It is time to overcome diagnoses and move on to actions
Speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the closing of the 3rd Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power in its 10th Legislature, at the Convention Palace, on July 19, 2024, "Year 66 of the Revolution"
Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez | internet@granma.cu
July 22, 2024 10:07:39
(Shorthand Versions - Presidency of the Republic)
Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution; Dear comrade Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People's Power and of the Council of State; Dear deputies; Invited guests; Compatriots:
During these days we have discussed and agreed on various issues, all very sensitive for the Cuban nation. I insist that it is now up to us to change what must be changed and to move forward on the path we embarked on 65 years ago to emancipate ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts, according to the concept of Revolution bequeathed to us by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
The National Assembly, the sum and synthesis of the country that we are, votes unanimously for almost all its agreements. This provokes not a few criticisms from those who do not know that behind this unanimity there are long and intense days of work, debate and the search for consensus in the collective interest. And I think it is worth saying it.
Cuba is not led by one person, not even by a small group of people. This is the rare dictatorship that the enemies of the Revolution will never be able to understand: the dictatorship of the workers, the dictatorship of the people represented by those of us gathered here, by popular election. Therefore, what we discuss here is a guideline and what we approve is law.
We will never accept as valid the masquerade of democracy that is exhibited in the showcases of the empire, where candidates are evaluated by the amount of money they manage to raise and, instead of proposing real changes to the great problems of their country, each one tries to defeat his adversary with disqualifications and insults.
Nor do we accept as a model the all-powerful Congress of the United States, where honest legislators, interested in serving their communities, are forced to legislate alongside real bandits, servants of arms lobbyists and other infamous businesses, such as those who have supported for decades the policies against Cuba as if it were a matter of domestic policy.
If there is something that honors us as a nation, it is the integration of this Assembly, the genuinely Cuban character of each legislature, where no extra fees are paid. The only reward in exchange is the real and practical possibility of being more useful to society and the recognition of the people we serve.
The intense legislative activity of these sessions confirms what I am saying. Six laws have been approved on issues of transcendence for society and which develop constitutional precepts, three of them present for the first time in our legal system. We are referring to the laws on Citizenship, Administrative Procedure and Transparency and Access to Public Information.
The rich debates and contributions of the deputies in the analysis of each bill have strengthened them and forced them to make important changes in their content.
Among the most debated this time are the bills related to the status of persons in Cuban territory, whether Cuban citizens or foreigners: the Citizenship Law, the first to regulate this matter with recognition of multi-citizenship and effective citizenship; the Migration Law, perhaps the most discussed, and the Law on Foreigners, which updates the rules that had been in force since 1976.
These laws show the will to widen and expand relations with all Cubans, with all those committed to their homeland, as well as ratifies that Cuba is a safe and respectful place for all foreigners residing in the national territory.
Each one of these norms responds to a demand or a public good interest, such as the Administrative Procedure Law, a transcendental change for the functioning of the Public Administration, which must become a brake on the bureaucratic actions of civil servants.
Or the new Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, consistent with the fundamental principles of the socialist rule of law.
In all cases, the interests of national defense and security are preserved, as well as the integrity of the people.
The Law on the System of Honorary Titles and Decorations orders and perfects this matter in accordance with the constitutional text.
The intensity and dynamism of this process demonstrates once again the purpose of complying with the Legislative Schedule approved by the Assembly itself and thereby making each of the contents of the Magna Carta a reality.
Compatriots:
Every day we face enormous obstacles to the dreams and projects of social justice, aware that it is our responsibility as a socialist State to "challenge powerful dominant forces within and outside the social and national sphere," according to another fundamental idea of the concept of Revolution.
I know, because we are constantly pressing popular opinion, that there are many and from very different perspectives, those who qualify the present moment as the most difficult in the history of the Revolution. There are even those who go so far as to suggest that the revolutionary period is over.
