matter how many computers you may have, this is something impossible to do.  And so there are many decisions of this sort contained in documents, one after the other; some of them modify the others, the ones that come next, and so on.  In this case, one resolution replaced another 36, but all of them were still in force.

These facts give you some idea of the work facing us in the area of juridical organization for the purpose of reinforcing the institutional character of the country  -this is not because we like papers; every activity must be regulated in documents and officially approved-, and eliminating so many irrational prohibitions that have been prevailed for years, without bearing in mind the existing circumstances, creating a veritable breeding ground for multiple actions outside the law that very often give rise to different levels of corruption.  One can arrive at a life-tested conclusion: irrational prohibitions lead to violations and that in turn leads to corruption and impunity.  That is why I believe that people are right –because they have said since they discussed the speech I delivered in 2007, which was not a speech that deserved being discussed by the entire people, but then they were told: “You may say what you want”, and right here I reported the results of that survey.  Besides, that was intended to accumulate greater experience for what we are doing right now, and we managed to accumulate important experiences, and many of the statements made then are being repeated now during the discussion of the Guidelines That is, people were right in their concerns over the mind-boggling procedures associated with housing and the buying and selling of cars among individuals, just to mention two examples that are currently under study for an orderly solution. That is why yesterday we remembered, as Marino was saying, that the State regulates its relations with individuals, but the State does not have to interfere in any way with the intention of regulating the relations between two individuals.  So if I have a little car, a jalopy or whatever, an “almendrón”, as it is commonly called here, and that car is mine, I have the right to sell it to whoever I want, provided I also observe the regulations established by the owner’s registry.

At the same time, we must simplify and group together the legislation in force, which is generally rather dispersed.  The guiding documents are drawn up so that they known by those responsible for enforcing them, not just to be filed away.  Therefore, we have to educate all cadres and demand that they work with the legal provisions that govern their functions and see to it that this is complied with as a professional qualification requirement to occupy any given post. Yesterday or the day before yesterday we referred to an example which was a sort of common denominator to all provinces regarding one specific fact.  It was a usual practice for all to receive documents and immediately put them inside a drawer.  And this happened just the other day. And meanwhile life goes on.

It is worthwhile remembering, once again, that ignorance of the law does not exempt anyone from complying with it and that, according to the Constitution, every citizen has equal rights and responsibilities.  Therefore whoever commits a crime in Cuba, regardless of the position they hold or whoever they may be, they shall have to face up to the consequences of their mistakes and bear the full weight of the law.

Moving on to another issue, also covered by the Guidelines, we have excluded 68 important investments for the country from next year’s economic plan –as was already informed here-, because they have not complied with the established requirements, among them, identification of funding, technical preparation, streamlining of project, identification of the construction group capable of undertaking such works within the established terms and the evaluation of feasibility studies, among others.  We shall not permit the wastage of resources destined to investments due to the spontaneity, improvisation and superficiality that, more often than not, have characterized the investment process.  And when this issue was discussed during the last meeting of the Council of Ministers –and many of you heard it- we decided that this will happen no more, and those who infringe upon that decision will have to face the consequences, no matter which.

In dealing with these subjects I must refer to the key role to be played by the Party cadres, the Government, mass and youth organizations in the coordinated and harmonious conduction of the process to update the Cuban economic model.

Now we have a special and well prepared battlefield to show that all of this can be done, that it can be done well, that we will not fall short of or go over the limits, as the Generalissimo used to say.

In the course of the gradual decentralization that we are carrying out, we have adopted different measures to increase the authority of administrative and business executives on whom we shall continue to delegate powers.  Simultaneously we are improving control procedures and will adopt a more demanding attitude against any manifestation of negligence, apathy and other behaviors incompatible with public positions.

Right here, sitting on the first row, there is the Vice President of the Council of State, Gladys Bejerano, who –as you know- is an efficient General Comptroller of the Republic.

When that ministry still existed under the name of Ministry for Auditing and Control –that activity is now under the direct supervision of the Council of State and, on behalf of that organ, I personally check its everyday performance, as I do with the Republic’s General Attorney’s work, and I assign them some tasks-, despite the fact that it could not do much because all justifications were accepted and these always had a sort of godfather, comrade Gladys Bejerano was frowned on by some. And very often when she exerted her controls someone, anyone, came to complain:  “Well, that does not help.” Some others said: “That is demoralizing” –what on earth was that! They said that “comrade Gladys was very tough, that she said things in a very tough way”.  But that is what we want; that is what I always demanded from them.

And then, once –I had not yet been appointed to this post- I said: “I believe we should dissolve this ministry”. I saw some happy faces; they were all looking at each other.  The exception was Gladys’ sad face; because apparently we were disregarding her important task.  Then I waited for almost a minute, just a few seconds, and afterwards I said: “We are going to dissolve that ministry, because its minister has the same hierarchy as all other ministers, and we are going to create the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, which will be under the Council of State, ad we will propose Gladys as Vice President of the Council of State”.  There were faces that saddened and Gladys laughed happily again (Laughter).  What I am telling you is no joke (Applause); this is no joke.

I was saying that the authority of administrative executives, ministers, provincial and municipal governments will increase.  They will be further supported and their faculties will be decentralized from above.

We have said that municipal governments must have faculties and resources.  We also indicated the way to acquire them and added that we will continue to delegate some faculties.  At the same time the control mechanisms will be further perfected; we will adopt a more severe attitude against every manifestation of negligence, indolence and other behaviors incompatible with the performance of any public position.

Likewise, we are fully aware of the harm caused by the “inverse pyramid” phenomenon to the cadres’ policy over the years, which means that salaries were not being paid according to the importance and hierarchy of leading posts, nor was there an adequate differentiation between them.  This discourages the promotion of the most capable workers to higher responsibilities at the enterprises and even at ministries.  This is a basic problem that must be resolved according to what is indicated in Guidelines 156 and 161, related to the wages policy.

The Sixth Party Congress should be, as a fact of life, the last to be attended by most of us who belong to the Revolution’s historical generation.  The time we have left is short, the task that lies ahead of us is gigantic, and without an ounce of immodesty, personal vanity or sentimentalism, I think we have the obligation of taking advantage of the power of our moral authority among the people to trace out the route to be followed and resolve some other important problems. (Applause).

We don’t think we are more intelligent or able that anyone else or any of the like, but we strongly believe that we have the elemental duty to rectify the mistakes that we have made all along these five decades during which we have been building socialism in Cuba.  To this endeavor we will devote all the energy we have left, which fortunately is not just a little (Applause).

