We cannot give up on the dreams of the prosperity possible for our country, our people deserve it like no other (Part 2)
Final part of interview granted by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, to journalist Arleen Rodríguez Derivet at the Palace of the Revolution on October 12, 2023, "Year 65 of the Revolution
Arleen Rodríguez (AR): I am thinking, there are people who believe that since there is no tourism or remittances, and there is lack of foreign currency, this translates into lack of foreign currency to buy fuel or to make the production lines work.
Miguel
M. Díaz-Canel (MDC): There is no way out.
AR: So people say: "I have to leave".
MDC: There is a high migration flow now but this is not the first time we have had these flows of migration. At various times, especially when we have been under economic crisis, there have been excessive migratory flows. For example, the migratory flows of the first years of the Revolution, like Boca de Camarioca or Mariel in 1994. These flows occurred cyclically, when the U.S. Government tightens the situation, inducing illegal, unsafe, disorderly migration that costs lives -which is the worst thing.
Let us go back to the pre-Trump period. The situation was different: there were visas for citizens and it was easier to obtain a visa; there were consular services and more possibilities for Cubans to visit their family abroad, and for families abroad to visit their families in Cuba; there were more possibilities for remittances. All that changed with Trump. At that time, even the repatriation flows were high; there was not only migration but also a lot of repatriation. All brutally altered with Trump's measures, which also aimed at creating an unfavorable situation seeking social upheaval related to migration: consular services in Cuba were cancelled and moved to third countries, and with limitations. People spent more money to be able to acquire a visa, with more uncertainty whether they would obtain one. Other measures were taken to close off our income from tourism. They recently adopted measures affecting automatic visa granting to European citizens: if Europeans visit Cuba they are stripped of the visa facilitating their travelling to the US. These measures further impacted the complex economic situation we face causing increased migration.
AR: All this while maintaining the Cuban Adjustment Act in place.
MDC: Yes, Cuban emigrants are favored by the Adjustment Act. So, what are we advocating for? We want a legal, safe and orderly migration. Our immigration law guarantees that, but the attitude of the US Government does not, provoking hopelessness and insecurity and favoring people embarking on very dangerous, insecure experiences. Notice that Cuban emigrants leave Cuba legally but join the illegal migration flow in transit to the US. They fall into the hands of coyotes, human trafficking networks and many lose their lives by land, while others lose their lives at sea leaving on unsafe rafts. A situation of bewilderment is created, it is very regrettable humanly speaking.
People
say: we are losing young people, professionals, women of
reproductive age. Yes, all that is true. But why don't we talk as well about
those who stay in Cuba and find a project here. Talk about the thousands
of Cubans we see every time we go to the territories, in the most complicated
scenarios, with the same limitations but holding another mindset and a disposition to contribute, those who have life projects matching the social project, those who have very heroic
attitudes?
I am
certain it will all change again as we overcome our challenges; there
should be no rupture with Cubans who leave the country for economic reasons
or motivated by speculation made in relation to migration. In fact, we have many Cubans interested in projects in Cuba and who are moving forward, many involved in mutually beneficial projects for themselves or their families and helping Cuba advance. Many Cubans are committed to improve their lives, the lives of their families and of their country. There are also others, unfortunately, filled with hatred.
In this hatred, I believe, there is also a reluctance to admit to their failure abroad. Some
of the people who leave -I am not going to speak in absolute terms, fail to find the "American dream" and find themselves in a even more disadvantageous situation abroad than the one they could be in Cuba -with greater social
insecurity than they could have in Cuba. Hatred brewed
inside them makes them unable to recognize that the country of migration did not welcome them as they expected nor did it provided them with the possibilities
they had hoped for. So they turn against Cuba, against the Revolution, as
if it was the Revolution what pushed them to make the decision to leave Cuba.
These
are phenomena, in the order of social psychology, social behavior in
times of crisis, when relations between Cuba and the US are very asymmetrical and marked (especially on the part of
the US Government) with the application of policies of maximum pressure towards Cuba, policies of genocide, strangulation, that provoke all these
things.
We need to know the real causes, the origins are; we
cannot despair. We also have to work with intelligence creating the
relations we want with those Cuban emigrants. We also have to come up with ways
to work with young people so they do not despair. In fact,
we have just approved policies for children, adolescents and youth taking into account many of the things that become problematic for young people; I believe these policies will help us overcome these situations.