The moment is undoubtedly very difficult. The people say so and those of us who work to alleviate the impact of these difficulties in the daily life of all of us ratify it. But the Revolution lives and its enemies know it. That is why they harass and attack it.
The Revolution is being strongly challenged to revolutionize itself and it is doing so. We are doing it together, as a team, because no other formula is possible (Applause).
The moment has always been difficult for revolutionaries, but difficult does not mean insurmountable. That is written in the history of the last 65 years, since the Revolution, having just come to power, was permanently threatened with invasion, the island was undermined by bandits who today would be justly called terrorists; its economy was constantly sabotaged and undersupplied; its natural relationship with Latin America was broken under pressure from the Yankees who declared us their enemies, under an avalanche of lies exalted by the ferocious anti-communist propaganda of the Cold War.
What were the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the plagues, the attacks, the bombs, the sabotage, in the midst of such dramatic situations as the Flora cyclone and all the poverty inherited from the previous system?
The moment is difficult, very difficult, but the history that precedes it is sobering, so inspiring, so heroic, that it alone answers all the questions with the always defiant phrase with which the Army General taught us to face the difficulty: Yes we can! (Applause.)
Fidel is no longer physically here, it is painfully true, but his ideas and his legacy remain. And there is Raúl and part of the Historic Generation, with their foot in the stirrup, educating and stimulating those of us who today fulfill the honorable task of giving continuity to the Revolution, to remind us that in the midst of the greatest challenges, Cuba managed to achieve some of the best indicators of human development.
You are here to demonstrate what history itself has already established: that the nation has a fundamental force to overcome all difficulties, Raúl called it the apple of our eye: unity! (Applause.)
In a scenario full of obstacles, such as the one we are going through, unity is the main weapon to resist and win.
It is not unity in slogans or unanimity. Uncritical coincidences on the most pressing issues do not help.
It is unity from optimistic participation. It is the commitment acting in function of a purpose and an ideal: to save the homeland, to maintain and develop the Revolution and socialism, the only guarantee of preservation and deepening of social justice that this people conquered in more than 150 years of struggle and to which it will never renounce.
All those who are determined to contribute to this mission are indispensable for the Revolution.
The debate is legitimate and the confrontation of ideas that we will always be provoking is healthy and useful. No one doubts that the best decisions and the best contributions will be born from them, dictated by the desire to overcome mistakes, overcome difficulties and move forward.
Another thing is the disqualification of each step in the search for solutions, the instant and thoughtless predisposition that only causes demobilization and discouragement.
Compatriots:
Cuba lives, works, resists and creates under the silent bombs of a war whose main objective is economic activity. The objective is to surrender the people through hunger and need, under the weight of the criminal policy that was outlined in broad strokes in the famous Mallory Memorandum in 1960 and which in these six decades has only escalated in aggressiveness.
It is the responsibility of the State and the Government to face this very serious contingency in the most creative way. And the country's leadership does not rest in order to overcome this scenario of economic war that has such a harsh impact on the quality of life of the people.
I know that some people question the use of the concept of war economy, based on academic definitions and previous historical experiences.
I am not going to use it or discuss the theory. I am only going to ask, based on practical elements, taken from the harsh reality we live in: Can an economy that is forced to operate with limited or no access to international financial institutions, in an increasingly economically interdependent and interconnected world, be called an economy without adjectives? What definition to use when to import food from the United States, the closest market, it is mandatory to have specific licenses, to pay in cash, without the possibility of credit and in advance, which is not required from any other country in the world? How to define the risky and labyrinthine mechanism of fuel imports under persecution and pressure to shipping companies, oil companies and governments willing to sell it?
Denying Cuba's access to products with a minimum of 10% of components of U.S. origin; forcing us to manage investments and plans in the most absolute secrecy, with the latent and real risk of failure in case they become known to the United States; subjecting the country's main companies to the punishment designed against nations included in their spurious lists that close banks and financing possibilities everywhere, are these not undeniable forms of economic warfare?
