(Transcript: Presidency of the Republic/Translation: GI)

Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and compañeros of the Historic Generation;

Compañero Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and of the Council of State;

Deputies;

Compatriots:

Cuba is honored to have compañero Gerardo Hernández Nordelo as a member of our Council of State, today, six years since his return to the homeland. (Applause)

A year ago, from this same podium, we said: They threw us to our death and we are alive! We imagined, at the time, that nothing could be worse than that escalation of measures to tighten the imperialist blockade and attack the sources of our energy supply, our medical brigades and any option of financing.

Until 2020 arrived, a year that has been as hard and challenging as few others, a product of the startling COVID-19 pandemic that, suddenly, and for months, closed the doors on our economy and life itself.

Everything was worse, since its impact was universal and reached unbearable levels, with the opportunistic tightening of the U.S. blockade, definitive proof of the maliciousness of our adversaries.

They insisted on trying to kill us; but we insisted on living and winning. Cuba Viva (alive) rose above our own possibilities.

This is the destiny of our people, growing in the face of challenges. This is in the genes of the Cuban nation, forged in the resistance and rebellion of slaves who refused to be enslaved and the will of immigrants full of dreams; this is the legacy of our independence leaders who burned their riches in the fire of Revolution, of the mothers who bore their children amidst the battle, and the strong creole identity that matured over the long years during which the homeland was only free in the scrub. It lies in the successive generations that shed their blood and planted seeds in unequal fights in the streets and mountains, until victory.

There is no way to explain the existence of the Revolution, its victory and survival in the face of appalling attacks and painful abandon, without citing these essences which we are reminded of everyday by a history of so many heroes and heroines per inhabitant that they are difficult to count.

But the example is contagious. Over these months of pandemic, we have witnessed heroic feats on a daily basis by persons of all ages and trades, men and women, young and old. Even our children have responded, becoming exemplary educators of their parents when it came to using a facemask, handwashing and physical distancing, the three pillars of individual responsibility in this common battle.

I would like to say here, today, that every hour of these months of confronting COVID-19 has been one of growth and learning. There were tense, exhausting days, but we never felt discouraged, thanks, above all, to the people.

Discouragement was not an option in the face of such heroism, not on the part of one person or one group, but of an entire nation. And this heroism pulled us along, constantly, inspiring us to give more, do more, ashamed when our bodies demanded rest.

Enduring scarcities of all kinds, weary of long lines, temporarily abstaining from celebrations and sharing an embrace, Cuban men and women faced the most challenging tests in the year 2020.

The new coronavirus was an enormous challenge in the context of the crisis imposed by the blockade. But we faced it without fear. He had less medicine, less food, less transportation, but also fewer infections, less sickness, and fewer deaths. This can only be explained by the fact that we have shown greater political will, more solidarity, and more social justice. More socialism.

In science and medicine, records were set in terms of dedication and both personal and collective sacrifice, which allowed the country to very quickly place itself among those that had gained control of the pandemic

To illustrate this with forceful figures: the country has tested 1,294,052 samples, identifying 9,771 positive cases, which unfortunately led to the deaths of 137 persons, for a mortality rate of 1.40, well below the worldwide rate of 2.25, and also below the region of the Americas at 2.54.

We are among the few countries in the world which have not recorded COVID-19 deaths of pregnant women, children or health workers.

Close to 90% of all those infected have recovered thanks to our strong treatment protocols, which are continually perfected. Intensive care units have not been overwhelmed. And along with providing medical attention, health professionals have worked on more than 800 research projects that have generated hundreds of scientific publications. More than a dozen Cuban bio-pharmaceuticals are used in treatment, while four candidate vaccines are undergoing trials and prototypes have been constructed for three models of ventilators which will be produced by our domestic industry.

Like our history, with centuries of struggle and resistance, our educational work and the model of human development chosen by the Revolution for our children, have placed us ahead of countries with similar or greater development in confronting the pandemic.

The natural talent of the people and Fidel’s visionary statement that we would become a country of men – and women – of science, but above all his idea put into practice with the political will to invest in areas as novel and practically exclusive to the First World, like genetic engineering, the neurosciences and the production of medicines, have allowed us to place ourselves in the vanguard of research on the pandemic, treatment protocols, and follow-up for the infected.

A humanist principle, inseparable from the Revolution, putting human life first in our society, is the foundation of our national strategy to combat the epidemic in Cuba and another 39 countries, where, over these months, some 3,000 Cuban professionals, in 53 brigades from the Henry Reeve Contingent, served.

The harassment, persecution, defamation and crude pressure tactics used by the current U.S. administration against other countries which received or simply requested support from the prestigious Contingent, are unprecedented.

But the Contingent’s work touched the countries where it was received so deeply that their gratitude led to the nomination of the Henry Reeve’s professionals for the Nobel Peace Prize, a candidacy that greatly honors a project of Fidel’s, in a world governed by self-interest and the rules of the market. This is recognition of our health workers’ dedication to saving lives, under the most difficult conditions and in the most remote areas, where no charity from their persecutors will ever arrive.

Without giving in to excessive optimism, always dangerous when it demobilizes action which must be maintained over time, we are passing all the pandemic’s tests, thanks to the people and the precise push of Science, a powerful, four-wheel drive motor, if you can forgive me the analogy.

Because, it must be said that the contributions of collective intelligence are not limited to the vital area of medicine and Public Health services. We are grateful that some of the most brilliant minds in our country remain alert and contributing via digital platforms, with critical insight, to the scientific analyses, which also from the economic point of view, as well as the social and historic sciences, must provide the country with the theoretical body of thought that is indispensable at this time, full of emergencies.

Nothing based on knowledge and commitment to the nation’s destiny that can contribute is insignificant or trivial. This is a sign that distinguishes the many Cubans who support the Revolution in all its efforts and want to help gain the prosperity that is still pending. And this helps those of us responsible for governing to make corrections on the go, something of which we are never ashamed and will never deny. We understand that studying, learning and making decisions based on collective wisdom, always takes us along more secure and just paths.

Compatriots:

During the year 2020, we faced exceptional economic conditions. Any adjective would be insufficient to describe the atrocious combination of an ironclad blockade and the pandemic’s impact on the economy and society. We refer to the accumulated effects of the financial persecution and the barriers to any source of income in hard currency that have been opportunistically reinforced during the pandemic and the worldwide economic contraction it provoked, with the consequent interruption of tourist activity, one of the country’s principal sources of income; reduced imports; a decline in productive and service activity, in both the state and non-state sectors; and the additional health expenses beyond those foreseen in the plan: along with increased financing provided by the State Budget, among other factors.

Designing the Economic Plan for the year 2020, we foresaw achieving growth on the order of 1%, even under conditions of strong limitations. As has occurred in practically all regions and countries, COVID-19 obliged us to modify all of our projections.

The fact is that there will be no growth. As has been reported here, there will be a decline of around 11%.

The economy has fallen, but has not come to a halt. We have approved an Economic-Social Strategy and the National Economic and Social Development Plan through 2030, and studies were concluded on the implementation of monetary re-ordering, which will begin this coming January 1.

Within the worse context, important investments were made in our principal development efforts, including the housing program, with 47,400 dwellings finished; the tourism program, with 2,000 new hotel rooms; the first bio-electric power plant began operating in the country and investments in the water distribution system and food production, among others.

At the same time, 29 foreign investment projects were approved, involving 2.455 billion dollars – five of these in the Mariel Special Development Zone, the country’s important, strategic economic enclave, where companies from 21 countries and 11 multi-nationals operate. Fifty-five businesses have been approved there, involving a committed total of more than three billion dollars, generating 11,763 new jobs.

While insecurity associated with the pandemic’s evolution and its serious impact on the world economy predominated in the period during which the 2021 Economic Plan was crafted, expected next year is a gradual process of recovery, with growth of six to seven percent, which will require intense work by all economic actors. Achieving this objective requires that we control COVID-19, in order to avoid setbacks in the opening we have already begun in tourism and productive activity in general.

The country will continue working on our development. The investment plan has been increased by 22% as compared to the year 2020, with 60% of the resources concentrated in priority sectors: food production, medications; defense, tourism; renewable energy; the housing program, as well as cement and steel production plants.

Despite the contraction that this year has left us, we do not renounce achieving the projected growth in the second stage of the National Economic and Social Development Plan, which is the period from 2022 until 2026.

To do so, it is imperative to continue advancing more rapidly and with clear priorities in the implementation of the Economic-Social Strategy, and maintain control of inflation, to avoid its development beyond levels projected in monetary re-ordering plans; encourage the generation of new jobs, fundamentally in productive activity, which necessarily requires increased local development; prioritizing tourism, to support its gradual recovery and with an emphasis on supplying the retail sales market in national currency, especially high-demand products.

Likewise prioritized is the promotion of investments in the Mariel Special Development Zone and increased sales by domestic entities to the Zone, beyond what has been projected in the Plan, and the participation of domestic industries as suppliers for retail and wholesale sales in hard currencies.

In this context, it will be necessary to reduce the fiscal deficit projected, on the basis of greater efficiency in public spending and increased income for the State Budget.

With the beginning of monetary re-ordering, the year 2021 will be decisive in the economy’s gradual recovery, as we are able to create more favorable conditions for the development of the national productive sector.

These priorities are related to some of the advances achieved during this difficult year, such as territorial development programs, the management of science and innovation, the network of molecular biology labs, new authorities granted to the (state) enterprise system, the program for the advancement of women, the agricultural sales policy, the creation of technological poles and mercantile associations to serve as interfaces between universities and enterprises.

The direction of the economy has been designed on the basis of the principle of ensuring, as essential objectives, access to food, fuel, fertilizer and pesticides, medications, meeting the demands of defense, as well as the priority of obtaining financing for domestic industry, making a reality of our intention to avoid importing what we can produce efficiently within the country.

The guiding principle has been to introduce modifications to achieve greater flexibility, objectivity, and innovation in response to problems and the search for solutions.

Compañeras and compañeros:

The challenges of the time period we have evaluated today have been greater than any other, but we proposed, in the very year of the pandemic and the tightening of the blockade, to begin the implementation of monetary re-ordering and meet the intense legislative timeline established to give our Constitution practical strength.

The Ordering Task is, no doubt, the most complex economic task undertaken in recent years. But postponing it would be even more costly over time.

We follow carefully, with interest and respect, the concerns of the population, whose wellbeing we are working to construct. In an effort to respond to these concerns, ministers and specialists have explained, and will explain, more than once, in detail, the issues that may generate doubts, almost all as a result of the novelty of the process.

Concerns exist related to salaries and also regarding the cost of electricity. We could give a single answer, limiting our explanation to the maintenance of large subsidies for those sectors that consume less, but in the monetary ordering process no measure can be viewed without considering the national and global context, in which prices and access to fuel oblige less developed countries to adjust their consumption. We can state categorically that this not about a policy of shock therapy, or the freezing of bank accounts, that some insist on projecting. What needs to be reviewed will be reviewed, and what needs to be corrected will be corrected.

(Applause).

The Revolution insists on its unyielding principle that no one will be left unprotected.