We will increase our perseverance and our intransigence against wrongdoings.  Government ministers and other administrative and political leaders know they will count on our full support when, while performing their duties,  they educate –they must first and foremost educate- and at the same time adopt a demanding behavior towards their subordinates, and are not afraid of running into trouble. Usually no one is willing to run into that:  Do not be afraid of running into trouble for confronting the wrong. Running into trouble for confronting the wrong is right now one of our main tasks aimed at eradicating all those deficiencies that we have mentioned.

Likewise it is very clear to all of us that we are no longer living through the early years after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 –the early months after the triumph-, when some of those who were appointed to government posts, particularly in that first government that was appointed by Urrutia, except for the Defense and Agriculture portfolios, were told: “Do not touch that”, because we were thinking about the agrarian reform and the weapons that we had occupied or we intended to occupy.  I am speaking about January 2.  After Fidel made the speech at “Céspedes” park, he left for the enemy’s general headquarters to speak to those soldiers so that they would join him – because there had been a coup d’etat in Havana and we did not know how to operate the tanks, the artillery and other means they had there.  Fidel allowed Urrutia and other leaders of the 26th of July Movement of the University of Santiago de Cuba to appoint a government.

I was the one who carried that message to Urrutia at dawn on January 2, because the mass rally at the square had concluded after midnight.  So I said to him: “Do not touch that; it is recommended not to touch the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of Defense.” This was the only thing that was said.  So when I told him, on behalf of Fidel, to appoint Colonel Rego Rubido, who had just surrendered to Fidel in an area known as “Alto del Escandel” on January 1, Urrutia  started to pace up and down the garage of the house in the neighborhood called ‘Vista Alegre’, where I went to meet him.  A crowd had surrounded the patio of the house and waved hello at me.  Discussions went on for a while:  “I can not appoint a member of Batista’s army as chief commander of the Rebel Army!” he said. “Look President”, I told him, “Fidel knows what he is doing.  There has been a coup d’etat in Havana.  He is heading for Bayamo to speak with Batista’s soldiers…” And those were the ones who joined him along the way.  They took a whole   week to complete the journey, and when they entered Columbia they had already grown a wispy beard.  Guillermo came with Fidel and others who are present here, like Colomé.  Ramiro came with Che; Polito came with Fidel.  I don’t know what Álvaro did; he was 15 years old.  Did you stay there or you also came? (Álvaro answered he stayed in Santiago).  Oh, you stayed in Santiago.  Well done, because you are from Santiago.

So then there was no choice.  There were 5 000 enemy soldiers in the city and I hardly had two or three bodyguards with me, nothing else.  We founded several columns, because we prepared a solid force for Fidel.  Lussón, who commanded a more powerful column, to which Colomé belonged, had departed already.  Belarmino was commanding another column.  We placed Efigenio into some old planes that used to belong to Batista, so that he might arrive in Havana and take over the National Police. Efigenio Ameijeiras was the chief commander of Column 6, facing Guantánamo, and I had appointed him as chief of the three columns surrounding the city that we intended to attack on January 2, when we realize that General Cantillo had betrayed us.  So I had to think what to do.  I entered the very office of Chaviano, the same place where I was interrogated at the time of the Moncada attack.  I went through the same door I had gone through back then.

Luckily, I was captured many days after the repression and the massacre against the comrades who attacked the Moncada had ceased. I was not beaten; I did not go through that experience.  Under such circumstances I tried to behave as decently as possible, without insolence.  They made me walk along the lines of soldiers who yelled insults at me and asked the captain and the officers who accompanied me: “Give him to me Captain, so that justice is served!”

And then five years, five months and five days after, on January 1st, we entered the city of Santiago de Cuba, and I went to the Moncada garrison to speak to all those people.  I entered through the same door but now I was cheered and applauded.  I carried a single bodyguard with me, and I talked to the soldiers.  My mission was to gather all officers and take them to El Escandel, close to El Caney, so that they could speak to Fidel.  I could not leave by myself from that place.  I was carried, shoulder high, by a crowd of soldiers and sergeants who took me to the neighborhood where they lived, right beside the Moncada garrison.  And there I was; I could not leave that place.  I was offered coffee, etc. (Somebody tells something to Raúl).  What? Gerolán? I was addressing the troop and then they started to shout: “Gerolán! Gerolán!” So I asked the Batista’s officers: “What is Gerolán?” But they didn’t pay any attention to me.  They continued shouting “Gerolán!” and I kept on speaking at the top of my voice from a balcony.  But no way; nobody wanted to tell me what was Gerolán and the soldiers did not let me speak.  The man who accompanied me did not know either.  Finally, one officer –I think he was an accountant, or worked in something that had to do with logistics-, a lieutenant or second lieutenant, approached me and said:  “Listen, Commander, Gerolán is the extra pay soldiers receive when they are operating out in the field”.  And then I asked: “So, what’s the problem? Haven’t they been paid that?” and I was told: “No, because here the dead were not even reported so that the chiefs could rob that money.”  So I said: “Tomorrow, after we take control of the fortress, there will be Gerolán for all of you”.  Ah! It seemed that the world had come to an end.  And then I said: What a troop we have right here in front of us! (Laughter).  We requested a loan from a bank and we paid the Gerolán to those poor soldiers who did not have… That is what Guillermo wanted me to recall.

But, what was the meaning of Gerolán? Gerolán was the name of a poor-quality syrup that I believed had some special properties, which was taken mainly by braggers (Laughter).

And then I also said that everybody would be paid that money, but obviously these times are not like those early years after the triumph…

Oh, well! I did not finish the story about Urrutia, did I? Melba Hernández could bear witness of that –she is not here today.  I had not seen her since we were in Mexico.  Afterwards she was able to come and join the Third Front, which was commanded by Almeida.  Since those houses of the Vista Alegre neighborhood had a garage with a little stairs that led to a kitchen, she was there in the kitchen, waiting for all that fuss to come to an end.  I signaled to her to wait, and Urrutia kept on pacing up and down with his hands crossed behind his back.  Time passed by, until it seemed that I remembered about my Galician descent and uttered to him a few phrases I can not repeat here.  I said to him: “Listen, I have been struggling against Batista for seven years.  I have been in combat, in prison, in exile.  Do you think it does not bother me to see a Batista’s officer as chief commander of the army? That man will command nobody; he will consult me everything, because I will assign him to the very office of the chief of the regiment”.  And so it happened.  The first order I gave was: “Let us begin to send all those soldiers who are here”.  And since the bridges had all been blown up and I did not want them to come across Fidel, although they were unarmed, I used the three frigates that belonged to Batista’s navy.  I began to send them into groups of 500 to the centre and the western part of the country, where they lived.