Looking for historical antecedents will be more difficult than answering these questions, because there is no other government subjected to a war of the same nature, so prolonged and propped up by laws of another country that gravitate over the entire economy, such as the Torricelli and Helms-Burton, elaborated with the declared purpose of changing Cuba's political regime.
Managing the economy, under conditions under which no other nation in the world operates, what is it called then?
Comrades:
The very complex situation of the country is verified today in practically all areas of the economy, but there are some where the impact of shortages is more painful and significant, such as the practical impossibility of timely ensuring the supply of the scarce products of the basic food basket and medicines; the instability of the national electro-energy system and the lack of control of prices, excessively high, speculative, abusive, which limit the purchasing power of a considerable part of the population. At the same time, and as a consequence of the sustained shortages and limitations, there are growing manifestations of indiscipline, social violence, addictions and vandalism, which threaten the tranquility of the citizens, among other problems.
The Prime Minister, comrade Marrero, presented to this Assembly the status of the implementation of the Government's Projections to correct distortions and re-drive the economy during the first semester and at the same time expressed in which directions we will concentrate our efforts for the remainder of the year, which constitutes a call for work that we must support by providing concrete results.
It is time to go beyond diagnoses and move on to actions. We must ensure that what has been approved is fulfilled, defining the objectives well, better preparing the executors of each measure, promoting political, communicational, material and financial assurance, ordering the actions with an implementation schedule so that they do not remain in the discourse. And, above all, exercising control over corrections and adjustments with the necessary feedback.
Regarding our responsibilities in the uncertain and complex field of the economy, it is necessary to recognize that, in the eagerness to comply with the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the 8th Party Congress, when unblocking processes and promoting the formation of MSMEs, we were not firm enough in demanding the creation of sufficiently robust and comprehensive regulatory bases to guide the operation of these forms of management, which were already operating in the economy, but without formal recognition.
Subsequent controls have shown that many of these businesses did not respond to the State's trust with the honesty and transparency demanded and required by a minimally organized society. Consequently, no violator of the treasury and legality in general can question the demands derived from the analysis of the errors and distortions of the process.
As has been said at this time, law and order must prevail if all forms of management of the economy are to succeed and be strengthened. With this I want to reiterate that there is not and there will not be a witch hunt against private MSMEs, as some claim, manipulate or suggest.
The confrontation will be against the lack of control, illegalities, tax evasions, speculation and fraud, wherever they come from (Applause), whether they are non-state or state-owned companies. This is a battle against illegality and not against the forms of ownership and management.
The creation of non-state forms of management of the economy responds to a policy approved since the Party Congress, after a broad process of popular consultation in the discussion of the Guidelines, and what we have to do is to enforce it with order and discipline, within the margins of the law.
MSMEs were conceived as economic actors to complement the state sector, mainly through production. However, there we have had a great distortion, a good part of them have been dedicated to the commercialization of imported products which, although they solve the immediate needs of the citizens, do not contribute to the sustainable development of the country.
And it continues to be a challenge for the socialist state enterprise, together with the non-state sector, to advance at an accelerated pace, in an integrated and harmonious manner, in the development of the main productive processes of the country.
We are convinced, and we are promoting it, that one of the safest and fastest ways to have an impact on the welfare of the people is to optimize the economic, productive and social processes from the base. But we must begin by putting order, not only in the management of non-state forms, because when I speak of order, I am not only referring to control, but also to the organization of processes with efficiency, to the need to innovate, to break inertias, to move in the direction of the development that is urgently needed.
Cuban MSMEs were not conceived only for the non-state sector of the economy, however, the dynamics of their formation in the state sector has been practically null, in spite of some healthy experiences.
I can cite the case of biofactories that were trapped by the inefficiencies of the companies of which they were part, and when they were transformed, they substantially improved their productive and economic-financial indicators. The same is true of entities in the communications sector. MSMEs are designed for high-tech companies to take advantage of their capacity to adapt.