It is true that we were obliged to resort to measures like the freely convertible currency stores, much-questioned but necessary to encourage remissions, channel them and resolve a contradiction repeatedly noted and criticized by economists and other experts, that is the escape abroad of hard currency through private buyers, that was draining the country’s limited income.

The solution was to attract these resources to the internal market and use the freely convertible currency income gained to cover the country’s expenses for food and fuel, at a time when we could not count on the arrival of tourists and the pandemic was taking an enormous toll on the meager capital available.

This has been explained more than once by Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández: The vitality of our national electrical energy service and the minimum number of items included in the basic regulated basket, which no one can do without, could not be guaranteed without hard currency from national production and exports – that will not be recovered any time soon.

Deputies:

Surely many of you have noted the increasing manipulations and pressures employed to accuse Cuba of falling behind or stopping work on our legislative timeline. Some attempt to get ahead of the leadership of the Revolution, disregarding more than 60 years of struggle for the rights of women and against all types of discrimination and abuse, against violence and the exclusion of social sectors that before 1959 had no place in national politics.

During this session, in accordance with the Constitution’s transitional stipulations, two important laws have been approved, which will establish the norms required for the organization and functioning of local People’s Power bodies.

We appreciate that the two normative regulations are the product of the demanding work done by those charged with their elaboration, especially given the attention afforded the large number of opinions expressed during the consultations conducted both within the government and among municipal and provincial leaders, as well as deputies and academics.

As stipulated in both bodies of law, their contents will be evaluated by the National Assembly one year after their effective dates. Experience gained during implementation will allow us to make adjustments that may be needed, given the novelty of the institutions established.

With these laws, a total of six have been approved this year, meeting the agreed-upon legislative timeline, that we have now been obliged to re-adjust, and are a reflection of the effort made to comply in the difficult circumstances imposed by COVID-19.

Legislative activity, and in particular the work groups charged with crafting the draft proposals, have not been interrupted. In some cases, as a result of the complexity of the norms, expanded consultation was required and several items were corrected.

Normative creation, as you know, is not limited to laws. As has been discussed here, the Council of State this year approved 25 decree-laws, 11 of which were mandated in the established timeline, also a demonstration of the effort made in this regard.

The re-adjustment we have just approved is evidence of greater objectivity, a product of the experience acquired since the timeline’s approval by this Assembly.

In the case of the Family Code, we maintain the effort to make progress on all that is needed, despite the current circumstances. This norm, as we know, has broad impact in society and requires significant preparation, education and social consensus.

The work group, which is coordinated by the Minister of Justice and includes specialists in Family Law, psychologists, and researchers from various institutions, has conducted an arduous effort to define the fundamental policies.

Likewise, we have found ourselves obliged to re-schedule other norms, including some outlined in the Constitution’s transitional stipulations and others governing areas of interest to the population.

We want to reaffirm the firm intention of preserving the objective of having available all the legal norms necessary to implement the new Constitution and avoid any future legal vacuum.

Under the exceptional conditions imposed on us by the pandemic, we have worked hard to advance the discussion and approval of laws directed toward deepening social justice and strengthening our State of Law. And we will demand more intensity in order to comply with the mandate to put the Constitution into effect.

With the constant insistence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz leading this process, our Party and government have given the greatest priority to completing the tightly scheduled, complex program, on which we will work until there are no more consultations to be conducted and all points of view have been considered, the opinions and assessments, often contradictory, of the majority of the population. This is not something we take lightly, since we would be violating the spirit of our Magna Carta.

Legislating is a very serious act, a determining factor in the destiny of all citizens. It is up to us to do so in the least amount of time possible, but always, in the first place, based on the premise that we are an assembly free of pressure from lobbyists. We are the Assembly of the Cuban people and are bound by their demands and their timetables. No one else.

(Applause).

Compañeras, compañeros:

Moving to issues on the international agenda, we must also emphasize the singular, unexpected impact of the pandemic, which exacerbated the contradictions already existent in the world and the tensions of a global economy tending toward deceleration of production and commercial activity.

As has occurred in similar historical conjunctures, the weight of the crisis was borne by the most disadvantaged and dispossessed, who, in the majority of countries, have suffered a worsening of their difficulties, while poverty in general increased, along with inequality and social polarization.

Incredibly, the largest fortunes on the planet, enjoyed by a very few, have obtained unprecedented profits. And, as opposed to the majorities, their prospects for the coming year are no less promising.

The general impact of the readjustments already experienced will continue worsening, raising broad questions about when and how manufacturing production and the provision of services in large economic centers and developing countries will recover, with uncertainty regarding commercial trade, employment and financial stability.

The markedly aggressive and unilateral foreign policy of the United States in recent years has aggravated threats to peace, security and multilateral, regional and international mechanisms, which for decades, despite limitations, had sustained a system of international relations with cooperation and international law as reference points for interaction between nations.

For Cuba and most countries, possibilities for direct interchange were reduced. International meetings were obliged to resort to virtual deliberations, with the use of communications technologies, which introduced a novel way to conduct bilateral diplomacy, but limited the irreplaceable effect of personal interaction in developing mutual understanding, building trust, and the possibility of thoroughly discussing sensitive issues.

In this challenging context, without setting aside any of our priorities, the country continued strengthening and developing our relations with the international community, on the basis of the principles contained in the United Nations Charter, struggling in support of peace and protection of the environment; promoting the postulates of the Non-Aligned Movement; and untiringly committed to unity and integration of Latin American and Caribbean peoples.

We demonstrated the capacity to sustain and take to new regions our solidary cooperation, a cornerstone and distinguishing characteristic of our foreign policy.

Sooner or later, the history of this disastrous pandemic and its global impact will be written. If it is written honestly, it will be impossible to overlook the role of Cuba and the thousands of Cubans who voluntarily traveled to other lands to confront the danger and honor the Hippocratic Code that accompanies our dedicated health workers in their consciences and hearts.

Additionally, we adopted measures to protect and support Cuban citizens who found themselves abroad. Toward this end, and given the need to respect rigorous preventative protocols and physical distancing, we promoted the completion of consular processes virtually. Despite the necessary cancellation of flights over a period of approximately seven months, the organization of 94 charter flights was supported, which allowed for the return to Cuba of more than 5,000 compatriots from 56 countries, while at the same time exceptional measures were adopted including the automatic extensions of stays outside the country.

The will to continue strengthening ties between Cuba and our citizens abroad is

A few days ago, December 8, we held the Seventh Caricom-Cuba Summit, confirming the consolidation of the close relations we share with our Caribbean brothers, based on mutual support, cooperation and solidarity in the face of challenges we must confront in the unjust, unequal international system.

In these times, when cooperation is even more necessary, we proudly share the willingness and dedication of our doctors and health professionals who have offered services in all nations of the Caribbean Community and, for the first time, also in five non-independent territories. We are grateful for the solidarity and respect the Caribbean has shown Cuba and staunchly defend the mutual friendship.

Some days later, we held the XVIII ALBA-TCP Summit, where we reaffirmed our rejection of imperialism’s interventionist conduct in the hemisphere and attempts to impose the Monroe Doctrine, while at the same time we confirmed our support for the Bolivarian Chavista Revolution and the government of the sister nation of Nicaragua, while also celebrating the return of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to this organization.

The current U.S. administration – the twelfth since the triumph of the Revolution – is about to reach its fourth and final year. Committed to the country’s most rabid sectors of anti-Cubans, this government has unleashed a sordid war against Cuba during this period, with the absurd pretension of bringing us to our knees, breaking the Revolution’s resistance, and obliging us to make concessions both in our foreign policy and our internal reality. Its failure has been complete and obvious.

Nonetheless, the consequences for our economy and its impact on daily life and the wellbeing of millions of Cubans have been far-reaching. The economic war has been maliciously directed against out fuel supply, with measures of a non-conventional nature, inappropriate in peacetime. The objective of strangulating the country’s economic performance has been clearly stated and there were individuals openly counting our days.

Additional measures adopted increased the already devastating impact of the blockade to a qualitatively higher level.

The use of the Helms-Burton Act’s Title III to punish and threaten those who legitimately traded with or invested in Cuba; the attacks on remissions; the elaboration of spurious lists to apply additional restrictions on the Cuban enterprise system; added limitations to the already reduced options for travel; the criminal persecution of our fuel suppliers; the disruption of our financial transactions in any corner of the world; and the campaign pressuring third countries to refrain from seeking our medical cooperation, even when they truly needed it, are actions that bear the stamp of Trump and the cohort of extremists who unscrupulously govern that country today.

In our national news media and multilateral forums, we have explained in great detail what this war has cost the island, a war which the United States has purposefully and brutally escalated within the context of the pandemic.

As we have said, this is something Cubans cannot forget. The truth cannot be concealed: the economic blockade is morally and legally unsustainable. This is understood by numerous politicians in the United States with whom we have interacted over the years, and we are surprised that anyone can still argue to the contrary.

No government can justify from an ethical point of view that the vast economic and technological strength of a superpower, like the United States, can be deployed over 60 years to subject to economic strangulation a relatively small nation with limited natural resources.

It can be argued that there are political differences between our two governments. and clearly there are. We have extensive differences and concerns about what happens in the United States. But this does not give this country the right to attempt to impose its will by force on this people, in this land. We have shown a singular capacity for resistance and maintain our firm determination to reject this effort.

We insist on our conviction that it is possible to construct a respectful, stable relationship between the two nations, and, as has been stated with sufficient clarity, we are willing to discuss any issue whatsoever. What we are not willing to negotiate, what we will not concede, in the slightest, is the Revolution, socialism, our sovereignty. Our principles will never be on the table!

(Applause)

Compatriots:

Surely we will not forget that this complex situation, which we have described, coincided with an election period in our neighbor to the North. And Cuba once again became an issue on the domestic agenda there. Threats rained down; money rained down to promote what many thought would be the final blow for Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela in a presumed second term for the President, still in office. Or a situation of instability and tension that would prevent any return to dialogue in the event of a Democratic victory.

They came at us with everything, provocations by mercenaries related to fake strikes by artists seeking to attract public opinion and the intelligentsia to impose a dialogue camouflaged with this sector’s genuine concerns. But there were more non-artistic demands clearly meant to serve as a platform for confrontational projects previously organized, with the goal of creating a political opposition with no social base.

And as the backdrop, terrorist actions, fake news and threats of violence on the web. This is, in a few words, the outline of a not-so-soft coup, prepared for Cuba as the final reward in a difficult year. This has been explained in our media, courageously and in detail – the reason unsuccessful attempts have been made to discredit them on some platforms funded from abroad.

We have seen projected in real time the old and the new plans of U.S. special services against the Revolution, the product of NED and USAID leadership training courses, including the attention they hypocritically claim to display for the problems that affect and irritate the population, the majority caused by the cruel blockade imposed by the same government that exacerbates them with the goal of fostering discontent, but also by vacuums and errors in our institutions in terms of their indispensable links with those involved in related activities.

