Transportation problems, the quality of milk and water, food production, and teacher shortages, among other issues of interest to the population, were discussed, confirming that this is a government committed to working for the people, Díaz-Canel noted.

Julio Lima Corzo, Party secretary in Villa Clara, and Alberto López Díaz, president of the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power, reported that to date 58% of dwellings damaged by extreme weather events have been repaired, and that, by the end of the year, all cases of total or partial roof damage will be addressed.

In terms of the sugar industry, it was reported that production was 38,000 tons short of projections as a consequence of unseasonal heavy rain and Hurricane Irma. Valdés Mesa called for redoubling efforts since the country’s needs a good harvest in Villa Clara this year.

Roberto Pérez Pérez, Vice Minister of Economy and Planning, insisted on the need to solve planning problems in the province, while Díaz-Canel emphasized the need to expand production of material goods destined for domestic consumption and export.

The Cuban president criticized a lack of vision on the part of the province’s bicycle factory, where electric scooters are assembled, yet batteries are often unavailable, generating economic problems and undermining the confidence of customers.

The President cited other examples of issues that must be addressed including those of the dairy industry.
Regarding water distribution, Inés María Chapman, a Council of Ministers vice president, stated that the province’s infrastructure is largely obsolete and requires significant investment, which is being considered; while Valdés Mesa addressed transport issues, noting the number of vehicles out of service and questioning use of fuel allocated for passenger transportation.

(Granma)

- The Cuban President spoke with workers at the Concrete Sleepers and Elastic Fixings Enterprise and the Ernesto Che Guevara School, who held a productive discussion of the constitutional text.

- Diaz-Canel evaluated progress being made on important projects in Villa Clara linked to the production of food and construction materials, as well as health care and recreational programs.- The Cuban leader toured the Chiqui Gómez polyclinic in Santa Clara and the Mechanical Plant, the so-called factory of factories, where a process of updating equipment is underway in the foundry and thermal treatment shop.- Salvador Valdés Mesa, First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers, analyzed the progress of local development efforts in the municipality of Remedios.

(Granma)

The analysis conducted by the National Assembly of People’s Power of the constitutional proposal now being considered by citizens included as one of its most intense moments the issue of whether or not the Constitution should explicitly declare that limiting the concentration of wealth is the responsibility of the state – defined as socialist and true to Martí’s precept, “The first law of our republic: the devotion of Cubans to the full dignity of man.”

First of all, it must be recalled that consensus emerged on this limitation during the broad debates held among millions of Cubans on the Guidelines for economic and social development, approved by the Sixth and Seventh Congresses of the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Conceptualization of the Economic and Social Model, in the initial version of which the idea was not present. Its inclusion was the product of a demand from the grassroots level and several delegates proposed it.

The responses I was able to hear from members of the drafting Commission – which by the way did an excellent job both in the introduction by the Council of State Secretary and the proposal presented – who spoke in the National Assembly explaining why private property is recognized in the new Constitution, and its concentration limited, and the concentration of wealth is also limited. They outlined arguments that gave the impression of confusing accumulation with concentration. This was the case when responses cited the example of athletes or musicians who earned significant amounts of money with their talents, accumulating wealth, but do not concentrate it, since they did not take it from anyone. On the contrary, they contribute to the country, usually bringing their wealth here, as a product of their work abroad.

Concentration supposes a process in which something is moved from various places to a single one, or to few from many others. We know from the most elementary precepts of political economy that the contradiction between the increasingly social nature of work and increasingly greater concentration of capital (wealth), which is created as a result, is the dynamic of capitalism, and a society that aspires to be an alternative to this should not limit the accumulation of wealth, but rather its concentration, since it is assumed that in the process of concentration someone (many) lose, and socialism should be a society without losers. The role of the state, therefore, is essential, with its policies functioning as redistributors of wealth created by all economic actors, including those based on private property, without falling into paternalism or egalitarianism, since we already know, from our own experience, the damage and deformations these cause.

In a world in which the problem is very serious, and has led to only eight persons with more wealth that half of the planet’s poorest, and that in Latin America only 32 individuals have concentrated as much wealth as
300 million inhabitants across the region, there are increasingly more people calling for limitations on this, and they aren’t communists or socialists. According to the organization Oxfam, this high level of concentration is the result of public policies that have benefitted the financial system, not only in the acquisition of properties.

Some interpretations – perchance – from the same sources that regularly condemn every step taken by the Cuban government a priori, for ideological reasons, have cited prejudices against private enterprise – recognized in the proposed Constitution – as the cause of this limitation on the concentration of wealth. But this is not necessarily so.
While legal norms for small and medium-sized private capital businesses have yet to be established, recent regulations announced on the issue cannot be interpreted as a definitive rejection of these, but rather as an adaptation to the temporary existence of distortions in Cuba’s current economic situation, including dual exchange rates, numerous subsidies, and a deficient financial apparatus, which have given some private entrepreneurs a rate of profit much higher than any Cuban state enterprise, and higher than that of similar businesses in other countries. This is the only way to explain the flow of “investment” in this sector from abroad, in search of profit rates that cannot be obtained in the free enterprise capitalism existent in Miami, and which led to a source far removed from Cuban socialism, the Spanish newspaper El País, commenting, “The majority of 11 million Cubans are seeing the birth of a duty-free bourgeoisie.” You don’t have to be a soothsayer to recognize that once these distortions are overcome – dual exchange rates and generalized subsidies of products and services, as opposed to subsidizing specific persons – and the financial system improved, conditions will be created to move forward with the formal recognition of small and medium sized private business as established in the Constitution.