I call attention to another of the negative trends that we must face in society and to which I referred recently at the 8th Plenary Session of the Party Central Committee.
The Government of the United States and extremist sectors of the counterrevolution, in their media offensive, stimulate criminal and vandalistic acts, in an attempt to create a scenario of insecurity in favor of their destabilizing purposes.
The permanent actions of the Ministry of the Interior, of the organs of justice in close liaison with the people have allowed, in recent years, to discover, prevent and confront multiple and complicated criminal typologies and tendencies, and this has been possible with greater rigor in the legal, penal and penitentiary treatment, especially in cases of those charged, accused or punished for crimes of high social harmfulness.
Despite these efforts, the situation of crime, corruption, illegalities and social indiscipline remains complex, marked by the adverse socioeconomic scenario.
Army General Raúl Castro Ruz once warned that the battle against crime and corruption does not admit any more contemplations, and urged to be implacable against this phenomenon. That call is still valid. And in order to favor it, the best, the most honest and the most dignified citizen attitudes must be exalted.
We must strengthen the educational work from the family, school, institutions and society.
We must improve our mechanisms of popular control, to manage the fulfillment of the functions and responsibilities of leaders and officials, before the people, with transparency and integrity.
We have to raise the rigor in the discovery of criminal acts and in the prosecution, always respecting due process and guarantees.
Here we heard a young farmer from Nueva Paz complaining because his cooperative is forced to employ a good part of its labor force in surveillance tasks, morning, afternoon and night, instead of dedicating them to production.
We failed to ask ourselves what is the proposal to face the problem in a different way. Today we need to come up with ideas and solutions that involve society as a whole in the fight against crime. If one country has experience in this, it is Cuba.
Zero tolerance to those who take advantage of economic difficulties to enrich themselves without contributing!
Zero tolerance for the indolent, for the rogues and for the lazy!
And if the laws need to be tougher, it is the duty of this Assembly to legislate to make them so. A small nation that has stood up with admirable courage against the greatest and most powerful empire in history will not be defeated by crime (Applause).
Compatriots:
The months that have passed have clearly revealed a convulsive and dangerous global reality in this 2024, in which the threats to peace posed by the contradictions of the international political and economic order are becoming more and more visible, with its inherent contradictions and its unjust nature, which promotes and deepens inequality, polarization and a gross concentration of wealth that is increasingly exclusionary.
The primacy of a single power dictating its will to the rest of the planet is already a dream of the past and attempts to revive lead to dangerous dead ends. This is what happens when we try to divide the world into two options: sovereignty or submission. This philosophy rewards and encourages those who submit to the pattern set by imperialism, while those nations that defend their rights to development in a balanced world are harassed, punished and blocked.
Diplomacy is constantly disregarded as a means of resolving serious conflicts in a timely manner. It is more than paradoxical, it is outrageous, to see one important international event and high-level meetings, of different kinds and in different parts of the world taking place, at the same time as the heinous crime of genocide against the Palestinian people, in full view of the world. From the space that corresponds to us as citizens, we must act with care, discipline and a rigor that makes sustainable all that we lack on the road to well-being, to guarantee life projects and prosperity for the wonderful youth that we have.
It is an affront to human dignity that while millions of people in all parts of the world are mobilizing against this new holocaust, the so-called international community, which represents these millions of citizens of the world in global bodies, is incapable of putting a stop to this massacre, only because the genocidaires have the support and complicity of the government of the United States and of other powerful governments allied to Zionism.
In this complex scenario that I have described very briefly, the Cuban Revolution has continued to expand its bilateral relations with countries in different regions. We have intensified our contacts with various governments, both to exchange and reconcile political ideas in defense of peace, as well as to stimulate trade relations, to circumvent the effects of the U.S. economic blockade, and to circumvent the effects of the U.S. economic blockade and to explore mutually beneficial economic opportunities.