I said to him a few words.  I was being tough on him and I said:  “Fidel knows what he is doing and I obey Fidel!”  Then he kept on pacing up and down and said:  “Well, Commander, we will see a solution; I believe it is reasonable, don’t you think?” And I said:  “Yes, that is what I think.” “Well, that’s fine”, he said.  After that I kissed Melba goodbye and I left to fulfill my duties.

I was in Santiago; Fidel left me in charge of the eastern provinces at that time.  I did not attend the inauguration ceremony, which was held at the University of Santiago.  I did not attend that.

You have already seen how we held our meetings, haven’t you? When I was about to leave, old Urrutia called me up and said to me:  “Commander, I need you to appoint and aide-the- camp to work with me”. I said:  “I will send you one, President”.  I began to wonder which person I could send -I had already figured out the troubles we would have with this man.  February, March, four or five months had hardly elapsed…you know the story- and I ran into Machado Ventura (Laughter).  He was carrying a Thompson; he was already Commander.  And then I said to him: “Listen Machado –I did not want to tell him about this incident:  I only told that to Fidel and to no one else when I came to Havana on February.  “Listen, Machado, the President has asked me this and that, and I think you are the ideal person”.  “Nooo!” Machado said to me, “what I have to do is to find a job as a medical doctor”.  “Forget about that job”, I said, “it is now when all this mess is going to start”.  And, finally, he accepted.

Urrutia came to Havana and I stayed in Oriente. When I came to Havana on February, we started to have problems with Urrutia, and these problems continued.  Nothing was published about the steps Urrutia was taking or his absolute irrationality, even as a person.  The first thing he did was to be paid the same salary Batista earned, plus the representation allowance.  And, of course, he bought himself a small shack, as was done by Grau, who must be around, although Urrutia left.

Then I said: “Well, I am going to call my friend Machado to see how things are”.  And when I called to the Presidential Palace and asked for Machado I was told:  “No, Machado has not been here for such and such a time”.  And then I wondered:  “Where is Machado?” And I found him working as a doctor in the municipality La Habana, wasn’t it? (Machado says yes).  That is to say, I thought he had been the first defector from the modern Revolutionary Armed Forces (Laughter).  Hopefully with his work he managed to clear his name.

After laughing a little bit at the expenses of Machado, who is my friend, we shall continue.

We are all clear that these are not like the early days after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, when some who occupied government posts –and that was when I came across the anecdote about that government- resigned to show their opposition against the first radical measures adopted by the Revolution, mainly against the agrarian reform -the first was adopted on May 17 of 1959.  That is why that behavior was then branded as counterrevolutionary.  That is, they resigned to show their opposition to the radical measures, and we qualified them: “That is counterrevolution”, but then we accepted their resignation. Today, the true revolutionary and honest behavior is for any cadre to resign with dignity and without any fear whenever they feel tired or incapable of fully performing their duties or comply with the new instructions that we are giving. In that case, the right thing to do is to resign, with dignity and without any fear. That will always be preferable to a demotion.

In this regard, I should refer to three comrades who occupied important positions in the leadership of the Party and the Government.  As a result of their mistakes, the Political Bureau asked them to resign to their condition as members of this leading body, of the Central Committee and as deputies to the National People’s Power Assembly.  I am referring to Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz, Yadira García Vera and Pedro Sáez Montejo.  The first two were also released from their positions as minister of Transportation and of the Basic Industry respectively –that is I am referring to Sierra and Yadira.  Sierra took upon himself attributions he was not entitled to, which led him to make serious mistakes in management.  Yadira García did a dreadful job as a leader of a very important ministry, such as the Basic Industry Ministry, which takes care of oil production, mining, etc., which became particularly evident in the poor control of the resources allocated to investments, that led to a waste of those resources, as it became obvious during the expansion of the nickel factory Pedro Soto Alba of Moa, in the province of Holguín.  Both comrades were severely criticized at the joint meetings of the Political Bureau and the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers.

On his part, Pedro Sáez Montejo, evidencing superficiality incompatible with his position as First Secretary of the Communist Party in the City of Havana, infringed upon the party work standards, something that was discussed with him by a Political Bureau commission which was presided over by myself and made up by comrades Machado Ventura and Esteban Lazo.

It is fair to say though that the three of them recognized the mistakes each of them had made and adopted a correct attitude.  That is the reason why the Political Bureau Commission decided to respect their condition as members of the Communist Party.  Likewise, we deemed it convenient to assign them to tasks related to their respective specialties –some of them at the grassroots level.  Others, like Sierra, who is a mechanical engineer by profession, is right now working in a little workshop of a general war tanks repairing unit.  The workshop has between 11 to 14 workers, and Sierra is the chief of them all.

Personally, the three of them will continue to be my friends but my only single commitment is with the people, particularly with those who have lost their lives in these 58 years of continued struggle since the coup d’etat in 1952.  This has been the procedure followed with three high level leaders, so let it be known that this would be the same procedure to be followed by the Party and the Government with every other cadre.  We will demand more from them, but at the same time we will warn them and adopt any relevant disciplinary measure if any of the established rules are infringed upon.

As was established by the Law to Modify the Country’s Political and Administrative Division, on January next year the new provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque will be created. Their respective governments will start to work according to the new organizational and structural conceptions, which are far more rational than the ones that exist in the present Havana province.

All functions, structures and payrolls have been already defined.  We are still working on the definitions of their attributions as well as their relations with the Central State Administrative Apparatus, national companies and political and mass organizations.  We will follow very closely this experience so that it could be gradually implemented on all other local government bodies throughout the country in the course of the next five years.  We very much favor the usefulness of continuing to gradually increase the authority of provincial and municipal governments by entrusting them with greater faculties for the execution of local budgets, which will absorb part of the taxes generated by the economic activity aiming at contributing to its further development.

The relations with the peoples and governments of almost every nation are improving amidst the convulsive international situation.

The world has known with amazement about the scandalous revelations made by hundreds of thousands of classified documents of the US government. Some of the most recent are about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; others deal with the most varied topics about the US relations with tens of States.

Although everybody is wondering what is really going on and how could this be linked to the twists and turns of the US politics, what has been revealed so far show that the US, under the pretence of practicing a kind rhetoric, essentially, it continues to implement the usual politics and acts as a global gendarme.

There isn’t the slightest willingness on the part of the United States to change its policy against Cuba, not even to eliminate its most irrational aspects.  It is evident that a powerful and reactionary minority that props up the anti Cuban mafia continues to have a major influence on these issues.

