Díaz-Canel: Citizen Participation, Essence and Safeguard of Socialism

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 29 (ACN) Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel stressed at the closing of the Seventh Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) that only an organized country with a united leadership can set higher goals in the most difficult hours, and stressed that citizen participation is essential to achieve this feat.

In the presence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Revolution, Diaz-Canel said the island had immediate answers to the COVID-19 pandemic and the intensification of the blockade thanks to socialism and the unity of the people around the Party.

He said that Cuba, in spite of the potential of its health and scientific system, has not been able to escape the pandemic blow, and to this the exceptional conditions due to the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States must be added, for which the Island has been prevented from making over three billion dollars, which together with the large expenses to face the disease have had an impact that translated into dissatisfaction and discomfort in the population.

He pointed out that these expenses have made it impossible to allocate the 250 million dollars needed for the maintenance of the National Power Grid, which explains the blackouts that have occurred in recent times.

However, he stated that before the end of the year, 608 megawatts will be recovered, which will allow improving the electric stability.

He commented that in order to combat the inflation resulting from all these difficulties, one of the solutions is the growth of supply, which requires a greater participation of national producers, and thanks to the control of the pandemic in the country, there has been a recovery of the economic activity in this sense.

The President explained that the plans for the economy and the State budget for 2022 will be aimed at the recovery of the levels of activity, with greater autonomy, the implementation of the Ordering Task and attention to the most vulnerable.

He lambasted the opportunism of the adversaries of the Revolution, who do not rule out violent actions and bet on demoralization and economic encirclement, since the evidence shows that the objective of the US government has been to harm the people.

That is why the success of Cuba in confronting the pandemic causes so much annoyance in Washington and they insist on denigrating the Cuban health system, he added.

He added that in the current bilateral scenario with the United States, the U.S. embassy has a preponderant role in the subversion of order in the largest of the Antilles, however, our diplomatic mission in its territory has worked to promote relations.

Officials of the U.S. embassy frequently meet with counterrevolutionary leaders, on their platforms they issue daily offensive pronouncements that constitute open meddling in the internal affairs of our nation, he added.

He commented that the recent provocations make it clear that an operation is underway against Cuba to generate an image that the country is a failed state and seeks that other nations join the sanctions and that the United States takes punitive actions against Cuban territory.

Against the plans of imperialism, we are defeating the pandemic as we have defeated the aggressive plans, the blockade is and will be a fundamental obstacle against our development plans, but it is not an insurmountable impediment and we will continue to fight against it with the support of the international community, the President ratified.

He insisted that the US blockade is a daily way for socialism not to be associated with progress and prosperity, but we have survived this siege without renouncing to development.

He described the economic and social strategy to boost the economy and face the crisis as a revolutionary response, due to its flexibility to adapt to unpredictable conditions, based on our strengths and aware of our limitations.

He highlighted the creation of the National Innovation Council to make decisions to solve the most pressing problems, and emphasized the adoption of more than 60 measures to stimulate food production, increase the efficiency of state enterprises, unblock and chain processes and diversify the economic actors.

He also referred to Cuba's intense activity this year at the international level, participating in summits and events to maintain a solid relationship with the world community.

He acknowledged that during this session of the ANPP, four important laws were approved that are of great importance in the procedural and judicial order in the country, which develop postulates of the Constitution of the Republic, strengthen guarantees and rights of citizens, and are the result of a broad participatory process, a practice that must be improved in the legislative exercise.

These provisions place the island at the forefront of legislation in this area and contribute to the materialization of a Socialist State of Law and Social Justice, in turn pose a challenge to the operators of the justice system in the sense of the need for their training to safeguard a prompt and effective justice.

Díaz-Canel ratified the fulfillment of the legislative schedule approved in this Parliament and that the 8th Party Congress addressed more challenging problems and left tasks for the country's actions.

In difficult circumstances, the Ordering Task was addressed, considered indispensable, and its strongest impacts are manifested in the harmful inflation, we are aware of this seriousness and hence the government prioritizes the solution of these difficulties and the attention to the vulnerable, he assured.

The Head of State clarified that the problems will not be solved immediately, but the Revolution will never do anything apart from the interests of the people and will also overcome this challenge.

He informed that, considering the 10 years in which the Commission for the Implementation of the Guidelines fulfilled its objectives, it was decided to deactivate it, as well as to transfer its functions to the Ministry of Economy and Planning, in accordance with the improvement of the government's work system.

He also referred to the need to strengthen the People's Power, and reflected on how it has been demonstrated the need to carry out analyses at all levels in order to assume new work styles and channel all the concerns and contributions of the citizens.

It is urgent to take advantage of the knowledge, the strength and the popular initiative, not in a formal way, but in an organic way; socialist democracy demands to make, innovate and change the forms of democratic participation, he expressed.

He stressed that the actions that stimulate popular participation are important for the defense and development of socialism, because it constitutes its essence and safeguard, and the contrary only serves the enemies of the Revolution.

He called for the promotion of participatory budgets and popular consultations on issues of local and national interest and reaffirmed the Party's will to respect and guarantee constitutional rights.

We are committed to recognize and advance in the guarantees and rights of families in the principles of plurality, equality and non-discrimination, this is reflected in the preliminary draft of the Code of Families, and we are convinced that through the processes of specialized consultations, in the ANPP, we will reach consensus for an avant-garde code, he added.

He highlighted the programs for the advancement of women, against racism, the decree-law on maternity of working women, elements that show that the Revolution respects, promotes and legalizes rights.

In another point, he referred to the attempts of the adversaries of the Revolution, who pretend to use the rights of the Constitution to attack, and specified that the exercise of rights implies the fulfillment of duties, among them the respect for the order defended in the Law of Laws, which cannot be interpreted at convenience and as supreme Law everyone is obliged to comply with it.

He clarified that a demonstration ceases to be peaceful the moment its participants make it with the intention of subverting the constitutional order and have a script connected with political interests of a foreign government.

He thanked the scientific community for its contributions to the economic and social processes in this complex time, which have allowed the government to face the threat of the pandemic like no other.

He also highlighted the work of the armed forces and those of internal order for their support, especially in the transfer of oxygen to the territories for health facilities in the most critical hours, as well as the contribution of resources from its business system in the midst of emergencies.
We are the first country in Latin America with three vaccines and two in development, and the only one in the world to immunize its child population.

He recalled that in the last few weeks the number of sick and dead people due to SARS-CoV-2 has decreased, when the country is getting ready to open its borders and the students are getting ready to go back to school.

In this scenario, he called for a responsible celebration, in view of the risk of a new pandemic wave as has occurred in other countries.

On November 15, Cuba will open its borders, students will return to the classrooms; Havana, capital of dignity, will celebrate its 502nd anniversary; national life will return to its course, with greater joy, but be alert, nobody is going to spoil our party; we are already vaccinated against Covid, and we have always been vaccinated against fear, he concluded.