This is a disgraceful war, that disregards ethics and principles, and under the umbrella of prizes and other perks, via supposed NGOs and agencies dependent on foreign governments, finances groups and actions meant to vilify and weaken the state.

The “laboratory leaders” make a show of distancing themselves from the violence, disguising themselves as peaceful political negotiators and will try to impose their agendas, betting on a social explosion if their demands are not met. Under fire, meant to distract us from essential tasks, we must continue struggling for a better country, without tiring.

This is not the first time in history that the enemies of the Cuban Revolution attempt to opportunistically deliver blows, at a difficult moment for the economy and society. This is not the first time the wolves have disguised themselves as sheep and attempted to establish a beachhead. This is not the first time they have lied and presented to the world (an image of) our country far removed from reality.

The narrative is practically novel-like and there are plenty of media outlets with broad audiences to amplify it in both Spanish and English. They inflate the events so much that, at a time of so many challenges and emergencies, we run the risk of losing our focus on the issues that affect the very life of the nation, moving to the beat of those who want to destroy us.

This is not a government disconnected from the people, ensconced in offices. We regularly tour the provinces; we visit universities, research centers, factories, schools, hospitals, agricultural poles. There we have conversed with those who think and work as a country, with those who make it possible that, amidst attacks and the most trying difficulties, Cuba lives.

Don’t forget that, for every one person getting together on social networks based on hate, revenge, and the desire to damage a government, even though this means hurting an entire people, there are many more united in the passion to save it, move it forward and bring longed-for prosperity increasingly closer.

For the work of many Cuban structures, institutions and state agencies, this has been a year of crisis, as a result of COVID-19. A sanitary, economic, and productive crisis, but also a time to learn to better use the tools technology provides us and make progress in electronic government, which is still unacceptably slow and necessarily connected the concerns and questioning of citizens.

Also urgently needed is the promotion of deeper change at the structural level, to unleash the productive forces, corral bureaucracy and prevent corruption. It is up to all of us to facilitate the transformations speedily and intelligently. This is a challenge in which multi-disciplinary teams are participating, at this very moment, to ensure that every action is backed and guided by scientific criteria, and unfolds with the least amount of trauma possible.

We have indicated and demanded that all bodies and institutions must have – as priorities on their agendas – real, permanent ties with those they serve and the population in general.

Life has shown us many times that poor decisions, and the errors they lead to, can be corrected in a timely fashion if we keep our ears to the ground, which in this era means paying attention to the people’s heartbeat, be it in person, or virtually.

I have said and repeat: This is the synergy that is indispensable to the development of a participative society like ours. It is the contemporary expression of the effectiveness of genuine People’s Power.

Compañeras and compañeros:

Although we have taken more time today than on other occasions, there is one reflection I cannot refrain from sharing with you and our entire people. Beyond the manipulations on social networks, use of the media and formulas that are effective for sensitive, educated audiences, we ask ourselves: Why do they attack our culture?

It is not difficult to solve this mystery. In Cuba, culture and Revolution have been equivalent since the very origin of our nationality. It is enough to recall that October 20 when Perucho Figueredo wrote the words to the Bayamo Anthem on the flank of the horse which he rode into battle alongside Céspedes. Attacking culture, fracturing Cuban culture, is attacking the heart of the Cuban Revolution, attacking our national identity.

Who, if not our great intellectuals and artists, are the creators of the creed of rebellion and anti-imperialism? These are the men and women who always set the limits, with their ideas and works, for any dialogue that emerged, with a very well defined identity, standing up to an empire for independence and to any other for our sovereignty.

From their genius emerged a nation that defined its destiny with absolute loyalty to the political legacy of José Martí: anti-imperialist wherever one reads. A people that has challenged imperial powers and been brutally punished with the longest blockade in history, for their decision to conquer all justice, as a genuine aspiration, and construct socialism, with rifles held high and Fidel and Raúl in the vanguard, only 90 miles away.

The context is more complex and more aggressive than ever and we cannot be naïve. There is an annexionist legion that wants our project to fail, attempting to take advantage of our limitations and stop the transformations underway. The industry of counterrevolution handles lots of money and demands action from those who pay them. This is why the vandals put their violence on display and the terrorists are not ashamed to describe their operations.

The soft coup scenario remains active and the non-conventional war is testing the most diverse arenas as battlegrounds. New provocations are underway and we will again defeat them.

With unity, with coherence, with willpower, without fear, with the people, not waiting for instructions, without delay, with determination, at a firm pace, with intelligence, with decorum, with clarity and in accordance with our Constitution and the principles we defend, we can always triumph, and every day in a more decisive manner.

(Applause).

It is also our responsibility to assess the mistakes, the vacuums, the accommodations, the insensitivity, the formalism, the bureaucracy and inertia entrenched in some institutions.

Let us review, over and again, the concept of Revolution Fidel bequeathed to us, as well as his warning that only our own errors could lead to the self-destruction of the Revolution.

Strengthening the work of our government and institutions in direct interaction with the citizenry is a responsibility that was accentuated with the new Constitution.

Maintaining the living, continuously developing dialogue with youth, in all our institutions and at all levels, is vital for the nation. We have the duty and the responsibility to attract them, promote their personal and professional realization, their participation in important tasks, with respect for and attention to their proposals, as well.

Formality in responses to the population must be definitively eliminated, (we must) get to the bottom of issues and whenever possible, face to face. This is not only about listening and recording every complaint or proposal. It’s about responding effectively, without delay, whenever possible, with a solution.

This obligation must constantly take us to the grassroots, to listen, to attend, to guarantee citizen participation, without which socialist democracy makes no sense. The objective is to facilitate the performance of the essential roles of every entity.

Treating social problems coldly and formally betrays the essence of the popular participation we demand. It should be clear that problems must be faced and resolved by the institutions responsible for the area of action at issue.

Compatriots:

Given its impact on the lives of all, and what it contributes to the country’s development, strengthening the economy is a national priority.

We can no longer postpone what the people have mandated during the last few Party Congresses. It is imperative to implement without delay all that remains pending, shake up the enterprise system, assure the (monetary) re-ordering, intelligently address increased prices.

We call, as well, on the very necessary private and cooperative sector. Needed is the uprooting of self-interest and the exclusive search for personal gain that move some to fish in the murky waters of the majority’s needs, abusively raising prices.

This honorable, hard-working people has survived all the empire’s sieges and abuses with an extraordinary dose of solidarity and generosity that are an inseparable part of our national being. Selfishness is not an attitude that prospers in our homeland.

Cuba belongs to everyone, some have declared these days, but it is not fitting to claim possession without attending to her needs. We do not insist that she belongs to us. Let us understand what it means to belong to her. “The homeland is an altar, not a pedestal,” José Martí said, making clear the deep differences between those who are willing to sacrifice to serve her and those who would like to make use of her or surrender her to another.

Political and mass organizations are called upon to be more proactive and inclusive. Never overlooking the important social component of their political-ideological efforts, working with everyone, not only the convinced, but also the apathetic, whose indifference is, to some degree, the responsibility of those of us who have not been able to engage them.

Addressing the debate without taking shortcuts and paying attention to social issues like marginality, dishonesty, vulgarity, addiction, dysfunctional families, the school dropout rate, the situation of the most vulnerable, femicide, discrimination of any kind and other problems that we can come face to face with any day on digital platforms, but not by way of the entities that should be getting their fingernails dirty in the ground.

Organizations are permanently called upon to take action in the streets. Not only to organize events and chant our slogans. You are called upon to work! Visit schools, neighborhoods, interact, get to know the problems and realities of our people.

We cannot allow three or four provocateurs to convert a community of ours into a media garbage dump, owned by those presenting it as the territory of people who hate the Revolution.

Cuban women and men:

Following such a challenging, difficult year, our people deserve to celebrate their accomplishments and their resistance in the best environments possible.

Let us work socially and inclusively on projects with families in our neighborhoods, infusing them with respect, identity and self-esteem, so that all our neighbors feel proud of their piece of the homeland, of their country, their government and their Revolution.

We have demonstrated the capacity to face all tests and challenges. We function in an organized manner and here we are. Once again we have dismantled and defeated the most perverse attempts by the empire to destroy the Revolution.

The people have grown during this so difficult 2020, which put to the test our resistance, our solidarity, our unity, but gave us great lessons. And gave us victory.

With this learning, an intense, challenging 2021 appears on the horizon, as a step toward surpassing our own limits along the path of betterment and continuity.

We must devote ourselves to making a reality of the conviction we share that the social justice project we have undertaken can be best supported by productive, efficient growth on the basis of our own actions.

During these final days of the year, of indispensable reunion to continue together “shoving the country,” as the poet wrote, we feel deeply the absence of beloved voices that for many years added to the Assembly’s analyses and debates the beauty and strength of ideas that are woven in the fabric of Cuban nationality, our sense of homeland, the common interests and dreams.

First of all, we recall Fidel, capable of raising, with his voice and ideas, the irrepressible thought of the nation confronting our adversaries. His chair remains here, immortalizing the unsurpassable legacy of political lessons he left us to be perpetually studied.

And more recently, we have missed one of his closest disciples and collaborators in the mission of talking with the people, in the seat at the side of the hall: Don Eusebio de La Habana, who always brought us the infinite richness of Cuban thought, on which his unforgettable oratory drew.

They remind us that all thinking is a seed. Thinking as a country is sowing and fertilizing the future.

We call on you to continue thinking and acting as a country to strengthen the certainty of victory and the creativity of our Cuba Viva, that has become the basic premise these days.

There continue to be reasons to celebrate – the harder the tests we overcome, the more reasons. Congratulations, Cuban women and men! We are Cuba Viva! We are the country that has toiled to resist and overcome the sieges, the most brutal, perverse attacks. And here we remain, living, resisting, creating, and winning.

Step forward, 2021! Cuba awaits you, alive and strengthened in the battles of the year that is ending. The sons and daughters of the Centenary Generation, with our people, have the duty, the commitment and the honor of giving continuity to the history that has brought us thus far. And our maxim continues to be:

Homeland or death!

We will triumph!

Lawmakers will continue analyzing virtually the legislative proposals on the organization and functioning of the provincial governments and the municipal administration councils, which will be submitted for approval on December 17 during the sixth ordinary period of the 9th Legislature.

Participants will exchange opinions about the doubts and suggestions made not only by the lawmakers themselves on December 5, but also by citizens through the channels established for their participation to build the legal regulation.

The objective is to generate the greatest possible consensus, said Jose Luis Toledo, president of the Commission of Constitutional and Judicial Affairs at Parliament. Toledo pointed out that these two projects seal the Cuban State’s institutional organization based on the new Constitution.

The lawmakers of the Economic Affairs Commission will also meet with representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the Ministry of Finance and Prices, to submit the general objectives of the Economy Plan and the draft bill of the 2021 State Budget.

Both issues are included in the parliamentary agenda, so they will serve as preparation to address these complex aspects amid the international economic crisis, the impact of the tightening of the US blockade and meanwhile, the country prepares to carry out, in 2021, the so-called monetary overhaul task.