In truth we have deep fiscal and monetary imbalances causing processes such as inconvertibility of the currency, accelerated
inflation, depreciation of informal exchange rate, appearance and
development of an informal foreign exchange market; elements present in
almost all countries today. I will not focus on the world situation now: we are concerned with our problems.
The
most visible element of these imbalances is lack of supply in state
markets, with inflation; that is where the criticism of MSMEs we have just
seen is reinforced. These non-state forms have also found a space where the
State today does not have many supplies and, in some cases, there have been
abusive and speculative prices. Both, the dragging effects of the pandemic in Cuba and the intensification of the blockade also factor in.
Fuel shortages, for the reasons explained, particularly hit the
country in this situation and time.
Social
problems have a lot to do with the situation of our economy. We have taken measures to counter them. There is an Economic-Social
Strategy including a program for macroeconomic stabilization which are measures to be gradually and appropriately applied to avoid further complicating our situation as the measure all imply big risks. Reason why we propose, as a principle, that everything we design and apply has a vision focused on people in
disadvantaged or vulnerable situations -women, young people, children
and adolescents, the elderly, just to mention some sectors. Our analyses are comprehensive; we can manage the risks and complexities.
AR: President, I wanted to stop for a moment here. When you talk about
policies against racism, policies for the advancement of women, policies for
the youth, for the elderly, etc., sometimes it seems that it is a political
discourse, but they have concrete content in reality. Let us say, is it to
facilitate housing? What does the change in policy consist of?
MDC: They all deal with different problems. First, it is ideal to think that in 60 years of the Revolution, with all the social work and enormous dimension the Revolution implies, all vestiges of colonialism -including patriarchy and racial discrimination, have been solved. We are courageously recognizing the work ahead creating programs to end discrimination as much as possible, programs that include legal aspects protecting the dignity of people affected and ensuring they do not suffer disadvantages.
In the
case of the National Program for the Advancement of Women, we not only increase possibilities for the advancement of women but also are in an iron
fight against gender violence, an issue that you know is very complex
to deal with because women at risk of gender violence do
not always report it; thus, there must be social support, comprehensive
work, education work.
Soon we are going to apply measures related to
subsidizing people rather than products; we will doing gradually by calculating/measuring the subsidy they will receive. We are proposing alternatives for Cuba's development. The
promotion of territorial development and the generalization of existing good
experiences. We have good experiences in Cuba that need to be expanded.
AR: Which are held via...?
MDC: By videoconferences as I will explain more later. We are strengthening local productive systems because they are essential to ensure municipalities are able to exercise autonomy and become the source of development. We are looking on local development projects, for example, where several municipal companies have been created -like in food production.
We have a whole group of proposals to promote the development of companies through market exchange -in both state and private sectors with a focus on fundamental productions. We are taking, in particular, private companies from the illegal foreign currency market to operate with an exchange rate that can facilitate better prices. We are limited, however, by availability of foreign currency for that market...
We have analyzed how to face wage-price relationship -when to raise wages, minimum pensions and minimum wages as it must be linked to a greater supply of goods and services to ensure increase in wages is not merely followed by increases in prices. We apply alternatives for people with lower incomes prioritizing their access to food modules coming to us by donation.
We
have given more powers to state-owned companies, broaden their
objectives, to protect companies currently facing fuel
or financing problems and not having all the conditions required to fulfill their main functions. Our focus is for companies to be able to favor their workforce by creating goods and offering services improving the life of the population and guaranteeing better performance
of the company.
All
these issues are part of the daily debate of the Government's agenda and the Party's agenda. There are many people working to move forward, including groups of economists and jurists.
AR: Many of them are here and I know because I see them.
MDC: This is a science palace, sometimes people criticize when we resort to science and hold so many meetings but I do believe science and innovation are going to provide our country with solutions. Arleen, there are no magic solutions. People say: Why don't they apply the measures of the Special Period? Everything we had during the Special Period has already been applied: decriminalizing foreign currency, opening foreign investment, opening tourism and stores in foreign currency. We have to create material wealth and, in the current conditions, we have to be able to produce and distribute the little we have with the greatest possible concept of equity and social justice while maintaining unity. This is how we are going to get ahead and how to find ways to to get out. It is not going to be fast.