The United States not only turns a blind eye to the overwhelming call issued by 187 countries asking for an end to the  economic, commercial and financial blockade against our country.  In the year 2010, it reinforced its implementation and once again included Cuba in its spurious lists, whereby they take upon themselves the right to qualify and denigrate other sovereign States to justify punitive actions or even acts of aggression.

The US policy against Cuba does not have an ounce of credibility.  The US has no other choice but to resort to lies to reiterate certain allegations.  Some of them stand out for being scandalously false, as the one asserting that Cuba is a country that sponsors international terrorism, tolerates domestic traffic in children and the use of women for sexual exploitation, violates flagrantly human rights and is responsible for significantly restricting religious freedom.

The US government tries to hide its own sins and attempts to evade its responsibilities when it allows that notorious international terrorists who have been wanted by the legal systems of several countries continue to live with impunity in that country while it maintains our Five brothers unjustly imprisoned for fighting against terrorism.

In its slanderous campaigns about the human rights situation in Cuba, the United States has found the connivance of European countries, characterized by their double standards and their submissiveness to the US imperialism, which became well known for their complicity with the CIA secret renditions, the creation of torture and detention centers, for placing the burden of the economic crisis on the lowest income workers and the students, for violently repressing demonstrators and for the implementation of discriminatory policies against migrants and minorities.

We will continue to struggle, together with all Latin American nations, for an emancipating integration.  In the context of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, we will continue to work to consolidate the solidarity and unity that will make us ever stronger.

Therefore, we will continue to support the sister nation of Haiti where our health staff together with Latin American and Haitian doctors who graduated in Cuba, in a selfless and humanitarian way, is coping with the cholera epidemic, the destruction caused by the earthquake and the sequels of hundreds of years of exploitation and plundering of that noble people that needs the international community to grant resources for reconstruction and especially for a sustainable development.

This is also the right occasion to convey, from this parliamentary meeting and on behalf of all Cubans, a message of support and solidarity to the brother people of Venezuela, who are suffering from the ravages of torrential rains that have caused great human and material losses. At a very early stage, the tens of thousands of Cuban cooperation workers who are offering their services in that country were instructed to place themselves at the disposal of the Venezuelan people and President Hugo Chavez for whatever might be necessary.

April next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Socialist character of our Revolution.  In the sands of Playa Girón our forces fought for the first time to defend socialism and within hardly 72 hours, led by Commander in Chief in person, they managed to defeat the mercenary invasion sponsored by the US government.

On the occasion of such a relevant commemoration, there will be a military parade on April 16 with the participation of troops and combat equipment, to be attended by the delegates to the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party who will meet on that very afternoon to begin their works, which we hope will conclude on April 19, the day when we celebrate the Victory of Playa Girón.  We will begin by celebrating the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution, the speech delivered by Fidel during the burial of the victims of the bombings, which were launched the day before the attack on Girón, and we will conclude on the day when victory was attained. The parade will be closed by tens of thousands of youths representing the new generations, which are the guarantee of the continuity of the Revolution.

This celebration will be dedicated to our youth, which has never failed to be faithful to the Revolution.  Youth were those who died during the attack on the Moncada and Bayamo garrisons; youth were those who rose up in  Santiago de Cuba under the leadership of Frank País; youth were the Granma expeditionaries who, after the fiasco at Alegría de Pío, founded the Rebel Army, and were joined by waves of other youths  from the countryside and the city, particularly by the reinforcement that came from Santiago that was personally organized and sent by Frank himself; youth were those who were members of the powerful clandestine movement of all the organizations; youth were those who courageously attacked the Presidential Palace and  the ‘Radio Reloj’ radio station on March 13, 1957, headed by Jose Antonio Echeverría; youth were those  who fought heroically in Girón; youth and teenagers were those who joined the literacy campaign in that same year, also 50 years ago; youth were most of those who fought against the mercenary bands organized by the CIA, until well advanced the year 1965; youth were those who wrote beautiful pages of  courage and stoicism in the internationalist missions in several countries, particularly those in support of the liberation movements in Africa; youth are our Five Heroes who risked their lives in the struggle against terrorism and have suffered more than 12 years of cruel imprisonment; youth are many of the thousands and thousands of cooperation workers who defend the human life by curing diseases that have already been eradicated in Cuba, supporting the literacy programs and disseminating culture and the practice of sports throughout many countries of the world.

This Revolution has been the result of the sacrifices made by the Cuban youth:  the workers, farmers, students, intellectuals, military, all the youths from all the times during which they have lived and struggled. That is why we will dedicate this fiftieth anniversary celebration to our youth.

This Revolution will be carried forward by the youth, full of optimism and with an unshakable faith in victory.

Huge have also been the challenges and dangers since the triumph of the Revolution and the proclamation of its socialist character, especially after victory of Girón.  But no difficulty has ever bent our spirit.  We are and will be here thanks to the dignity, the integrity, the courage, the ideological strength, the revolutionary spirit and the sacrifice of the revolutionary people of Cuba, which long ago embraced the idea that socialism is the only guarantee to continue to be free and independent.

Thank you, very much (Ovation).

Combatants of July 26th of 1953 (Applause), of the Rebel Army, the clandestine struggle and the glorious internationalist missions (Applause);

Families of the fallen;

Men and women of Holguín (Applause); Compatriots:

We might well begin by asking a question, purely as a matter of personal curiosity.  You all know that I come from these parts (Applause and exclamations), and so I have the right to wonder, to want to know, if it is possible, which fellow citizen of this province had the idea of having us standing with the sun right behind us (Laughter), it doesn’t bother me, but I’m sure that none of you can see me; if anything, a shadow:  that’s me (Applause).

For such reasons, during this commemoration of the 56th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks, my speech will by very short, keeping in mind the high temperatures that have been a feature of our summer this year, even though we are starting earlier than usual –at 7:00 a.m. – and being aware of the fact that all of you have been here from six in the morning, that most of you walked here from your homes (Applause), and that last night, as I saw briefly on TV, you were celebrating exactly this anniversary.  Besides, that sun over there, we don’t know who it was that placed in front of you.

Again, for such reasons, I shall be brief. Very soon, in the next few days, we shall be having important meetings that will serve as more fitting scenarios to delve into complex matters.

The first of these will be the Council of Ministers, the day after tomorrow, dedicated to the analysis of the second adjustment to the planned outlays for this year, as a result of the effects of the world economic crisis on our economy, especially the significant reduction of income from exports and the additional restrictions to gain access to foreign funding sources.