The year 2021 will open with the challenge for the Cuban economy of leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) as the country’s only official currency in circulation and unifying exchange rates. Meanwhile, wage and price reforms are implemented and the country tries to control inflation and devaluation these processes can generate.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

The session was held in an atypical fashion given the current epidemiological circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic, with only deputies from Havana and those representing other territories who reside in the capital physically present at the Convention Center; while, those in the rest of the country’s provinces participated online, via videoconference.

FOREIGN SERVICE BILL

Proposed regulations were presented by deputy and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, also a member of the Party Political Bureau, which outline the foreign service’s principal objectives in a single body of law – with that status – the functioning of the state as regards the service and the foreign section, consistent with the principles of foreign policy and revolutionary diplomacy established in the Constitution and on the legal order.

The bill also establishes the functions of diplomatic and consular missions, as well as the common powers and duties of members of the foreign service, and requirements for entry and permanence in the corps.

The central concerns expressed during discussion of the bill focused on the relevance or not of using the term blockade textually in the legislation, as one of the common challenges of those participating in the state and the government’s international efforts.

On this matter, Deputy Rolando González Patricio noted that the fight against the blockade, given what it represents for the island, should be cited in the legal text, although he recognized that it would be appropriate to broaden the concept and include the need to confront all types of interference, including any future attempt, which like this cruel policy, seeks to undermine the sovereignty of our country.

Other participants commented that the regulations are focused on the foreign service of the Cuban state, with no specific guidelines proposed for non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In this regard, Rodríguez Parrilla noted that the legal document refers to “organizations” as a broad category, which would include NGOs.

In the case of self-employed workers, non-agricultural cooperatives and other forms of non-state management, he said, these figures are recognized in references to natural and legal persons, according to their respective legal authority, and no formulations are specified, since the objective of the law does not address economic, commercial or tourism roles.

ORGANIZATION & FUNCTIONING OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

This document, submitted for the consideration of deputies, establishes the functions of the Council of Ministers and its Executive Committee, as well as those of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, the Secretary and other members of the Council of Ministers; these functions are governed by the provisions of the Constitution and other approved legal statutes.

In this regard, Elba Martínez Amador, head of the Council of Ministers’ Legal Advisory Group, stated that the regulation includes Decree Law 272, “On the Organization and Functioning of the Council of Ministers,” dated October 16, 2010, as well as the constitutional changes introduced in the structure of the state.

In accordance with these provisions, the Council of Ministers assumes, among other functions, preparation of the draft State Budget and, once this is approved by the National Assembly of People’s Power, its execution, Martinez Amador stated.

Regarding this function, Félix Martínez Suárez, deputy for the province of Guantánamo, offered the opinion that reporting liquidation and evaluation of the budget to the Assembly should be included as another responsibility.

Also addressed in this bill are the Prime Minister’s authorities, as well as the processes of appointment, replacement, revocation and resignation of this individual. According to the document, the Prime Minister is nominated by the President of the Republic and appointed by the National Assembly for a period of five years, on the basis of a favorable vote of the absolute majority of deputies.

The regulations establish that, in the event of temporary inability to perform the duties of the office, the Prime Minister’s responsibilities are assumed by a Deputy Prime Minister determined by the President of the Republic.

ROLES OF THE PRESIDENT & VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA

This is a document that has no legal precedent, which outlines the obligations, requisites and procedures for the election of both the President and the Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, as well as provisions for any temporary inability to fulfill their duties for certain reasons, summarized the head of the Council of Ministers’ Legal Advisory Group.

Likewise defined are the President’s relations with the National Assembly, as well as other bodies, agencies and entities of the state, and especially, with citizens and mass social organizations, as established in the Constitution as a guarantee of the full dignity of the people and their integral development.

One of the main issues raised by legislators was related the regularization of the President’s accountability report to the National Assembly, which is to be presented orally once a year, during one of the sessions, to summarize relevant aspects of the national government’s policies.

Deputies additionally emphasized the need to establish mechanisms for feedback, beyond the report presented by the President, to ensure that the essence of the accountability process is preserved.

Among the proposals made by legislators was the specific inclusion of illness as a reason for the temporary inability to perform the duties of the presidency or vice-presidency, and to establish the competent body that would determine such inability.

Also suggested to the drafting commission was the specification that no proposal could be made on the President’s initiative to reform requirements or conditions for the election of the President and Vice President of the Republic.

For her part, Gladys Bejerano Portela, deputy for Guantánamo and Comptroller General of the Republic of Cuba, pointed out that it would be more feasible to establish that the head of state should assume among his functions the evaluation and approval of annual directives establishing national auditing priorities for both the Comptroller’s Office and of the national audit system.

RECALL OF PEOPLE’S POWER ASSEMBLY MEMBERS

The revocation of a mandate is a legal-political instrument for voters and their representatives to exercise the right to participate in the control of state power, stated José Luis Toledo Santander, president of the National Assembly’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Commission.

The proposed regulations cite as acceptable causes for a recall process repeated failure to comply with obligations; behavior unbecoming of a public figure; and conduct incompatible with the honor of representing the people in a People’s Power body.

Toledo Santander noted that the document establishes procedures for the recall of delegates to municipal assemblies, their presidents and vice presidents; provincial governors and lieutenant governors; the National Assembly’s deputies, President, Vice Presidents and Secretary; members of the Council of State; as well as the President and Vice President of the Republic.

In relation to this bill, legislators focused their comments mainly on the appropriateness and necessity of including the meaning of the term “revocation,” to ensure better understanding by the population, in addition to other specificities that govern this process.

The approval of the four draft laws, an unprecedented number in National Assembly sessions, was carried out online, given the country’s epidemiological situation and in line with measures adopted to address COVID-19.

The battle against the pandemic and the country’s new normal; information on the monetary re-ordering process; discussion of the national economic plan; closing of the annual state budget; and the swearing-in of new deputies assuming vacant seats were also included on the agenda of the National Assembly’s Fifth Period of Ordinary Sessions.

(Taken from Granma)

The Council of State met yesterday evening at the Capitol via videoconference, in a session presided by Esteban Lazo Hernández, with the participation of President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.

In accordance with its constitutional responsibilities, the Council of State analyzed four bills that will be submitted to the Power’s Fifth Period of Ordinary Sessions, October 28, for consideration and approval.

These include proposed laws regarding Foreign Service; revocation of elected People’s Power representatives; the organization and functioning of the Council of Ministers; and authorities of the President and Vice President of the Republic.

Council members noted the quality of the proposed legislation, which was drafted with the participation of specialists from various institutions, and emphasized their importance, given that, once approved, the national state structure will have a solid normative base.

The Council of State also considered proposals on accountability reports by People’s Power delegate to their constituents; and regulations for auxiliary offices of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State, which assist these bodies in the their work.

Also analyzed were requests from Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power to establish the presidencies of some of their standing committees as professional positions.

Additional decisions were made to extend the mandates of lay judges, until a new law on the courts is approved, and to amend regulations governing the use of the Gold Star medal, the insignia awarded to decorated Heroes of Labor of the Republic.

(Taken from Granma)

“In view of the current epidemiological situation in the country and the need to establish and maintain responsible measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Fifth Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, in its IX Legislature, will take place in an unprecedented manner, with the presence of only deputies from Havana; those who represent other territories, but reside in the capital; and members of the Council of State,” according to

Assembly Secretary Homero Acosta Álvarez, who added that 225 deputies will attend sessions at the Convention Cener, while the remainder will participate via videoconference, to facilitate interaction and debate.

(Taken from Granma)

(Transcript: Presidency of the Republic)

Compañero José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee;

Compañero Esteban Lazo Hernández, Political Bureau member and President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State;

Compañero Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Political Bureau member and Minister of Foreign Affairs;

Admired and beloved founders and officials of long standing;

Compañeras and compañeros:

I am pleased to assume the duty of speaking to you on the day that the 60th anniversary of Cuban revolutionary diplomacy is officially celebrated. Congratulations! (Applause)

We are united with Minrex by close ties and a history full of reasons to be proud of being Cuban, which began well before December 23, 1959.

Revolutionary diplomacy is, without a doubt, a well established fact, which has shone in the ideas and voice of Fidel since the initial days of the victory and his first trips abroad. In Caracas, barely 23 days after the triumph of the Revolution, the young leader was already talking about the need for Latin American integration:

“…How long are we going to be defenseless pieces of a continent whose liberator conceived as something more dignified, greater? How long are Latin Americans going to be living in this petty, ridiculous atmosphere? How long are we going to remain divided? How long are we going to be victims of powerful interests that attack all of our peoples? When are we going to raise the great slogan of union? The slogan of unity within nations is raised; why is the slogan of unity of nations not also raised?

In Washington, only four months after descending from the mountains, his ethics and defense of national sovereignty, his call for a relationship of equals impressed journalists, when he told them that if they were accustomed to seeing representatives of other governments come to ask for money, he was not. And he clarified: I come only to attempt to reach a better understanding with the U.S. people. We need better relations between Cuba and the United States.

Just a few days later, in Buenos Aires, at the meeting of the 21, he proposed a principle that you have emphasized a great deal on this anniversary of Minrex: the diplomacy of the people. He improvised a speech there that no veteran of another governments represented could surpass: “I am a new man here at this type of meeting; we are, moreover, in our homeland, a new government and perhaps that is why we are also bringing fresh ideas and beliefs from the people, since we still feel like the people, we speak here as a people, and as a people living an exceptional moment in its history, as a people full of confidence in our own destiny. I come to speak here, with the confidence of the people and with the frankness of the people.”

On behalf of the people, or rather of the peoples, Fidel suggested, on that occasion, that an investment of 30 billion would be required over 10 years, to solve Latin America’s economic problems. And he indentified the United States as responsible for that investment.

It is impossible not to notice, in this challenge to the empire, a glimpse of what would become Cuba’s legendary battle against foreign debt, the FTAA, imperialist hegemony in the region, and the unjust international economic order.

Looking back at this history as the anniversary approaches, I find it impossible to summarize the essentials in a speech. I believe, however, that a work so transcendent deserves to be told, based on our learning, on how we have come to respect and love it.

I spoke earlier of the day on which the 60th anniversary of Minrex is officially celebrated, thinking about previous events, about those foundational moments that mark the appearance of Fidel as a creator, and Cuba as the protagonist of new political thought on the international stage.

As friends of Cuba have said more than once, a small Caribbean nation was coming to the forefront of world politics, based on the power of truth and ideas. With such a preamble, transforming everything was key. The legendary Raúl Roa arrived to head the Foreign Ministry in June, as a brilliant interpreter of this idea, and Minrex was born in December.

Roa, the grandson of Mambis and a prominent member of the glorious, anti-imperialist generation of the 1930s, had been Cuba’s ambassador to the OAS, where he expressed without “warmth” the Cuban people’s profound distrust of that organization and warned: The diplomacy of the Cuban Revolution has duties and responsibilities consistent with its democratic nature, continental projection and universal transcendence.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the work of the Revolution, changed the name of the former Ministry of State, an imitation of its powerful neighbor. And everything was changed: concepts, structures, composition and ways of working. The fight between David and Goliath was beginning, and Minrex opened its arms to the new diplomats of the people it proudly represented.