AR: President, these meetings mentioned with local governments, provinces by videoconferences, and what you were saying just now, do they mean that the solution could be at the local level?
MDC: These meetings with the provincial bureaus of the Party
in each province, by videoconference, were to be
held face-to-face during a tour...but given the situation as
We have insisted on the demand and fulfillment of the functions of state institutions in all areas because at times like these we observe cracks that have nothing to do with the blockade or economic problems but with malfunctioning of state entities or institutions.
We
highly value the fight against corruption and crime. We analyzed the fight
against the enemy's plans of political and ideological subversion. We proposed to work in an organized way from the community,
from the municipality to promote development. When municipalities are able of producing, developing and overcoming problems then the provinces and our country
will overcome them too. It does not mean we are leaving the
municipalities alone or that now municipalities are to be blamed. We have to produce, to expand the offer so prices
decrease, to continue with social transformation programs in neighborhoods and attending to the most disadvantaged people.
The entrepreneurial system has to take advantage of all its potentialities, not hide behind lack fuel or financing, do everything else it can do without limitations: If I can no longer do this, what about everything else I can do? Many companies have forces that can repair schools, school furniture, polyclinics, hospitals, participate in the housing program, produce food to change the food situation of their workers and their families. How many services they could provide to the people, how many things can be done that are not being done. Food production is crucial in achieving food sovereignty at the municipal level -what needs to be done in each community, municipality and how to control land use and use idle land.
Arleen...in the midst of all this situation I have come to rural communities where there is not a banana plantation, there is not a grove of fruit trees, you do not see a chicken, you do not see a cow or a pig, and you say: what are they waiting for? They should be producing for themselves and to contribute to others. So, we have to see all this, this is part of the process of analysis of insufficiencies, errors we are developing to later share publicly and debate publicly...
We have talked a lot about the work systems. The Party has to take care of everything with the Party's methods and style, without supplanting functions; in taking care of everything, it is also necessary to ensure the Government rules, the administration does it job, the enterprise, economic actors of the non-state sector, and social organizations play their role in society. For this we must make rigorous and demanding analyses and there must be a strong link with the people...a constant debate with the population. We must continue designing spaces through which the population can present its problems, propose solutions, and be receptive to incorporate all this. We need coordinated work between the Municipal Assembly of People's Power (made up of district delegates, nominated, postulated and elected by the people) which is the highest body of the State and Government at the municipal level; and, the Administration Council (the executive, operative and administrative body in the Municipal Assembly of People's Power for the implementation of everything it approves).
There to be coordinated work between the president of the Municipal
Assembly of People's Power, the mayor, the governor of the
province (who promotes the articulation of all national, provincial
and municipal policies without taking away from the autonomy of the
municipality) and Provincial Council of Government where the president and
vice president of the municipal assemblies and the mayors of all the
municipalities are present.
All the
processes we are dealing with: food production, crime fighting, adequate
relations between the state and non-state sectors, territorial development,
innovation management, attention to people who have certain disadvantages,
attention to social programs, search for endogenous development potential,
strengthening of local productive systems, are generated in the
municipality and are done in the municipality. We have to
ensure territorial management is strong to make progress in everything we want.
AR: President, I would like to go into the subject of your trips abroad, which also seem to me to be of great interest, but I would like to close this subject of the national dynamics and the most recent problems. My colleagues tell me: the most serious problem is communication. I know that you give a lot of importance to that as well, but they talk about one, meeting-ism, too many meetings in the News, in our media, and that the value of those meetings is little seen. Another phenomenon, recent, a rumor, fake news, saying that the availability of fuel was going to be zero. The Minister of Energy and Mines and the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning appeared on television. The Minister of Energy and Mines convinced us that this was not going to happen and announced a date: "By October 3rd Energas must begin operation, we are going to have a better situation." Many people ask why are dates given if we depend on so many external factors -afterwards there were some of the strongest blackouts we have ever had.
MDC: Before we get to that, I would like to talk about some
elements of your question.