We remain committed to just causes, and we have offered the country as a space for dialogue and deliberation in pursuit of them.
In April, together with Progressive International, an international congress was held in Havana to mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the resolutions in May 1974, at the United Nations, which gave rise to the New International Economic Order. This step, promoted at the time by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77, marked one of the most important attempts by the developing countries to continue the battle for decolonization.
We wanted to make sure that the anniversary did not go unnoticed, especially in light of the problems that developing countries continue to face today, and as a reminder that, after 50 years, the majority of the world's people are carrying the heavy burden created by economic, trade and financial rules set by the same powers that condemned us to the underdevelopment, through colonialism, slavery and the relentless plundering of our resources.
Here I pause to share with you ideas that I consider valuable. To do this, I am taking extracts from a recent reflection on cultural colonization and education by the young Vice-President of the Casa de las Américas, Jaime Gómez Triana: "Cultural colonization is a phenomenon that requires constant reflection and that affects the whole of humanity, but which particularly affects the peoples of the Global South, who are subjected to an incessant avalanche of pseudo-cultural products that seek to impose and normalize a model of society that is based on individualism, trivialization, the cult of the trivial, carpe diem, to use Horatio's famous phrase, 'live for the moment' and 'give minimal credit to the future'... The relation between school and cultural decolonization is truly crucial and needs to be analyzed in depth, systematically, in order to generate the necessary antidotes to counteract the poison of individualism, which we see today associated with retrograde, intolerant, totalitarian and, let us say it shamelessly, neo-fascist expressions.”
Why did I choose this reflection, which seems so far removed from the harsh economic reality we are currently facing? Because the day we forget that the conscience of the citizenry is the fundamental support of a socialist society, which seeks above all the spiritual wealth of the individual, we will be betraying José Martí, Fidel, Raúl, Che Guevara and all those who, 71 years ago, gave up every penny of their savings and went to fight or die against the walls of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista to build a humanly superior destiny for Cuba (applause).
This commitment explains why so much of our budget is spent on education, culture, art schools and cultural events that help to sustain and nourish the soul of the nation, with efforts that in poor or developing countries depend almost entirely on patronage.
As part of this effort, we are holding a new edition of the Colloquium "Patria" in Havana, a space for dialogue and reflection between activists, communicators, intellectuals and, in general, people concerned about the dangerous advance of cultural colonization, the power of the communication and information monopolies and the re-emergence of fascist and neo-fascist currents that are spreading strongly and in full view of everyone.
This in no way diminishes our activism in international organizations and events, with a focus on the region, but with an increasingly active presence in scenarios that are more novel for Cuba, such as the BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union.
We continue to fulfil our international solidarity obligations and, in particular, we have maintained the international medical cooperation in various regions that has brought us so much recognition.
The cruel and mendacious plan of the United States to discredit Cuban medical services is open, notorious and contrary to the solidarity and cooperative nature of these services, even threatening sovereign governments that benefit from them. Lies and campaigns to promote them are methods that are inseparable from imperialism. The most scandalous example is that Cuba remains on the State Department's list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism, where we should never have been. We are indeed victims of terrorism, but those who support its perpetrators and reward them with impunity dare not make such a list.
The U.S. government knows, its intelligence services can confirm, and the whole world recognizes that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism, that this slander is a totally dishonest fabrication, designed to reinforce the economic blockade and to hit the living standards of the Cuban people even harder.
That is why it provokes so much opposition. That is why dozens of governments, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, are calling on the United States to put an end to the slander and injustice. Dozens of organizations within the United States itself, including local authorities, religious, academic and social groups and individuals of different origins in that country, are also calling on the United States to put an end to the slander and injustice.
Members of Parliament:
In Latin America and the Caribbean, political polarization and the division of societies have increased at a time when solidarity should be increasing in the face of growing inequality.