It has been said many times that this institution was not founded by career diplomats, but by diplomats on the run. Those men and women, however, most of them very young, had the best of diplomas: that of revolutionaries, patriots, committed to the ideas of Martí and Fidel to the core.

They say that the arrival of Rebel Army combatants, and members of revolutionary organizations that had fought against the dictatorship, to the Ministry, its embassies and missions, along with the first experiences of training cadres at a very early stage, allowed Minrex, from then on, to be staffed by people with absolute loyalty to the Revolution and to Fidel.

I know that several of those among that first batch are still active and have contributed, with their experience, to training the youngest. It is not difficult to see that today several generations of cadres, officials and workers in general live together at Minrex, from those who joined at the beginning to the youngest, born well into the Revolution, who are destined to ensure essential continuity.

The newest inherit a history of dedication and tremendous heroism. Some of this has been documented and published over the years, but there will always be more to say about the courageous response to aggression against our embassies and missions; about the constant struggle against the enemy’s lies and slanders; and about how, over 60 years, a great network of solidarity was forged between peoples of the world and a small nation that the empire hoped to isolate, so that its example would not spread. And, as we said a few days ago before the Assembly, it is the empire that is going to end up isolated.

Roa himself said this when the United States orchestrated the suspension of Cuba’s rights in the OAS at a meeting of foreign ministers in San José, Costa Rica. Who is not still moved by the historical image of his withdrawal from the room, exclaiming energetically: “I am going with my people and, also going with me are all the peoples of America!” Many say this was where he was first called the Chancellor of Dignity. What an honorable and expressive title for the work we are celebrating today!

Along with permanent homage to their memory, their fidelity, their brilliant courage in defense of the principles of the Revolution, today we must also pay tribute to the martyrs of Cuba’s Foreign Service, who in different latitudes fell in defense of the homeland and the Revolution.

Recently, in Argentina, our delegation attended the inauguration of President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. There, we paid tribute to the two heroic young diplomats, whose names are inscribed on the memorial to the 30,000 disappeared, victims of state terrorism during the dictatorship in that sister country.

For years, we had no way of knowing what is known today about the brutal way in which Jesús Cejas and Crescencio Galañena were murdered, after being interrogated and tortured by terrorists of Cuban origin sent by the CIA, as part of the sinister Operation Condor.

To Minrex workers, I would like to say now that the flowers we placed alongside the Argentinean memorial were also a tribute to the long list of all those who, over the years, faced, without fear, all kinds of threats and aggression for their firm commitment to the revolutionary ideal of the Cuban people.

Since the first day of the Revolution, different U.S. administrations have worked to make a reality of their stated goal of restoring Cuba’s neocolonial and dependent past.

Sometimes with a stick and sometimes a carrot, they have tried everything: from aggression to seduction. That is why, since its creation, Minrex has had as one of its principal missions confronting U.S. policy toward Cuba, not only on the diplomatic plane, but especially in this way.

The battles against the blockade in the UN General Assembly and against attempts to condemn our country in the Commission on Human Rights are prime examples along this hard road.

You have played a central role in the effort to prevent Cuba’s isolation and to broaden, deepen and extend our relations with the rest of the world.

As a result of this effort, evidence of the prestige gained by the Revolution in its practice of Marti’s principle that “Homeland is Humanity,” Cuba, which in 1958 maintained relations with little more than 50 nations, today maintains diplomatic ties with 197 countries and international institutions.

Minrex, with 128 embassies and permanent missions and 20 consulates, works to maintain and develop political and economic ties with friendly nations, and to assist Cubans living abroad, among many other tasks.

We are honored to recognize that this Ministry and its members enjoy respect, prestige and authority, even among our ideological adversaries, and have become the first trench of the Cuban Revolution in all regions, contributing, in the very first place, to our people’s response to imperialist attempts to destroy the nation.

You are the daily bearers of Cuba’s unwavering solidarity with our brothers in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the entire Third World, in the struggle of their peoples against imperialism, neo-colonialism and neo-liberalism. And you have played an important role in denouncing the policies of the United States against sister nations, particularly now, in the face of new attempts to implement the Monroe Doctrine in our region.

True to the promise of compañero Fidel and the historic line of the Revolution, Minrex has made a contribution to our ongoing support of the Venezuelan people and government, in the face of constant imperialist attack, and in solidarity with the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, facing attempts to destabilize the country, promoted from Washington.

You have also been true to another of the Revolution’s principles, in relations with countries of the Caribbean, our most immediate environment, in cooperation, education, health, confronting hurricane damage, the fight against climate change which, although it affects all of humanity, makes small island countries, such as those in the Caribbean, the target of increasingly frequent and destructive weather phenomena, and in denouncing discriminatory and coercive policies affecting their economies.

Puerto Rico and its struggle for independence have always been a priority of our country’s foreign policy and its diplomacy, which has worked successfully to have this right recognized at the United Nations, despite United States manipulations.

Under the leadership of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, our revolutionary diplomacy contributed decisively to the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, and to the approval of the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by heads of state and government of the countries of Our America at the Second CELAC Summit in Havana.

The holding of two Summits of the Non-Aligned Movement, at different historical moments, under extremely difficult circumstances, provide further evidence of Cuba’s role in the struggle by countries of the South to achieve true independence.

Governments and foreign ministries throughout the world recognize the seriousness, professionalism and hospitality of Cubans at every conference or summit held in our country. Minrex leaders, officials and staff also have the merit of distinguishing themselves for their active participation in the Non-Aligned Movement, the Summit of the South, the Group of 77, ALBA and the Association of Caribbean States, just to mention a few.

The role of our diplomats in Havana and other latitudes, together with numerous institutions, was fundamental to the great battle led by our Comandante en jefe against foreign debt, which has widespread impact on the continent and is fully relevant today in light of the neoliberal escalation in countries of the region.

How can we not recognize the performance of the Minrex in the battle for the return to Cuba of the boy Elián González, which became a serious defeat for the worst elements of the counterrevolution established in the United States, and in the fight against anti-Cuban terrorism, and for the extradition of Posada Carriles and his cronies, who attempted to assassinate the Comandante de la Revolución on several occasions.

Minrex and its embassies also played an important role in mobilizing international solidarity on a global scale in the battle for the return to Cuba of our Five heroes.

The fight against the blockade deserves special mention. The achievement of increasingly massive, sustained support for the draft resolution that Cuba has presented to the United Nations General Assembly, for almost three decades, is a demonstration of tenacity and constancy, of the vote-by-vote struggle against U.S. attempts to prevent the condemnation of its genocidal policy, resorting to pressure, coercion and lies.

The retelling of six decades of revolutionary diplomacy has necessarily been a long effort that will always remain incomplete, so closely tied to the Revolution’s 60 years of incessant, victorious battles. But surely there are also problems to be solved and achievements to surpass.

Minrex has responded to what our people expected in the battle against imperialism, neocolonialism and neoliberalism in all latitudes. From the United Nations to the farthest reaches of the planet, the voice of Cuba has been heard.

Our diplomacy has always been present in the struggle of African peoples for their independence and development; in solidarity with the Palestinian and Saharan peoples, who are fighting for independent, sovereign states, and with the Syrian Arab Republic, whose independence and territorial integrity are threatened; maintaining relations with the beloved Socialist Republic of Vietnam, since the times when it was struggling to confront imperialist aggression and reunify the country; and developing fruitful political and economic ties with the People’s Republic of China.

Very high-level relations have been established with Russia, and with the European Union, despite the persistence of differences, progress is being made in establishing mechanisms of collaboration without interference and with full respect for Cuban sovereignty.

Relations with the United States, whose hostility and aggressiveness have been at the center, from the very beginning of the Revolution, of battles we have fought together, deserve special mention.

The historic participation and memorable speech of Army General Raul Castro Ruz at the Seventh Summit of the Americas, in April of 2015, marked a milestone in the Revolution’s foreign policy.

During the brief period when diplomatic relations were re-established and the United States recognized that its policies toward Cuba had failed, following the Army General’s indications, progress was made on a number of cooperation agreements, and negotiations began on others.

Today, as threats continue and the blockade is tightened, when hatred for the Cuban Revolution and its example is intensified, it is up to you, together with our entire people, to contribute to a more decisive confrontation for the preservation of our sovereignty and independence.

Compañeras and compañeros:

We were talking at the beginning of this speech about the first experiences of the Ministry in training new generations of diplomats. That initial effort has been transformed, over the years, into a prestigious university-level Institute of International Relations, where students receive a comprehensive, academic, revolutionary education. In them, in the quality of their preparation and the depth of their commitment, we see the continuity of Minrex.

We know that ties between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the academic world were broadened with the creation, nine years ago, of the Center for International Policy Research (CIPI), which has allowed for the multiplication of views on world events, with a positive impact on the shaping of policies and strategies.

We also wish to acknowledge the work of Esti (Center for Translation and Interpretation) incorporated into Minrex seven years ago, and that of translators and interpreters at Esti, whose role has been very valuable not only within the country, during events of all kinds, but also in accompanying our leaders on visits abroad, since the very beginning of the Revolution.

At the same time, the Ministry has made progress in its institutionalization. A broad, precise regulatory framework is in place, and a proposed Foreign Service law has been drafted, which will soon be debated by the National Assembly of People’s Power.

On our visits to other countries, in daily relations with personnel working in this institution, we have learned to be aware of and value their indispensable contribution to Cuban state policy, and we have also insisted on the need to give those in our headquarters abroad a greater role in the country’s economic battle to increase foreign investment and cooperation, and to strengthen ties with the Cuban community abroad.

We have met with Cuban officials and diplomatic workers on every visit we make to another nation, to talk to them about life in the country and to explain the complexity of the moment we are living. Thanks to them, we have returned to the homeland with the feeling of having been there too, even though we were far away.

In these six decades of revolutionary diplomatic work, Minrex officials and staff have made a reality of the words expressed by Army General Raul Castro Ruz, at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, when he said, “The international community can always count on Cuba’s sincere voice in the face of injustice, inequality, underdevelopment, discrimination and manipulation; and for the establishment of a more just and equitable international order, in which human beings, their dignity and well-being, are truly at the center.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be proud to reach this anniversary, with its principal missions accomplished and with the satisfaction of never failed the founding principles of this institution, which constitute the epicenter of Cuban foreign policy, and which reflect the thinking of the Comandante en jefe, on December 23, 1959, when he officially created this organization.

Challenging days are coming, in an increasingly complex scenario with the growing aggressiveness of imperialism, but we are certain that you will always be able to overcome the obstacles and face the dangers, with the inspiration provided by the beautiful history that precedes you.

I congratulate you all and embrace you with deep affection and the recognition you have earned from the government and our people, for your efforts and results.

I urge you to continue working with the same creativity, courage and tenacity for the increasingly successful implementation of our country’s foreign policy, whose true creator is Fidel and whose main protagonist is the people, of whom you are a part, and to whom we are all indebted.