An excess of meetings but you can say encounters, workshops, still a group of people have to agree and have to build consensus to face a situation. We do that even in families...It seems to me reality is being distorted a little, without objecting that there are things done in an improper way and need to be improved. Now, you were referring to the Round Table where Alejandro and Vicente, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Mines, respectively, reported...We are not telling lies, the information we had and the perspectives we had at the time was reported. In life, unforeseen events also happen: the fuel ship came in and there was not all the foreign currency available to make the payment so the fuel delivery was withheld, thus the fuel deficit was extended a few days. Vicente did not tell a lie but the information he had that day, situations change. Every morning we explain the energy and power situation. We do this because this is what learned, not to tell lies no matter how difficult situations are, we face them with the truth.
We
always defend ethics in doing politics, work on the
truth. There must be law (the defense of what is fair) and there must be
culture and history which are antecedents and answers to solutions to our problems.
We are also going to overcome this situation, we work to ensure fuel shipments needed, maybe not abundance but levels needed to return to our normal -or the one before this month of October. We are working to ensure stable supplies for November and December.
Under conditions of pressure. For example, US agency tried to pressure a Mexican company because this company was "giving away" oil to Cuba. Pressure appears
everywhere and everywhere it is followed. One often sees posts and news in the cables (from the haters) where they are saying: a ship from
such and such a country is entering Cuba with fuel, in other words, there is follow-up on energy persecuting our country, all with the evil, perverse
objective of denying our country the fuel it needs to live. What can
one expect from people who act in this way, condemning a people to a life with limitations?
AR: Those same haters, every time you make a trip abroad, a visit to
another country, even in your capacity as the head of a state temporarily
leading the Group of 77, for example, or to a meeting as crucial and important
as the BRICS meeting in South Africa, they speculate while the less aggressive
ones say: "What are the benefits of these trips?”
MDC: Negotiations and agreements of mutual benefit
are reached in these trips, investments are unlocked, payment facilities for debts are
obtained and a level of international relations is achieved that avoids the
isolation they want to provoke in relation to our country.
This
year there have been many trips motivated by our responsibility at the head of the Group of 77, and we have not gone just as Cuba but on behalf of the Group of 77, and there is a number of international
events in which the Group of 77 has to be present requiring our
attendance.
There have been political results, we have to see the
opinion on Cuba's participation in the Summit of the 77, in the BRICS Summit,
in the UN General Assembly. In all those trips, agreements were signed and almost unanimous support for the
condemnation of the blockade and the demand to remove Cuba from the spurious
list of countries sponsoring terrorism was achieved.
Concrete investment and trade agreements derived from those trips, which
can only be achieved at high-level meetings. The
implementation of these agreements requires the work of technical teams,
diplomatic teams, and negotiations can take months. We have achieved much in the last
trips and there is a group of things that are in process, to be implemented in the medium
term.
We cannot make public all that was achieved in these trips as the enemy is behind us trying to destroy everything we do. We know of
places where we have gone, achieved an important negotiation and
behind us the enemy has been pressuring the country in case to not carry out its agreement with us.
AR: On the basis of these pressures or harassment, this
unleashed wickedness, on your recent trip to New York you had private meetings with American political personalities, to which the press, not even your press, had access,. What understanding did you find towards the situation
in Cuba?
MDC: These meetings were an opportunity to talk, explain, put forward points of view and remove doubts these personalities had about certain events in Cuba -due to propaganda, disinformation or discrediting campaigns against the Cuban Revolution. I believe we achieved that, There was understanding and there were people who even embraced us. I believe we achieved understanding of the situation in Cuba, admiration for what the Cuban people have been able to resist and under what conditions we have done it and, above all, sensitivity for Cuba's problems, a tremendous willingness to do everything possible within their reach to achieve a change in the policy of the United States Government towards Cuba and to get Cuba removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. Several people shared having felt pity for our people and shame for the government actions towards our country.
AR: President, Cuba has just been reelected, well, not reelected, but
elected, but for the sixth time, as a member of the United Nations Human Rights
Council. It has irritated many because there was a huge campaign
against that possibility. How do you see the issue, an issue that has been a
hot topic inside and outside Cuba?