As you know, for 11 days I have been on a tour of friendly countries in Africa. Also, until just recently, I chaired the Non-Aligned Movement. I have handed over that responsibility to the president of Egypt.

I have very little available time for I am bound by these meetings and the important subjects about which I am informing you.

The day after that Council of Ministers’ meeting, on July 29th, we shall be holding the seventh Plenary of the Party Central Committee, during which, for an entire day, according to the agenda, we shall be making a deep analysis of some crucial issues related to the national and international situation.

Furthermore, the ordinary session of the National Assembly of the Peoples’ Power has been called for August 1st. There we shall debate, among other issues, the draft legislation on the Comptroller General of the Republic.  That entity will contribute to raise the demands on compliance with legislation in effect and on matters of control by all the leadership structures in the nation.

AWARD FOR EFFORT AND WORK ACCOMPLISHED

This year the choice of the location for the central ceremony for July 26th did not strictly follow the established indicators.  It would have been illogical to base ourselves only on the level of fulfillment of those indicators when, since September, after the devastation caused by the hurricanes, it became clear that in much of the country it would simply be impossible to attain them.

Don’t forget that the damages, as we then informed in our parliament –without saying that they are all perfectly settled or accounted for– reached the figure of approximately 10 billion dollars, the equivalent of 20% of the Gross Domestic Product; in other words, the value of everything we did in terms of work and production during that past year.

Therefore, when the Politburo determined that Holguín would be the venue and awarded the position of “outstanding” to Villa Clara, Granma and Ciudad de La Habana, it considered all that was achieved during the first months of the year in more or less normal conditions, and above all the efforts made by the provinces to face up to the meteorological phenomena with the least possible number of lives and material resources lost and particularly in the work of recovery.

Holguín played a major role in all of that. It is a large province, with more than one million inhabitants and a remarkable share of the national economy because of the nickel industry, the third tourism development area in the country and other important productions located there.  It is an award for effort and for work accomplished.

Therefore, we congratulate the men and women of Holguín (Applause); comrade Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (Applause), first party secretary in the province at that difficult time and in previous years, which were also years of intense work.  We extend our congratulations to comrade Jorge Cuevas Ramos (Applause), coming from Las Tunas, a province that was also heavily battered by Hurricane Ike and who, since his election to lead the Party in Holguin, has displayed an enthusiastic and active work.

We also congratulate the “outstanding” provinces, without forgetting to recognize the effort made by all others, that is, by the compatriots in the western part of Cuba, in Pinar del Rio and on the Isle of Youth (Applause), who faced up to extremely serious damages, as well as the people of Camagüey and Las Tunas provinces, especially the people of Santa Cruz del Sur and Guayabal. These towns were severely affected and in some cases sustained almost total destruction (Applause).

A PEOPLE EDUCATED IN GENUINE SOLIDARITY

I have only mentioned a few of the places that suffered the greatest destruction.  These have really been difficult months of hard labor from one end of the country to the other.  In the entire country we have seen our people’s capacity to resist, organize and show solidarity.  The examples abound of how we should work in such times.

That was the conduct of the vast majority of the compatriots in this province as they were hit by Hurricane Ike and in the following months.  Everywhere else, people followed suit.

Many comrades stayed mobilized far from their families, even when more than a few of them were also suffering from limitations, very often put up in shelters because they had totally or partially lost their homes.

They trusted the Revolution and carried out the assigned task, aware of its importance and confident that their loved ones would not be left helpless.

Likewise, the massive willingness to give shelter in their homes to neighbors whose homes were unsafe, an attitude that has become a daily occurrence before different kinds of adversities, speaks volumes of our people’s humane quality.

Our people are educated with those values, in a genuine sense of solidarity; they share what they have with their brothers and sisters, be they Cubans or from other lands; they share not what they have aplenty, because here there is nothing aplenty but problems. (Applause)

By that same measure, the Cuban people are thankful for the help, the generous gestures and the support received from many corners of the globe.  I take advantage of the occasion to acknowledge the noble and honorable work of the Interreligious Foundation Pastors for Peace (Applause), and its leader, the Reverend Lucius Walker (Applause) and the members of the 20th US-Cuba  Friendship Caravan (Applause), along with the “Venceremos” Brigade –which has reached its 40th anniversary– some of whose members are here with us today (Applause).

DAMAGES TO HOMES ARE A VERY SERIOUS MATTER

Damages to homes are a very serious matter.  Just in the province of Holguin almost 125,000 were affected; about one-half of them have been restored.

On a national level, if one adds to those damaged by these three hurricanes, those still awaiting solutions from previous years, especially at the beginning of the century for similar reasons of hurricane damage, by the end of 2008 the total came to more than 600,000; that was the reason I warned that it would need time to radically change that situation.

The state entities, labor collectives and even the neighbors have made efforts worthy of recognition.  It is significant that up to July 20th, 43% of the problems had been solved, that is, more than 260,000 homes.

Nevertheless, there is still much work to be done. Moreover, it is necessary to avoid accumulation of such enormous figures again in the future, bearing in mind that because of the climate change many scientists are forecasting that hurricanes could be more intense and frequent.

BEING ABLE TO PREVENT AND CONFRONT DROUGHTS

By the same token, we are working to be ready to prevent and to face up to the effects of recurring periods of drought, always more extended and intense, by the means of different measures, among them the decanting of water, even from one province to another.

Let’s not forget the three difficult years of droughts lasting from the beginning of the century until 2005, when it was necessary throughout the country to carry the water even by railways and using all kinds of vehicles and containers to close to three and a half million Cubans (Applause).

That’s why in various places we are building these strategic decanting systems that will allow us to take the precious liquid from one province to another.

As you know, this monumental work began here in Holguin, where we have the paradox of the province with the greatest rainfall on the island –over there on the border of Baracoa, Guantanamo province– neighboring one of the most arid; a few years ago this endangered the water supply to this city’s population.

In the next few days –we were going to start today at the end of this event ceremony but for the reasons I mentioned earlier in my speech, we shall be doing it later in the month of August– we shall formally inaugurate the first stage of the East-West decanting system (Applause) that includes the Nipe dam pipeline –over there by the river of the same name, in Mayarí Municipality – to the Gibara dam – not close to the city of Gibara, further north, but one that is here, closer to the city of Holguin, to the east of that one.

In other words, the Nipe Dam to Gibara and from there, downstream, by the river, I think of the same name, the Colorado Dam, which is further north, and from this Colorado Dam going backwards, but to the north, using another pipeline that has already been built, right up to the El Naranjo dam, with a capacity of some 11 or 12 million cubic meters, which is often dry, and that supplies that area and the tourist resorts of Guardalavaca where in those dry years we were forced to close down some hotels.