There is a phrase of Roa’s, among many of his that could recalled in this celebration, that in my opinion synthesizes revolutionary diplomacy, as it summarizes in a few words the roots and projection of his work. Roa said,

“…The revolution made by the people, on the arm of Fidel Castro, is as Cuban as the Sierra Maestra, as American as the Andes and as universal as the highest human values it embodies … it was born during a century, in the very entrails of the Cuban people, and it is crowning, over time, Martí’s truncated enterprise. Hence his links with Bolívar and Juárez, his openness to new currents in ideas and aspirations that feed the living body of history.”

Keep making history! May Cuban foreign policy – the daughter of the diplomacy of the Mambi insurrection and the Revolution of the 30s, consecrated in January of 1959 and based on Martí and Fidel’s ethical principles of anti-imperialism, solidarity and internationalism – continue to be a diplomacy of Homeland or Death! Always onward to victory! (Prolonged applause)

He added that those nominated “have ample experience in leadership, successively occupying different, higher-ranking positions, and also possess other qualities which demonstrate that they are in a position to serve on the Council of Ministers.”

Manuel Marrero Cruz, 56 years of age, was appointed as Prime Minister. He served as Minister of Tourism, over almost 16 years, chosen for this responsibility by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz.

He is an architect by profession and began his career as project manager in the construction of tourist facilities in Holguín’s northern resort area, holding different management positions at hotels in eastern provinces and in Varadero.

In 1999, he was promoted to the position of first vice president of the Gaviota Tourism Enterprise Group, becoming its chief executive a year later.

Marrero’s career in this field and as a cadre has been characterized by his modesty, honesty, hard work, political sensibility, and loyalty to the Party and the Revolution.

He led the tourism sector in an outstanding fashion, one of the national economy’s key lines of development, which has required constant interaction with other Central State Administration bodies, the enterprise system, and provincial governments. He has likewise accumulated important experience in negotiations with foreign partners and participation in international events, demonstrating his ability, firm principles, and talent for dialogue.

- With the presence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba; President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; Second Party Secretary José Ramon Machado Ventura; and Assembly President Esteban Lazo, deputies met December 20-21to approve a timetable for new legislation to reflect changes implied by the new Constitution’s transitory mandates.

- Reports on the performance of the 2019 Economic Plan and State Budget were presented and approved, as well as projections for 2020. Estimates indicate that the country’s GDP showed some slight growth this year, under very adverse conditions, avoiding a decline.

- On the proposal of President Díaz-Canel, in accordance with Transitory Stipulation III, proposed the designation of Manuel Marrero Cruz as Prime Minister, and as vice presidents of the Council of Ministers Comandante de la Revolución Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Inés María Chapman, Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, Alejandro Gil Fernández, and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, as well as other members of the body. All were approved by the National Assembly.

- In his comments closing the session, President Díaz-Canel stated, “Steeled by all these years of resistance, and supported by the strength of the work erected against all odds over six decades, we have been able to move through 2019 overcoming obstacles that appeared insurmountable, and today can rightly celebrate, without complacency and conscious that every goal met is a new starting point.”

(Granma)

(Transcript from the Presidency of the Republic)

Dear compañero Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of our Party’s Central Committee;

Compañero Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly and the Council of State;

Compañeros of the Historical Generation who are with us;

Deputies;

People of Cuba:

On the eve of another anniversary of the undefeated and victorious Revolution, first of all I want to exclaim: Congratulations!

We have navigated a year full of challenges, tension and aggression. We faced these united, and united we are winning.

The 61st year of the Revolution has indeed been difficult and challenging, although never as hard as those that followed the January triumph when the harassment was accompanied by vicious attacks, including: an invasion, sabotage, arson, banditry and the isolation of Cuba throughout the hemisphere.

The challenges were defeated, overcome one by one, leaving us, the protagonists, with a history that makes us deeply proud and a very formidable revolutionary lesson: by the people, with the people and for the people: anything is possible!

Steeled by all those years of resistance, and supported by the strength of the human work erected against all odds over six decades, we have been able to navigate through 2019 overcoming obstacles that appeared insurmountable, and today can rightly celebrate, without complacency and conscious that every goal met is a new starting point.

Speaking of obstacles, let us begin with the worse and most pervasive of all: the United States economic, commercial and financial blockade.

When the history of these days is written, we will need to reserve a chapter for the year 2019 because of the brutal, one could say demented way in which aggression against Cuba was escalated this year, practically, at the rate of more than a sanction per week; that is, a “turn of the screw” every seven days to asphyxiate our economy.

Cruises, flights, remittances, medical services, financing, fuel transportation and insurance were cancelled, restricted or prohibited. There was no area exempt from witch-hunting, sieges, and persecution. Nor is there any revolutionary project or action exempt from defamation.

To justify its actions, Washington has once again resorted to blatant lies, and to the crude accusation that we are promoting instability and are a threat to the region, which we have vigorously denied.

Measures adopted are aimed at sabotaging Cuba’s foreign trade and hindering financial transactions with third countries, including payments, collections and credit options. They seek to deny supplies to national industry, limit access to technology and sources of capital, and cut our economic income, with specific actions against fuel shipping, tourism and international health services.

To this end, the United States has launched an intense slander campaign against the medical collaboration that Cuba provides. It is immoral and unacceptable to question the dignity, professionalism and altruism of the more than 400,000 health collaborators who, over 56 years, have participated in missions in 164 nations.

As the people know, behaving in an unprecedented manner, the United States government today boasts of having threatened, persecuted and taken illegal action against more than ten companies and dozens of vessels from third countries that transport oil to Cuba. This aggression will go down in history as cowardly piracy.

The openly stated goal is to deprive a country of 11 million people of its fuel supply. The impact was not worse thanks to the unity, conscious response and solidarity of the people; the strength of the socialist socio-economic system; and our 60 years of experience confronting imperialist aggression.

But there, in our economic results, is the impact this aggression caused. Virtually every sector was obliged to face interruptions or delays in production. We were able to prevent inconvenient power outages and endure the restrictions by taking measures tailored to particular situations, by territory and by agency. The entire country tightened its belt again, but no austerity measures were implemented that would unload the cost of the criminal blockade onto the people. We are a territory free of neoliberalism!

According to our enemies, and those who amplify their messages on whatever communication platform, the blockade is meant to harm the government. A lie! The blockade affects the entire people because it affects all economic sectors and actors.

The additional restrictions on the availability of fuel, which began in April, significantly affected public transportation, forcing a temporary halt or slowing down of some investment projects, damaging agriculture, food production and distribution, and other areas of significant economic and social impact.

The suspension of cruise ship arrivals and flights to the provinces, cuts in remittances, the closure of consular offices and limitations on travel licenses, among others, hit the non-state sector of the economy particularly hard.

The people know this because they are suffering from it; but they have also faced the situation with greater wisdom and foresight, with that inexhaustible source of energy that exists in every Cuban: creativity and the unsurpassable capacity to find a solution to every problem. This is our history, which teaches us that unity, resistance, struggle and emancipation are key to our victories.

In the first place, thanks to this and also to the cooperation of sovereign governments and courageous business people, willing to challenge U.S. hegemony to trade with Cuba, we have faced and resisted the economic war.

And, here we are! On our feet, dignified and firm. Calm, but alert. Aware that those who go this far in their malevolence have no scruples in resorting to even more perverse plans, if they might contribute to erasing from the map this example of audacity and resistance that irritates them so much, and which they have not been able to defeat in 61 years, with neither coercion or seduction.

Exactly two years ago, at the closing of the National Assembly, Army General Raúl Castro recalled, “The Cuban Revolution has resisted the attacks of eleven United States administrations of different parties and here we are, and here we will be, free, sovereign and independent”.

With the greatest pride, the present generations of leaders, of the people and, particularly, Cuban youth, present today in the Revolution, we say: Of Fidel, of Raúl and of all their comrades in struggle, we are continuity!

I know that this statement alone infuriates our adversaries, because it is the confirmation that none of their plans have worked. They have hit us hard and are hitting us. The blockade delays progress and reduces the effectiveness of our efforts. It hurts us, bothers us and irritates us, just as abuse, arrogance and wickedness hurt, bother and irritate; but it is important for them to know that we will not surrender!

The blockade is a policy so discredited, so immoral and so contrary to all rights, that its defenders go beyond all legal and human limits to maintain it, forgetting a Spanish proverb, older than Don Quixote: “The pitcher goes to the well so often that, in the end, it breaks.” Proverbs, by the way, express the wisdom born from the people’s experience, including their struggles.

Who knows if one day a proverb might emerge, in all languages, from the people’s legendary struggle against this monster, as a universal monument to our resistance! I could imagine this proverb: “An empire that isolates ends up isolated.” (Applause)

Dysfunctional and eaten up by internal corruption, the United States government has stepped up its aggressive, unilateral conduct in almost all regions of the world, in the face of problems that are central to the future of humanity, and has exacerbated existing conflicts with total disrespect for international law and the sovereign prerogatives of many states.

In this hemisphere, the U.S. officially reaffirms the validity of the Monroe Doctrine and its actions are fully consistent with that imperialist ambition. Its political structures responsible for policy in this region seem to be dominated by elements of the Cuban-American extreme right and characters associated with the terrorist, criminal history of the United States in the region.

But not everyone is bowing down to their pressure. The United Nations General Assembly, which every year takes a position against this criminal policy, has once again condemned it in 2019, in a practically unanimous manner. In the region, only two governments distanced themselves from the world’s condemnation: only Brazil voted against it, in clear submission to the empire, and Colombia abstained from voting on a resolution it has supported since 1992.

To justify this reprehensible decision, Colombian authorities resorted to unappreciative, politically motivated misrepresentation of Cuba’s altruistic, devoted, discreet, unobjectionable contribution to peace in that country, a process in which the conduct of the Cuban government is universally recognized.

The aggressiveness of imperialism is reflected in its extensive, crude program of political subversion and interference in Cuba’s internal affairs, to which some $120 million of taxpayers’ money has been allocated, over the past three years.

With growing activism, as has been widely reported, the U.S. embassy in Cuba is directly involved in these actions, in blatant violation of Cuban and international Law, specifically, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

True to the historical path of the Revolution, the Cuban government has remained firm and serene in the face of this open, growing hostility.

We have refused to take the bait of provocations and remain responsibly committed to preserving formal bilateral ties and the few spaces for official cooperation that remain in place between the two countries, seeking to protect the conditions that allow for maintaining family ties of millions of citizens and communication between the two countries.

It should be emphasized, however, with absolute clarity, that Cuba will take all necessary steps to neutralize the interventionist efforts of the United States, to protect the tranquility and well-being of the population, to safeguard national unity and to defend, at whatever cost necessary, the sovereignty and independence of the country. (Applause)

We will not allow ourselves to be provoked, nor will we renounce our sacred independence. In the face of the enemy’s threats, we will act as Raúl has advocated: everyone in their neighborhood, in their community, must be on battle footing and make our own that phrase we repeated when the Comandante en jefe died: I am Fidel! (Applause)

When we look abroad, all the reasons we resist and create without wavering are confirmed. The crisis of multilateralism, so questioned at the most recent Non-Aligned Movement Summit, because of the profound imbalances it causes, and its permanent threat to peace, reveals a world where inequality is deepening and the majority is being marginalized and excluded.