The ultra-right is exploiting and fueling the polarization caused by the application of neo-liberal economic models and their abject social failure. Through manipulation and deception, it manages to enter government positions and implement policies aimed at destroying the social progress achieved through decades of popular struggle.
Cuba has denounced the constant attempts to generate violence in Venezuela and the acts of interference in its internal affairs, which have not succeeded in defeating the Bolivarian Revolution. As proof of this strength, we predict a victory for Nicolás Maduro in the forthcoming presidential elections (applause).
We have maintained our firm position in defense of peace in Colombia, in our capacity as guarantor of the peace processes with the National Liberation Army and the Segunda Marquetalia armed rebel group, and in monitoring compliance with the agreement with the FARC-EP.
From Cuba, we continue to promote solidarity and cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean. We defend strict compliance with the principle of non-intervention, direct or indirect, in the internal affairs of other states, but we unconditionally support progressive governments that can reverse centuries of injustice in the region.
Compatriots:
We are travelling, inch by inch, throughout Cuba. We are going from community to community, and I can assure you that we have witnessed encouraging experiences - some of them admirable - that show how much can be done even in the most adverse circumstances.
The visits have shown that there are men and women in Cuba who are capable of overcoming the inhuman gravity of the U.S. blockade: we have seen cultivated land that was once overgrown with weeds; small factories that have been created in previously useless spaces; we have spoken to work collectives that are characterized by a deep sense of belonging, of satisfaction in what is born of sustained effort; and characterized by a leadership that knows how to make bold proposals in these cases, that is focused on solutions and that has banished the word "defeat" from everyday philosophy.
Today, one of the most important questions that should concern us is how we can turn these stories of triumph, these exceptional experiences, into a trend, into an atmosphere of success that will spread. How can we multiply the collectives of the production centers of Jaramillo, La Caraña, Dolores, Cauto-La Yaya, La Minerva and El Alambre; the Agroindustrial Sugar Company 14 de Julio, which has just finished its last harvest; the Santos Caraballé dairy UEB of the Venegas Livestock Company; the Gispert and Iraelda Marzo García UBPC and its president Beto; the CCS members Waldo Díaz Fuentes, Arides Estévez, Enrique Moreno and Emilio Herriman Pérez; the agricultural producers Rolando Benítez de Tahón, deputy of this assembly; the young Yariel Negrín from the young producers' project in Placetas; Javier González in Güira de Melena; the Carlos family of the UBPC Tuinucú sugar cane plantation; the Velázquez brothers of the CCS Cuba Va; the twins of the Santa Rosa farm; the usufructuary producers Alex Raúl Castañeda and Yoandri Rodríguez of the agricultural company in Cabaiguán; Euclides Veyrut in the Isle of Youth; Raúl Concepción's farm in the CCS Alberto Pis; Las Celias organic farm in the UEB Tabaco, which is an example of cooperation between a socialist state enterprise and the Revolutionary Armed Forces; the performance of state enterprises such as the Unión de Industrias Militares; the Roselló Enterprise; the state-owned micro and small enterprises Motores TahuCuba and COPEXTEL Soluciones; Los Tamarindos agro-ecological farm; the heroic workers of the thermoelectric plants, to name but a few examples of this impressive progress towards self-sufficiency, which is still the exception but will one day become the rule in this country of talented and entrepreneurial people who have the right and the opportunity to realize their dreams in Cuba (applause).
Of course, for this answer to be given, there are many of us Cubans who, from the space that corresponds to us as citizens, must act with care, with discipline and with a rigor that makes sustainable everything that is lacking on the road to well-being, to guarantee life projects and prosperity for the wonderful youth that we have.
There is a wealth of potential, an inestimable richness in our own strengths, in the innovative capacity of Cubans, in that innate quality that has emerged since the hard times of the Mambises and that has brought all kinds of triumphs since then. We have a natural intelligence that, cultivated and refined over the decades by a Revolution that defends knowledge and thought, can continue to lead us to the many solutions that Cuba needs.