MDC: We are talking about human rights, an issue that
has been manipulated for many years, with an ill intention and a discourse of
double standards by the so-called "international community" and the supposed
leaders of that international community. Let us not forget that we have
lived through many events in which 50 States of that community of more than 190 countries, support something and that something is legitimized as if
it were approved by the majority of them because everything is manipulated.
Cuba,
a country with a humanist vocation, a calling of solidarity, a calling of service to the world, sharing what we have, not what we have too
much to spare and they have wanted to put us in the dock. The same Cuba sending doctors, not bombs. Cuba sending teachers where others send
soldiers. Cuba that does not intervene but cooperates in solidarity when
others "support" with interventions and aggressions. Cuba facing the pandemic inside and outside the country under principles of human
solidarity that cannot be renounced even under the worst circumstances. That is the Cuba they want to condemn.
I ask, with all logic and I believe also with all right as a Cuban:
When is the international community going to put the Government of the United
States in the dock for violating human rights? When is the United States going
to have to answer for the violation of human rights constituted by the
genocidal blockade it has applied for more than 60 years against
Cuba? When is the United States going to answer for stirring
up international conflicts as it stirred up the European conflict? And when is
the United States going to be held accountable as a violator of human rights
when it has violated the rights of the peoples of the Middle East, of
Palestine, of the Syrian people, who have constantly lived under attack and
bombing by Israeli troops supported by the Government of the United States? Why
has the United States never been accused of violating human rights, when it is
probably the government that has violated the most human rights in the world,
of its own people and of other peoples of the planet?
I
believe that the election of Cuba again to the Human Rights Council is, above
all, recognition of the coherence, of the courage, of the way in which we have
firmly defended our principles, and also recognition of the solidarity with which Cuba has supported others in the world. It is an expression of recognition and I would also say admiration, respect for Cuba and support, therefore this election is
a political and diplomatic victory for the Cuban Revolution, a victory for
the Cuban Revolution!
AR: Well, several victories in a row, which I think are the ones that
have made some people uncomfortable.
MDC: Summit of the Group of 77, United Nations General Assembly.
AR: The Summit of the Group of 77 helped us to see this world with its
complexities.
MDC: And it built a consensus within the countries of the Group
of 77 in the UN General Assembly.
AR: Exactly, and Cuba's participation in the United Nations, I know,
because I saw it and I saw two opposing worlds, some servants "of the past
in a new cup," as Silvio Rodríguez would say, trying to demonstrate
against their own country of origin and absolutely in the minority there,
recognizing it themselves, and the North American people in solidarity with
Cuba.
MDC: I will never forget: on a Saturday night, in a public
institution, more than 900 young Americans supporting Cuba and Venezuela.
AR: It was really impressive and moving. I am done now, I will not take any more time from your family and your rest, but I will come back to the subject of communication. Will we have to wait for another interview you can grant to the communication team or to any Cuban media facing situations like this one?
MDC: I am always ready to communicate and I have demanded it from the comrades of the Party leadership, the comrades of the
Government leadership, all of us who have responsibilities, we are public
servants -servants of our people. We have to systematically inform the
population about the matters within their scope; and not only to inform and
communicate but to be accountable. Our dynamic these days: moving around problems we face and doing it in complex moments and as it flows on a daily basis.
There is also a responsibility of the media, press media, to communicate with mastery, with professionalism, because people need to receive information in an attractive way. I make the commitment that we have disposition to do it. The Presidency's Press Team has been considering the idea, and I am willing to cooperate, of looking for more systematic spaces so we constantly provide information to the population.
AR: You have asked your team, I am aware of that.
MDC: I have asked the Team, and let the Team design it because
they are the experts and I have great confidence in my Team, which is young, talented, innovative and very enthusiastic and also puts much energy in their work, and feels our country's challenges with us, constantly searching for what can be done, to improve communication. I am
very grateful for all the support they provide me.
AR: Well, it is leaked that there is going to be a space, which may come out of the networks.
MDC: And how shall we name it?
AR: You name it, you are going to be the Director, I think. I have been told that you are going to be the Director.
MDC: I think it is too much to expect me to be Director, I could be a
participant.
AR: What name would you give it if you are going to give information?
MDC: Give me a hint.
AR: You are going to give information.
MDC: Is it official?
AR: Well, who knows if that is where the name comes from.