Neo-liberalism, driven by the powerful media and fundamentalists of all kinds, impoverishes nations that were once prosperous. We have just seen this in Argentina, which had been saved once already from neoliberal disaster and then again became “scorched earth” in only four years of disproportionate measures, as is being documented by its intellectuals and artists, outraged by the high social debt left by the outgoing government, the great promoter of neoliberal formulas.

Under similar schemes, the Chilean model, so exalted by international financial organizations, today shows its inability to solve social problems generated by an economy designed by the Chicago Boys. Their young people, beaten and abused by the hundreds, are leading, in continuous demonstrations, an epic battle against the system that excludes them.

They demand rights that have not been seriously addressed by their government, nor do they seem to be visible to the OAS, which shows such concern for stability and democracy in Venezuela, Nicaragua and even Cuba, which has no reason to thank the “Ministry of Colonies,” to which we fortunately ceased to belong, more than 50 years ago.

We reaffirm that we will maintain solidarity and cooperation with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its legitimate government under the Presidency of Nicolás Maduro Moros, and with the Sandinista government and people, led by President Daniel Ortega.

Let this be a reminder to those who put on anti-Cuban shows with the grotesque OAS Secretary General at center stage.

Another outrageous, unacceptable episode that 2019 brought was the coup against President Evo Morales Ayma in Bolivia, carried out by the local oligarchy under Yankee guidance, with the scandalous complicity of the OAS.

The deeply racist coup plotters repeat the formula tried in Venezuela of self-proclaimed authorities. It no longer matters that the OAS report (on the elections) was a lie, and that there were never any violations or fraud on the part of MAS. Its leaders are now refugees in other countries, persecuted by the real criminals: those who took power with the Bible in one hand and a gun in the other.

Since the very beginnings of the coup, Cuba has condemned it. We reaffirm here today our solidarity with compañero Evo Morales Ayma and the Bolivian people. (Applause)

To the foreign attempts to destabilize the Caribbean States of Dominica and Suriname, we respond that Cuba’s solidarity with both governments and peoples is solid and firm.

In this bitter context, hopeful processes have emerged in Mexico and Argentina. Neither of these has set out to build socialism or nationalize the economy, and yet the war against their social policies has already begun, using the pretext of Marxist influence.

We reaffirm our affinity and solidarity with the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, and applaud the election of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández as President and Vice-President of Argentina. (Applause) We insist on the recognition of Lula’s innocence and the restitution of his political rights. His full freedom must therefore be demanded.

In Mexico and Argentina, during the last year, we have witnessed the resurgence of our dreams of integration and the idea of preserving CELAC, diverse and plural, which managed to establish in our country, in 2014, more than a Proclamation, the shared intention to be forever a Zone of Peace.

Our ties with Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East are being consolidated. Our political relations and high-level exchanges with the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam have been strengthened.

It has been a positive year in terms of ties with the European Union and its member states in different areas, including economic trade, investment and cooperation.

Cuba’s participation in the XVIII Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, was active and productive. We reiterate the importance of the Movement playing an increasingly vigorous international role, in addressing together the great challenges imposed on countries of the South.

Compañeras and compañeros:

We have outlined the international political situation, aggravated by the aforementioned crisis of multilateralism and the high level of U.S. interference in our region.

In this context, full of dangers and threats, the modest performance of the Cuban economy is no exception. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) confirmed that the general slowdown in Latin America and the Caribbean persists, with a growth rate of 0.1% expected, and announced that it will be low in 2020, with an estimated rate of 1.3%, in an international context characterized by worsening trade tensions, among other factors. These rates are the basis for Cuba’s economic performance in 2019, with its 0.5% growth, and the forecast for 2020, which is a realistic 1%.

We are no exception. What is truly exceptional is that our economy has not declined under the weight of the enormous pressures and financial persecution that has been exacerbated this year to an unprecedented degree.

What is also exceptional is that we have not resorted to easy neo-liberal formulas that are back in style, even though it is more than proven that they only serve to widen the gap between the few, very few, increasingly rich and rapidly impoverished majorities.

Let me recall that at the height of neoliberalism, in the 1990s, Fidel “went to the future and came back to tell it”, as they say about his powerful foresight. In the context of an Ibero-American Summit, in 1993, our historic leader warned:

“Neoliberalism has no future and the time will come when all this will begin to be questioned, but time must pass and, in the meantime, we must be there fighting the most just causes, for the most correct ideas, raising consciousness. It is very important that the people become aware, and the people will become aware to the extent that they see that these formulas do not solve their problems.”

When Fidel expressed that criticism in advance, the system’s theorists were determined to convince us that capitalism was the end of history. Today we could say that we are witnessing the end of the history of capitalism. All we see is a repetition of formulas that have already proven to be ineffective and, what is worse, in spite of their high social cost.

No, thank you, we do not want that for our people. We want prosperity and we are going to fight for it with all our might; but never at the cost of leaving the majority out of any benefit.

We are not interested in a society, as we have seen so many out there, where the lights that advertise progress overshadow the stars in the sky, while hundreds of people sleep in parks and dozens of children throw themselves onto air-conditioned vehicles to clean the windows of their well-to-do passengers, men and women who think they can ease their consciences by throwing them a few coins for food.

We want decency, beauty, good taste and a culture of detail to reign in our cities and for the best productive practices to make our fields flourish. We want honest work and efficiency to win the war against illegality, bureaucracy, accommodation, inertia and apathy.

Cubans are winners of the impossible. And this is a good time to propose another year of positive exceptionality.

Looking at highlights of the year that is ending, we ourselves are surprised by the leap taken over difficulties:

To begin 2019, a devastating tornado severely damaged homes and workplaces in five municipalities of the capital. That early morning of January 28, in the darkness, amidst the rubble, few believed that it would be possible to heal the deep wounds and complete construction and beautification plans for Havana’s 500th anniversary.

A real tornado of work, effort, solidarity and collective intelligence, in a few months, erased nature’s blow, setting records in finishing investments projects.

This contributed to the surpassed goal that most encourages us, at the end of the approved Housing Policy’s first year of implementation. With homeowners’ efforts, subsidies and state funding, 43,700 dwellings were completed, 10,000 more than planned, a real inspiration for coming years, when we aspire to complete more than 60,000 annually. Only in this way, and under new concepts of functionality, quality and harmony with the environment, will we, one day, be able to solve accumulated problems in housing.

2019 was also the year we began to see results from greater investment in highway and rail transportation. Eighty new cars were put into operation in the national railroad system, which was accompanied by improved quality of these services, as well as the rehabilitation of the main railway stations.

More than 300 buses assembled in Cuba, 69 semi-buses and 125 motor-tricycles were added to public transportation, while progress was made in the repair of buses that had been out of service for some time, bringing some relief to one of the country’s most acute problems, which will continue to demand resources and efficiency.

Workers in the budgeted sector will surely remember that in 2019 their salaries were raised up to three times, which favored, among other things, the return of 12,942 teachers to classrooms, allowing for 96.9% coverage without the use of alternatives.

Tomorrow is Educator’s Day. Congratulations and recognition for the contributions made by Cuban teachers on that day.

Without yet reaching the salary reform, the increase raised the real value of state sector workers’ income, and to a lesser degree, social security benefits, a demand postponed for years, in the expectation of an improved economy, which is still pending.

This was the year in which telephone service and Internet access were extended and diversified, beginning as one of the world’s last-placed countries in this arena, to become one of those with the most growth in internet connections.

Seven million, three hundred thousand telephone lines, 6 million of these for mobile phones and more than 3 million 3G and 4G users, speak to the great progress made in reaching our goal of greater computerization of society.

Tourism merits a separate paragraph, being the sector most affected by the tightening of the blockade – along with medical services – which managed to surpass four million visitors, open 3,855 new hotel rooms and advance in building ties with national production, foreign investment and the non-state sector, aspects which require more work, given their impact on the national economy, along with continuous improvement of quality.

In the Mariel Special Development Zone, industrial plants are already operating and manufacturing Cuban products needed for our domestic market and with export potential.

But most important this year, for this legislature and all citizens, was the approval of our new Constitution, which strengthens Cuban society and opens new paths to the institutionalization of the country.

Six laws have emerged from its implementation in two sessions, in an unprecedented legislative exercise that today leaves us with the legal instruments needed for better functioning of the National Assembly itself, municipal assemblies and People’s Councils, as well as with new figures and forms of government work, which should lead to the improvement of People’s Power bodies, which cannot be postponed.

In this parliamentary session we have elected for the first time, in recent years, a Prime Minister and also the new Council of Ministers. We can assure you that compañero Manuel Marrero Cruz, deputy prime ministers and appointed ministers will give their all, providing continuity to the inspirational work of running the government with the people and for the people.

We were advancing in this dynamic of work, addressing the most pressing needs and demands of the population, when the imperial escalation deprived us of more than 50% of our fuel needs, beginning in September.

The “conjuncture” arrived, a period that required all our strength to avoid negative effects and setbacks. Jokes and memes were created on social media that will make the list of the nation’s most powerful strengths: the ability to joke about even our most serious problems. Even those of us who used the word initially to mitigate fear caused by malicious rumors that the most difficult moments of the Special Period would return, relieved the anguish at crowded bus stops, during closings and long lines at gas stations, production shutdowns and all the associated problems, laughing when there was no other way out.

That was one more fight we won, but not totally. (Applause) The “conjuncture” forced us to search our experience in the worst times for saving practices that had been shelved, but as soon as the most difficult crisis moment passed, some state car drivers have gone back to rolling up their the windows and forgetting about solidarity. There are measures that cannot be circumstantial. We must enforce them until the routine becomes habitual. Like all forms of conservation and all practices of solidarity.

This is a decision. It is not a request. This is a stipulation that I am making on behalf of the government and the needs of the majority. (Applause) And we will demand compliance because it is a mandate from the people.

The good thing about bad times is that they educate us in better practices. And the education and culture acquired in 60 years of Revolution must serve us well, that moral wealth that no material treasure can replace or surpass.

I have mentioned only some of the most notable facts related to the government’s activity during the year, because of their impact on the entire population and because reports by our ministers of Economy and Finance have provided the essential details.

Other data and results, by agency, will be published on the Presidency’s website and we hope they will be shared on social networks. There is indeed much to be proud of, as there is still much to be resolved. The most pressing issue is that of monetary re-ordering.

We have not forgotten what the Army General said on the subject two years ago:

“No one can calculate, not even the wisest of us, the high cost to the state sector of the persistence of the dual currency and exchange rate, which favors an unjust inverted pyramid, where the greater the responsibility, the lower the pay, and not all able citizens are motivated to work legally, while at the same time discouraging the promotion to higher positions of the best and most capable workers and cadres, some of whom move to the non-state sector.

“I must admit that this issue has taken too long and its solution cannot be delayed any longer.”

We have the duty to transform the applause that accompanied his words, at that time, into efforts to meet deadlines.