But the warning against concentration of wealth is not necessarily directed solely toward private enterprise, but should, I believe, be a cardinal principle of state management and socialist enterprise. Seeing as necessary a limit on the concentration of property and “wealth” as referring only to great fortunes, does not address situations like the creation of more than 20,000 jobs as telecommunications agents, which could have benefitted single mothers, older adults living alone, and the disadvantaged by providing them simple, basic work with relatively good income, instead of providing this opportunity to the highest bidder, on more than a few occasions, the owner of an already prosperous business – a café, a CD stand, etc – or the families of those working for state enterprises with the highest average salaries, who now sell prepaid phone cards next door to a disabled person who could benefit from honorable work, appropriate for their condition, and that would help the state which is allocating resources to support such citizens, and thus benefit more Cubans.

Such realities justify the inclusion of another issue in the Constitution, related to the social objectives of state enterprises that should not be socialist in name only. An entity cannot be called socialist when, far from working to reduce inequity, its practices reinforce it, or when it exploits socially disadvantaged Cubans, risking their health and that of the community.

Technical responses to questions that are also political and ethical do not befit a country like Cuba, educated by Fidel for more than 50 years. The people are discussing a Constitution that assumes the ideas of Martí and Fidel will surely take into consideration something that the leader of the Cuban Revolution said early on, in January of 1959: “The laws of the Cuban Revolution are fundamentally moral principles.”

An aspect as important as the elimination of discrimination against non-heterosexual persons in terms of the right to marriage was supported by consensus in the National Assembly debate, and we can only feel proud of the maturity achieved by our society on this plane, and of the depth and solidity of the arguments presented in favor of this humanist decision that will surely contribute to its comprehension among the majority in our country, and hopefully convince those who have expressed their opposition.

“No one knows what communism is,” they say, but surely it includes the end of all discrimination. The discussion of this proposed Constitution is directed toward defending a country that is diametrically opposed to capitalism, which we know only too well, well enough to attempt to distance our future as far away as possible, while remembering that it reigns in the world today and that we must consider this reality for our development.

(Granma)

The decision was reported in a press conference offered by Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, director for Consular Affairs and Cubans Residing Abroad (Daccre), at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), and is a reflection of the country’s policy of strengthening ties between the Revolution and Cubans who are outside the country.

To organize the process, he said, taken into account were the growing numbers of Cubans living abroad – some1.4 million according to Minrex records, in more than 120 nations, but especially the United States.

“In an effort to guarantee the participation of all, a section on the Minrex “Nación y Emigración” wesite will be activated (www.nacionyemigracion.cu), through which Cubans resident abroad will have access to the draft Constitution and an online form on which they can insert their comments or proposals for modifications.”

Given the technical requirements this entails, including a set-up to confirm the citizen’s identity, among others, the section will be available the first week of September, Soberón Guzmán said, giving those interested some time to study the proposal.

He emphasized that once the section is operative, there will be no limitation on the number of times citizens can sign on to convey opinions, all of which will be processed in a manner similar to those gathered within the country.

He clarified that this option is for Cubans who are living abroad for personal reasons, since those serving on an official mission will have other ways to join the discussion of our future Constitution.

According to Ernesto Soberón, embassy consulates will be involved in the process, in an effort to promote active participation among Cubans living in other countries, as an opportunity to construct, all together, a more inclusive, democratic, and humanist national project “with all and for the good of all.”

In his opinion, the decision is consistent with policies adopted which have allowed for the development of more extensive ties between Cubans abroad and a variety of projects in Cuba, be they of a collaborative, cultural, sports, scientific, or other nature. He likewise noted that migratory regulations implemented over the last few years have facilitated travel abroad by Cubans for personal reasons.

Referring to the inclusion within the draft of the term “effective citizenship,” Ernesto Soberón emphasized, first of all, that this is a legal principle, not a law, and it therefore needs to be included in the country’s Constitution, so that the concept can later be codified in law.

What fundamental changes to the Constitution are proposed?

- Acquisition of citizenship in another country does not imply loss of Cuban citizenship.

- It is specified that, when inside Cuban territory, Cuban citizens are governed as such, and can only make use of this citizenship regardless of others they may hold. (This is the concept of “effective citizenship.)

According to Soberón Guzmán, this means that Cuban traveling to and from Cuba must do so with their Cuban passports.

Other principles related to requirements for Cuban citizenship remain unchanged, along with those regarding its loss or recuperation.

(Granma)