The Fidelist philosophy of faith in the people, which is faith in the multiplied genius of all of us, has not lost its validity: as we have said before, none of us alone knows or learns more than all of us together.
Overcoming the greatest obstacles with intelligence, even with wisdom, is not an unknown experience for us: history is made up of episodes already lived; but if we had to mention a recent one, let us remember how Cuban scientists saved an entire people from the ravages of COVID-19 (applause).
This is an achievement so resounding, so swift and so effective that even if it is told many times, it will never cease to be part of our narrative of heroism, of inner strength and of hope. It is such a source of pride that today we are striving to take this example of what is possible into every sphere of life in the country.
If we have been denied medical oxygen - and let no one forget this passage of imperial cruelty, suffered in the midst of the darkest moment of COVID-19 - if we are gripped by a blockade of more than 60 years, which boycotts life on all sides and seeks to close every door to prosperity, if, in spite of this cruelty, which a Cuban friend has rightly defined as a silent genocide, if, in spite of all this, we are alive and active, what could we not achieve without the weight of one of the cruelest and longest punishments in history?
Learning every day, renewing ourselves through knowledge, having a way of thinking that is not only rich in ideas but also capable of adapting to the historical moment and to needs: this is a premise without which it will be very difficult to move forward.
It is the duty of each one of us to keep our strengths, our material and human resources at our disposal, and to keep our minds alert, on the basis of a realistic and up-to-date vision, in order to overcome adversity.
In the midst of this struggle, immersed in a planet that is showing signs of dehumanization, it is up to us to be extremely vigilant so that sensitivity in our own country does not abandon us.
The day we close our faces to the urgencies and pains of others, the day we forget that it will always be the other who saves us, that day will be the day that the humanism of a Revolution born to dignify the human being, a Revolution made by putting the "we" above the natural selfishness of the "I", will be in danger.
As Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz once said, in difficult times there are those who get confused, those who get discouraged, those who get intimidated, those who get soft, those who betray, those who desert. Fidel said that this happens in all times and in all revolutions, but he also said that it is in difficult times that men and women are really tested (applause). With the unbeatable power of his words, he told us that difficult times are the best measure of each one of us.
From this faithful truth, we have long been able to take pride in the greatness and nobility of our women and men, our children, adolescents, young people, the elderly, all the protagonists of what we call the resistance and about which there are still no texts or monuments capable of faithfully representing it.
These years and every hour of struggle have increased the capacity of the Cuban people, often demonstrated - and others still unsuspected - to face multiple attacks, shortages, provocations and challenges.
Our spirit is so trained that this resistance ignores immobility, endures without advancing: the Cuban way is intelligent resistance, it creates against the tide. We speak of not conforming, of continuing to draw horizons, of continuing to do without listening to the voices of despair. The Cuban way is to reinvent ourselves every day in the art of the possible and to prove that, as Fidel taught us, it is worth living and fighting! (Applause)
The best lesson to be learnt from these hours is the greatness of a people who, in the depths of their self-respect, know how much courage it takes to live from rebellion, to know the meaning of dignity and devotion, and to know what it means to win.
A few hours before the 71st anniversary of the attack on Cuba's second fortress, that small engine of rebellion that ignited the great engine of the Revolution of Fidel, Raúl, Ramiro and the exemplary generation of the Centennial Apostles, we congratulate the noble and hardworking people of Sancti-Spíritus and the whole of Cuba (Applause), for their heroism and their resistance to the empire, but also for their rebellion and their non-conformity in the face of the errors, distortions and negative tendencies that continue to appear on the ever more arduous new road to socialism.
This generation, committed to the continuity of the Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble, will fight so that we can all achieve, sooner rather than later, a dignified and inclusive prosperity where no citizen is left unprotected. This is what we are working for!
Homeland or Death!
Socialism or Death!
We will win!