We can assure you that the monetary re-ordering is in an advanced stage of study and approval. Efforts are currently concentrated on the comprehensive validation of results on each subject; the elaboration of legal norms; the organization and execution of training processes; political assurance and social communication.

The far-reaching nature of the process and its complexity has been confirmed, since it includes closely interrelated aspects that will have an impact on the entire society, which will be addressed in the planned sequence, minimizing effects on the population.

This process is not just a currency exchange, so I reiterate what I have said on previous occasions that bank deposits in foreign currencies, convertible pesos, Cuban pesos, as well as cash in the hands of the population, will be protected.

All related measures will be reported to our people in a timely fashion.

Compañeros and compañeras:

We have set ourselves three priorities to face the attacks of our adversary without giving up our development programs. The first is ideological and is directly related to our defense, to our deepest convictions. The Cuban people, shaped and trained by Fidel in legendary battles, is prepared to understand and assume any problems posed by the enemy’s aggression. They only need to be informed and receive explanations in a timely manner.

We demonstrated this when we reported the situation created with the availability of fuel and called for turning an attack by the enemy into an opportunity to unleash creativity and recover knowledge from other times.

Strengthening ourselves ideologically means turning resistance into learning, and that learning into emancipatory solutions, while freeing ourselves from old dependencies and ties to obsolete work methods.

When we advocate thinking as a country and thinking differently, we are calling for creativity. Cuba is a people of creators. What has our long resistance been if not a perpetual act of creation?

Another priority is the economic battle. And note that I do not say the second battle, I say “another priority”, because they all have importance.

The enemy has made the Cuban economy the first target to be destroyed. Not only because this is the path to the destruction of the Revolution, but also because it is a way to show that socialism is not a viable system. And every minute of resistance to their aggression is saying just the opposite: that only socialism makes possible the miracle of a small nation defeating a powerful empire that has not been able to subjugate it.

But we are not only interested in resisting. We conquered that merit long ago. The challenge, amidst this very war, is to conquer the greatest possible prosperity. To that end, we need greater, more diverse and better quality production, with the added value of science and chains that should enable us to reduce imports and increase exports, within a sustainable project that is at the level of scientific knowledge and the proven skills of the Cuban people. With such conviction we will defend the 2020 Economic and Budget Plans approved in this session.

Along with these priorities is the legislative work, in accordance with the schedule also approved in this Assembly.

Over the coming months and years, we must adopt new laws and prepare to legislate on issues that are highly sensitive, including some that have been a source of concern for many people, related to gender violence, racism, animal abuse and sexual diversity.

All four are being addressed and monitored to reinforce and strengthen the law, but without giving any space to confrontation and division, which exogenous forces promote in an attempt to interfere in matters that are sacred to our national sensibilities.

The Cuban government, born of the Revolution that freed women from domestic slavery, that made all citizens equal, that punishes and condemns violence in all forms, knows and shares the dissatisfaction of sectors of the population affected by the vestiges of abuse that survive in their midst, despite official policies directed toward the conquest of “all justice”, as Martí advocated.

What we must not lose sight of is that we will only reach that total justice as we have reached it, despite the worst omens and gales; with unity and in unity.

It is not by dividing society, by accusing others, seeking what divides us, that we will be able to settle our debts to what is most just for all: United we have won! United we will win! (Applause)

We have recently approved a government program to confront racial discrimination. That is the spirit that encourages us as we prepare to face a new year with the certainty that this one leaves us: Together everything is possible! A society where women have climbed in 60 years from the darkest corner of the house to the podium of the country’s professional majority; a mixed-race nation, in which we are all so light that we look white and so dark that we look black, as Don Fernando Ortiz would say; a people so sensitive that we believe in life and exalt it every day, with all the conditions to confront and definitively resolve any vestige of mistreatment, exclusion, discrimination or submission that has survived the Revolution’s work for social justice. And we will do it! (Applause)

This is how we see the progress of our society in equally profound, though less tangible, areas. I am referring to spirituality in all its dimensions, to the need to grow in strengthening the values that should distinguish a society like ours. And in the eradication of attitudes that are contrary to the morals of the society in which we see ourselves.

The Army General has commented more than once how, in the school where he was educated as a child, he was taught an exercise of self-critical introspection that he still practices after all these years: to consider, at the end of every day, what he had done that was good and useful, and what was not.

In La Edad de Oro, Martí wrote that not a day should go by without doing a good deed, a fundamental educational principle of the Colmenita (children’s theater company) which we admire so much.

It is not only for children that this recommendation is made. It is for all ages and all citizens. The beautiful society we owe ourselves will come sooner to the degree that we demand civic behavior as an obligation.

To give a couple of examples: What is the value of works completed for Havana’s 500th anniversary that have adorned the capital, if the city’s hygiene disappears again below mountains of garbage, and neither those who are responsible for removing it – or those who live with these practices at their own doorstep – are duly sanctioned?

And another example: What is the use of controls, audits, severe sanctions, when as soon as the law is applied, we begin to see the offender as a victim?

Paternalism is another of those vices that undermine the speed and depth of our progress. During the debates in standing committees, the abusive practices of those who complicate and negotiate with the simplest procedures were discussed more than once. But, what a job we have on our hands, to generalize moral sanctions, denunciation, the refusal to be bribed or bribe.

I have extended my reflections on these issues because those of us here we almost all responsible, not only for making and approving laws, but for enforcing them, as well. And it is our duty to turn them into living words. (Applause)

There is much to be said and done, but we also need to take the time to celebrate the year that is coming to an end, full of tension and challenges, but just as much, full of victories.

Let us live the next days and hours as if the Revolution were triumphing again. The Revolution triumphs every time we snatch a victory for our cause from the empire. And in 2019 we did it many times.

May our urban and rural squares be filled with music and joy.

There is every reason to celebrate. In the 61st year of the Revolution, they threw us to our death and we are alive. Alive, celebrating and determined to continue winning.

Homeland or Death!

Socialism or Death!

Veneceremos!

(Ovation)

With President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez on hand, as well, the Minister noted that it is not easy to overcome the impact of the criminal U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade, but even if all goals set are not met, we have managed to maintain important levels of activity in the economy.

He said that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) “has stated that the general slowdown in Latin America and the Caribbean persists, with growth of 0.1% expected. Low growth is expected for 2020, with an estimated rate of 1.3%, amid a complex international context characterized by worsening trade tensions, among other factors”.

For Cuba, he stated, 2019 has been marked by the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Cuban people by the U.S. government for more than 60 years, despite widespread condemenation by the international community.

He denounced U.S. government efforts focused on preventing fuel from reaching the country, with the open purpose of asphyxiating the economy and with it, causing greater suffering to our people.

“They say that the blockade only affects the government, an absurd lie; the blockade affects the entire Cuban people and all sectors of the economy. In fact, the greatest impact of the end of the cruise ships visits is on the non-state sector.

“Since April, we have faced additional restrictions impacting the availability of fuel, which has affected public transportation, among other arenas, forced us to temporarily suspend some investment projects and slow down work on others, and negatively impacted agriculture, food production and distribution and other items of economic and social importance,” he said.

The Minister emphasized that our people have responded to this challenge with more unity. “We have not applied neoliberal measures; no schools or hospitals were closed; no increases in fuel or electricity prices to reduce consumption. On the contrary, we have been called upon to conserve and to share, among all of us, the effort, not only to resist, but to continue investing in development”.

He pointed out that we have many problems of our own to be solved and that it is up to us to ensure that the economy provides for the welfare of our people, although we could do much more, without the blockade.

He noted that these are issues are not considered by our enemies or those who are hypercritical of everything we do. They propose that we follow formulas that do not take into account the context in which we must operate.

Nevertheless, the Minister said, during the year an important set of measures were approved that, yes, are things we can do, among them were the long-awaited wage increase in the budgeted sector, which benefited more than 1,400,000 workers, increasing the average wage in this sector from 667 to 1,067 pesos; the launching of retail sales in foreign currency, to address, from the supply side, the exit of foreign exchange from the country; and 28 measures to strengthen socialist state enterprises.

He explained that measures will continue to be evaluated and implemented, based on what has been approved for the updating of our economic model, which will contribute to boosting the economy. Toward this end, proposals from important congresses held this year will be taken into account, especially those from the Federation of Cuban Workers and the National Association of Economists and Accountants (ANEC).

2019 ECONOMIC MEASURES

During this past year, 28 new directives were approved to continue the perfecting of socialist state enterprises, including:

- Establish a financial institution, a bank or not, to promote development of enterprises, supply working capital, and finance plans to generate productive chains.

- Use the indicator of foreign exchange spent on imports per dollar of income to evaluate the impact of the aforementioned measure in the Tourism sector.

- Operate closed financing schemes at the company level, identifying those that are in a position to do so.

- Expand the use of the closed scheme, maintaining the rate approved in the Economic Plan.

- Encourage pre-financing of production and investment by national entities. Identify possibilities for the first stage.

- Allow companies producing for export to directly manage financial or commercial credits, foreseen in the Economic Plan, assuming responsibility for their repayment, with the participation of the banking system.

- Generalize the system of relations of state enterprises, 100% Cuban trading companies, and those involving foreign capital, with the Special Zone for Mariel Development (ZEDM), which allows companies to retain 50% of the foreign currency they earn from operations with such entities.

- Eliminate limitations on companies’ relations with non-state forms of management, making them conditional on the use of bank accounts and prior approval by the highest collegiate management body at the corresponding level (enterprise or basic unit). Maintain the use of cash only for minor payments, as established. Establish procedures to regulate the above.

- Reduce the indicators issued in the Economic Plan.

- Study and present proposals to the Council of Ministers’ Executive Committee on fiscal policy or other policies that favor exports.

- Prioritize the allocation of financial and material resources to national industry to increase export production, and meet the demand for intermediate parts and materials of entities that produce exports.

- Concentrate efforts on meeting the demand for products needed to guarantee exports, food, inputs for tourism, renewable sources of energy, the computerization program and medicines.

- Ensure the population’s basic needs, mainly food, low-cost products and fuel. – If necessary, raise the import allocations foreseen in the economy plan for these sectors, reducing the financing of other activities.

- Prioritize tourism, taking into account its importance for the development of the country and the effort and resources being invested in this activity.

- Make planning more flexible, while maintaining centralized management.

ROADMAP FOR 2020

The Minister of Economy and Planning stated that, with the resources allocated to different sectors of the economy, 2020 growth in the Gross Domestic Product, at constant prices, is expected in the area of 1 %, coinciding with that projected for the first stage of the National Economic and Social Development Plan through 2030.

“This growth will be achieved with our available resources, without increasing the country’s foreign debt, and requires great effort, discipline and the search for alternatives, which always exist,” he explained.

He pointed out that with the levels of activity foreseen in the plan, employment is projected to increase by 0.7%, reaching 4,545,200 individuals working; of these, 3,099,500 in the state sector, representing 68%, and 1,445,700 in the non-state sector, representing 32%. “In 2019, there was an increase of 32,500 workers in the economy; 12,500 in the state sector and 20,000 in the non-state sector.”

(Granma)