This costly work –and it’s just the beginning – already constructed and in use, ensures the steady supply of water to the northern region of Holguin, including its capital.

The construction of the project, now in an advanced stage, includes building the Melones dam which, to be more exact, I propose be called Mayarí, after the river feeding it (Applause), whose levee –the only one of its kind built in Cuba with that technology –will be completed by April 2011, even though it will start storing water from next year, 2010.

The Nipe dam, with about 130 million cubic meters, had been built 25 years ago but was not being properly used.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the first stage I just mentioned that same month, that is, the East-West decanting system, there will be an extensive TV report about this huge work of great significant to us that will also explain the whole water decanting system between provinces that is currently under construction.

It is a program for the present but above all for the future when water will be an ever more scarce resource, especially on an island as long and narrow as ours, where the precious liquid is lost in rapid spillage into the sea.

I have only mentioned one stage of this program which covers a great part of the country, from Sancti Spíritus in the central portion of the island, all the way to Guantánamo.  In the latter of these provinces, during the first semester of next year, specifically in the fertile Caujerí Valley, they will start receiving water by gravity via tunnels that cut through the mountains –in this case constructed by our armed forces; this will bring a considerable saving of fuel when the expensive pumping of water will be terminated.

We are also working on the rehabilitation of the aqueduct network and the sewer and drainage systems in this province, among these the municipalities of Cacocum, Urbano Noris and specific actions in Frank País, Gibara and Banes.  In the city of Holguín, 114 kilometers of network have been built, with 21,620 connections to homes, for the benefit of 86,400 people.

With the arrival of new equipment in the coming months the pace of work will increase in Holguin where there is already one of three factories producing the necessary pipes in various sizes.  As you know, a costly investment is underway that will definitively bring a solution to the water supply problem to the city of Santiago de Cuba; this will be completed in 2010.  And in 2011, we foresee the conclusion of the El Cristo and El Cobre aqueducts in that Santiago municipality, while the Palma Soriano aqueduct is under study.

TURNING TO THE LAND TO MAKE IT MORE PRODUCTIVE

On another subject, –one of the few I’m planning to deal with this morning– on July 26, 2007, in Camagüey, I referred to the overriding necessity of turning to the land to make it more productive.  At the time, almost half of the arable land was either idle or underexploited.  At that time we made a call to generalize as quickly as possible and in an organized way every experience of the outstanding producers in the state and private sectors, and to stimulate their hard work, along with solving once and for all the harmful State defaults in this sector.

The leasing of lands is advancing at a satisfactory pace, even though there are still shortcomings in some municipalities.  Of the more than 110,000 applications filed, close to 82,000 have been approved up to the present, covering some 690,000 hectares, which is 39% of the fallow land.

It seems too little to me; and I’m not talking of rushing out to distribute land without any controls. But it should be done more efficiently, in an organized way, for it is a task of prime strategic priority.  One of the speakers preceding me here already said that it is a matter of national security to produce everything that can be grown in this country and that we are spending hundreds of millions and billions of dollars to bring from other countries –and this is no exaggeration.

The land is right here!  Here are the Cubans!  Let’s see whether we can work or not, whether we produce or not, whether we keep our word or not!  It isn’t a matter of shouting “Patria o Muerte!”, “Down with Imperialism!” (Applause); the blockade is battering us and the land is there, waiting for our sweat.  Even though the heat is ever more intense, we have no other option than to make it produce.  I think we all agree on this (Exclamations of: Yes!” and applause).

Flying over the length and breadth of this country, especially by helicopter, sometimes I order the pilot to go off course and circle over some village, city, etc.  I can assure you that in most of them, there is more than enough land, and it is good soil, right by our front doors, and it is not being farmed: and that’s where we are making the plan to move forward, with intensive farming, irrigating wherever possible with the water we have and where there are resources to do so.  If one day there is not enough fuel in this quickly changing and crazy world, let’s make sure that our food is at hand, that we can bring it in a wagon drawn by horses or oxen, or even pushing it along with our own hands (Applause).

Almost half of the already leased lands have been declared free of marabú and other undesirable plants and weeds and nearly 225,000 hectares have been planted, that is, one third.

We cannot rest while there is one single hectare of idle land while somebody willing to make it produce is awaiting an answer.

The land that is not good to grow food must be used to plant trees, something that is also a great wealth. I have personally experimented for many years, especially in the last few years, planting small forests, and I have had the pleasure and the satisfaction of seeing them grow; and, depending on the type of tree, sometimes in five years I have created a small forest with several hundreds of different kinds of trees. But every time we speak of this subject, the officials from the Ministry of Agriculture –of this one and all the other preceding ministers of agriculture– come up with an unending list of millions of pesos or hard currency they request for the task, and say that without a plastic bag nothing can be planted.  I don’t know what the devil our grandfathers planted trees with (Laughter and applause), and here they are, and here we are eating the mangos that they planted (Applause).

We are not educating children to love trees and to plant some –wherever there is land, of course – in their journey through primary, secondary and pre-university schools.  Some youth leaders are listening to me here today; but trees can be planted by “golden age” youth like myself, I mean, it’s not just a job for the young (Applause).

The results of milk stockpiling are encouraging; it has grown by more than 100 million liters annually in the last two years; from 272 million in 2006, to 403 in 2008, and this year everything seems to point to an even greater increase.  I spoke about this subject on a day like today at Camagüey, in 2007.

I have touched very briefly on two aspects of the crucial subject of food production which is extremely important for the replacing of imports, as I was saying, as well as the reduction of expenses in the country’s hard currency.

OUR PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF TRIUMPH OVER ALL DIFFICULTIES

Although still insufficient, the progress made despite the deficit in material and financial resources confirms the enormous potential that we still have to exploit in agriculture and in every area of the economy.

The modest results confirm, once again, our optimism and confidence that “Yes, we can!”, and that our heroic people are capable of triumph over all difficulties, no matter how great (Applause).

This is a undoubtedly a huge challenge, in the midst of the economic blockade and many other aggressions conceived precisely to prevent the development of the nation.

Our people have never faltered when the Homeland has called on them.  They have always said “Present!” from the days of the Mambi troops of Calixto Garcia, the general of the three wars; the one with the star on his forehead who chose to take his own life rather than falling prisoner; the son of a heroic mother; the man who fought many thousands of much better armed soldiers on these lands; and much more than that, the man who fought the best army ever sent by the Spanish metropolis to the Americas.

And along with the Liberation Army the population endured, stoically and without letting up in the struggle, the countless hardships caused by the war and the cruel repression by the colonial authorities.  That is our lineage and we shall continue being faithful to its legacy (Applause).

With the monolithic unity of our people, its most powerful weapon forged in the crucible of struggle under the leadership of the Chief of the Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz (Applause), no matter how great the difficulties and the dangers: We shall carry on!  (Applause)

Glory to the martyrs of the Homeland! (Exclamations of “Glory!”)

Viva Fidel!  (Exclamations of “Viva!”)

Viva Cuba Libre!  (Exclamations of “Viva!”)

(Ovation)

Men and women from Santiago;

People from Oriente;

Combatants of the Ejército Rebelde, of the underground struggle and of every combat in defense of the Revolution throughout these 50 years;

Compatriots;

In a day like this, our first thoughts are for those who fell in this long struggle. They constitute a paradigm and a symbol of the efforts and sacrifices of millions of Cubans. Closely united in the clamor of battle, waging the powerful weapons embodied in Fidel’s leadership, his teachings and his example, we have learned how to transform our dreams into a reality; how to keep our heads cool and our confidence in the face of dangers and threats; how to get over the big setbacks; how to turn every challenge into a victory and to overcome adversity, no matter how insurmountable they might have seem.

Those of us who have had the privilege to experience the intensity of this stage of our history are well aware of the truth contained in that alert he issued that January 8, 1959, during his first speech after entering the capital:

“The tyranny has been overthrown. Our joy is immense. However, much remains to be done. We shall not deceive ourselves believing that in the future everything will be easier, because perhaps everything will be more difficult,” he said.

For the first time, the Cuban people had attained political power. This time, with Fidel, the mambises entered Santiago de Cuba leaving behind exactly 60 years of absolute domination by the emerging US imperialism, which did not take long to show its real purposes by preventing the Liberation Army from entering this city.

The great confusion and above all the enormous frustration caused by the US intervention had been left way behind. But the Mambí Army, despite its formal dismantling, always preserved its fighting spirit and the ideas that led Céspedes, Agramonte, Gómez, Maceo and so many other heroes and independence combatants to take up arms.

For over fifty years our people would endure corrupted governments and new US interventions, the Machado tyranny and the frustrated revolution that overthrew him. Later, in 1952, the coup d’état dealt with the support of the US administration, reinstated the dictatorship. This formula was commonly applied in those years to ensure its dominion in Latin America.

It was clear to us that the armed struggle was the only way. Again, the revolutionaries would have to face –as Martí before us—the dilemma of the necessary war for the independence that was cut short in 1898.

Thus, the Ejército Rebelde took up again the weapons of the mambises and after the triumph was forever transformed into the unbeaten Revolutionary Armed Forces.

The Centennial Generation, which in 1953 stormed the Moncada’s and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes’ barracks, was inspired in Marti’s important legacy and his humanistic global vision reaching beyond the attainment of national liberation.

Speaking in historical terms, a short time would pass from the moment the mambises’ dreams were frustrated to the triumph of the War of Liberation.  Early in that period, Mella, one of the founding members of our first communist party and of the FEU (University Students Federation), became the legitimate heir and the bridge connecting Marti’s thoughts to the most advanced ideas.

In those years, the conscience and action of workers and farmers matured and a genuine, valiant and patriotic intelligentsia was formed which has accompanied them to the present. Then, the Cuban school, as a loyal repository of the fighting traditions of its predecessors, planted them in the best of the new generations.

Right after the triumph it became evident for every humble man and woman that the Revolution was like a social cataclysm of justice knocking on every door, from the large palaces on the 5th Avenue, in the capital of the country, to the poorest shanty in the remotest mountain or plain field.

The revolutionary laws not only fulfilled the program that inspired the Moncada but also went far beyond it in the logical evolution of the process.  At the same time, they set a precedent for peoples of Our America, which 200 years back had started the movement for the emancipation from colonialism.

But, in Cuba the history of the Americas would take a different turn. Nothing morally valuable has been alien to the turmoil that even before January 1st, 1959, started to sweep away opprobrium and inequity while opening the way to the enormous effort of all the people determined to give itself everything it deserves and that it has built with its own sweat and blood.

Millions of Cubans, men and women, have been workers, students or soldiers; sometimes all of these as the circumstances have demanded.

Nicolas Guillén’s masterly verses synthesized what the January 1959 triumph brought to our people. “I have what I was meant to have,” he said in one of his poems, referring not to material wealth but to being the masters of our own destiny.

This victory is twice as worthy for it has been attained despite the unhealthy and vindictive hatred of the powerful neighbor.

The promotion and support of sabotage and banditry; the Playa Girón [Bay of Pigs] invasion; the blockade and other economic, political and diplomatic aggressions; the permanent slandering campaign aimed at denigrating the Cuban Revolution and its leaders; the October [Missile] Crisis; the hijackings of and attacks on civilian planes and sea crafts; the state terrorism, with its terrible result of 3478 dead and 2099 maimed; the attempts on the life of Fidel and other leaders; the murder of Cuban workers, farmers, fishermen, students, diplomats and combatants; these and many other crimes bear witness to the stubborn insistence on putting out, at any cost, the beacon of justice and honor that January 1st meant to so many.

One way or another, with more or less aggressiveness, every US administration has tried to impose a regime change in Cuba. Resistance has been the key word and the explanation of every one of our victories throughout this half century of continued fighting when we have consistently acted on our own and taken our own risks notwithstanding the extensive and decisive solidarity we have received.

For many years, Cuban revolutionaries have abided by Martí’s apothegm:  “Freedom is most precious and one must either accept to live without it or be determined to buy it for its price.”

On the 30th anniversary of the victory, Fidel said at this square: “We are here because we have put up a resistance.”  Ten years later, in 1999, from this same balcony, he said that the Special Period was “the most extraordinary page of revolutionary and patriotic glory and firmness […] when we were left absolutely alone in the West, only 90 miles away from the United States, and we decided to continue forward.” End of quote. We repeat the same thing today.

We have firmly resisted –far from any fanaticism– based on sound convictions, and on the resolution of all of the people to defend them at any cost. Presently, our glorious Five Heroes are a living example of that unshakable determination. (Applause and exclamations)

Today, we are not alone on this side of the ocean facing the empire, as it was the case in the 1960s when in January 1962 the United States of America forced on the OAS the absurd expulsion of Cuba, the country which had shortly before been the victim of an invasion organized by the US administration and escorted to our coasts by its own warships.  Actually, as it has been proven, that expulsion was the prelude to a direct military intervention only prevented by the deployment of the Soviet nuclear missiles leading to the October Crisis, known to the world as the Missile Crisis.

Today, the Revolution is stronger than ever; it has never failed to stand by its principles, not even in the most difficult circumstances. This truth cannot be changed in the least even if some get tired or even renounce their history as they forget that life is in itself an eternal fight.

Does it mean there is less danger? No, it doesn’t. Let’s not entertain any illusions. As we commemorate this half century of victories, it is time to reflect on the future, on the next fifty years when we shall continue to struggle incessantly.

The observation of the current disturbances in the contemporary world tells us that the coming years will not be easier. This is the truth; I am not saying this to scare anyone.

We should also keep in mind what Fidel told us all, but especially the youth, at the University of Havana on November 17, 2005: “This country could destroy itself, this Revolution could destroy itself, but they [the enemy] cannot destroy it. We could destroy it ourselves, and it would only be our fault,” he argued.

In the face of this possibility, I ask myself:

What is the guarantee that such a horrible thing would not happen to our people?

How could we avoid such a numbing blow that we would need much time to recover from and to attain victory again?

I am speaking on behalf of all those who have been fighting from the moment the first shots were fired on the walls of the Moncada barracks 55 years ago and of those who fulfilled heroic internationalist missions.

Of course, I am also speaking on behalf of those who fell in the wars of independence and more recently in the War of Liberation. I speak on behalf of them all, and on behalf of Abel and Jose Antonio, of Camilo and Che, when I say that this demands foremost from tomorrow’s leaders that they never forget that this is a Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble; (Applause) that they should never be misled by the enemy’s siren songs and be aware that, given its very essence, the enemy will never cease to be aggressive, treacherous and dominant; that they should never distance themselves from our workers, our farmers and the people at large; that the party members must prevent the destruction of the Party. Let’s learn from history.

If they act consistently, they will always have the support of the people, even if they make mistakes which do not breach basic principles. But, if their actions were inconsistent with such principles, they would even lack the strength and the opportunity to rectify, since they would fail to have the moral authority that the masses only grant to those who never back from the struggle.  They could end up incapacitated for tackling internal and external dangers and unable to preserve the work that is the fruit of the blood and the sacrifices of many generations of Cubans.

Nobody should have any doubt that if that would ever happen our people would put up a fight, and today’s mambises would be in the frontline; that they would never be ideologically disarmed nor would they ever let down their sword. (Applause and exclamations)

It befits the historical leadership of the Revolution to prepare the new generations to take up the enormous responsibility of continuing to carry forward the revolutionary process.

This heroic city of Santiago and all of Cuba witnessed the sacrifices of thousands of compatriots, the rage accumulated for so many lives cut short by crime, the endless pain of our mothers and the sublime courage of its sons and daughters.

This was the birthplace of a young revolutionary killed when he was only 22 years old, a man who is a symbol of that willingness to make sacrifices, of that purity, courage and serenity, and of that love for our people: Frank País García.

This eastern land was the birthplace of the Revolution. It was here that the call of duty was made in La Demajagua and on July 26th; it was here that we landed in the Granma and started the fight on the mountains and the plains, the same that extended later to the entire island. As Fidel said in History Will Absolve Me, “every day here looks like it will be again the day of Yara and Baire.”

Never again shall poverty, ignominy, abuse and injustice return to our land!

Never again shall the heart of our mothers be filled with pain and the soul of every honest Cuban succumb to shame!

Such is the firm resolution of a nation on a war footing; a nation that is aware of its duty and proud of its history.(Applause)

Our people are well aware of every shortcoming in the work they have built with their own hands and defended with their own lives. We, the revolutionaries are our strongest critics. We have never hesitated to publicly discuss our flaws and mistakes. There are plenty of past and recent examples.

Since October 10, 1868, disunity had been the main cause of our defeats. After January 1st, 1959, the unity forged by Fidel has been the guarantee of our victories. Our people have been able to preserve that unity despite all of the ups and downs and the attempts at division, and have rightly placed common aspirations above differences, crushing meanness with the strength of collectivism and generosity.

Revolutions can only advance and endure when they are carried forward by the people. The full understanding of this truth and the consistent and unshakable action carried forward have been decisive elements in the victory of the Cuban Revolution over its enemies, and over seemingly insurmountable difficulties and challenges.

As we arrive at the first half century of the victorious Revolution, let’s pay homage first to our wonderful people and to its exemplary  decision, courage, loyalty and internationalist and fraternal vocation; to its extraordinary show of will, its spirit of sacrifice and its confidence in victory, in the Party, in its maximum leader and, above all, in itself. (Applause)

I know that I am expressing the feelings of my compatriots and of many revolutionaries in the world, when I pay homage to the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz. (Applause and exclamations)

We know that a man alone doesn’t make history, but some men are indispensable as they can have a decisive influence in the course of events. Fidel is one of them; nobody doubts it, not even his most bitter enemies.

Ever since his early youth he adopted as his own one of Martí’s thoughts: “All of the glory in the world fits in a kernel of corn.” This he turned into his shield from everything that is superfluous or transient, into his main weapon to transform praises and honors  –even if well-deserved—into greater humility, honesty, fighting spirit and love for truth, which he has invariably placed above all else.

He made reference to these ideas 50 years ago in this same square. His words that night are absolutely valid today.

At this very special moment when we think of our past journey and particularly of the long way ahead, when we reiterate our commitment to the people and to our martyrs, allow me to conclude by recalling the premonitory alert and the call to combat made by the Commander in Chief in this historic place on January 1st, 1959, as he indicated:

“We do not believe that all of the problems can be easily solved; we know that the path is fraught with obstacles, but we are men of faith, we are used to facing great difficulties. Our people can be sure of one thing, and that is that we can make one or many mistakes, but we will never steal and we will never betray you.”

And he added:

“We shall never let ourselves be carried away by vanity or ambition, […] there can be no greater reward or satisfaction than the fulfillment of our duty,” he concluded.

On this date full of significance and symbolism, let’s reflect on these ideas which constitute a guidance for true revolutionaries; let’s do it with the satisfaction of having fulfilled our duty until the present and having behind us a life lived with dignity in the most intense and fruitful half century of our history. Let’s do it with the firm commitment that we will always be able to proudly claim in this land:

Glory to our heroes and martyrs! (Exclamations)

Long live Fidel! (Exclamations)

Long live the Revolution! (Exclamations)

Long live Free Cuba! (Exclamations)

(Ovation).