First
Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, President of the Republic, who was preceded
by heroes of this country such as Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, when he wakes up
every morning knowing that the world is not better because bombs are falling on
Gaza, or the issue of prices, food, climate change, etc., is still shaking,
where does he find the energy to get up and go out to fight?
MDC: In the people, Arleen, in our heroic people. This
interview or this meeting cannot pass without having the opportunity to always
thank our people for their heroism, support, understanding and contribution. This is the reason why our Revolution is invincible: our people!
AR: Thank you.
MDC: Thank you.
Translated by ESTI (excerpts of Shorthand Versions - Presidency of the Republic)
_______________
We cannot give up on the dreams of the prosperity possible for our country, our people deserve it like no other (Part I)
Interview granted by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, to journalist Arleen Rodríguez Derivet at the Palace of the Revolution on October 12, 2023, "Year 65 of the Revolution".
Greetings
and questions:
Miguel
M. Díaz-Canel (MDC) and Arleen Rodríguez (AR) exchanging greetings.
AR: It’s
late at night here at the Palace of the Revolution. Are all days this long?
MDC:
Every day, there are longer days and there are shorter days, but I have a full
agenda every day.
AR: I
have had the opportunity to take part in your agenda sometimes and to me, it
seems to be a little tight, isn’t it abusing too much of your energy?
MDC:
Arleen, we are talking about time, about temporality at work, which is a very
important variable in the life of a revolutionary. Times are complex, there is
a lot of news coming out in this world full of uncertainty and we do not live
in a bubble. That is, we are constantly following what is happening in the
country and what is happening in the world, and how global problems also
influence our realities.
In
these conditions it is not possible to have an empty agenda. There is a full
agenda and I would say it is a demanding agenda because there is a lot to do. I
do not consider the agenda to be overloaded; it is full and I have gotten used
to work with it in all these years. This agenda specially responds to a
planning concept that systematizes the moments of work in a way that allows me,
in the course of a month and through different forms of action and
participation, to tend to each of the pressing problems of the country.
AR: That
is to say, do you design your agenda yourself?
MDC: I
design it myself; I plan it myself.
AR: How
do you do it?
MDC: I
already have a work system I came up with years ago, when I started working for
the Party; I have been adjusting it to the varied responsibilities I held. My system
prioritizes visits, to the provinces, to be in contact with the people so I schedule a group of meetings.
People
say meetings can be bad habit, but there are reasons that make necessary to
meet. Excess of meetings can be a bad thing, but without involving the people relevant
to an issue and sitting down to analyze, review progress, project what to do
and work together around the table, everything would be improvised. At times I
am interested in reaching a particular group in a certain place to see things as
lived. One plans activities daily, some things one plans weekly, other things one
plans every ten days, every two weeks, monthly, this is possible only thanks to
a work system. I believe a work so systematic accumulates results and quantitative
and qualitative values.
I
believe in daily work. I do not believe these are times for an unloaded or easy
agenda. It takes energy. As long as I have energy, I will do systematic work this
way. Energy lies first in the challenge ahead and in how one feels
challenged; energy comes from commitment and will to face challenges and find answers
leading us, as a country and as a people, to a better situation than the one we
are living. I make the most of every minute of my work.
In
this planning I need space for my personal life. I do not believe that a
revolutionary can deny the need of having time to share with his wife,
children, grandchildren, grandmothers at home, family and close friends who are
part of the family, as it completes the life of a revolutionary.
AR: In any case, we are living in very difficult times. There are many people who tell me: "The President looks exhausted, he looks tired," because they see him with dark circles under his eyes, or sweating in the middle of a neighborhood in Havana or in a province, or in his home province, for example. There are others who tell you: "He has bad luck, he has gone through everything bad that has happened: a tornado, a plane crash, the fire at the Supertanker Base."
And I ask: Does Díaz-Canel think he has bad
luck?
MDC: I
think those who talk about luck have to take into consideration the world we
are living in, more than anything we should say: this era is bad luck! It is a turbulent
time; the world is coming out of a pandemic causing the loss of so many lives.
When we all aspire, at least those of us who have a humanist way of thinking, to
a world with more solidarity, cooperation, peace and working for the benefit of
people, instead of a world embroiled in
wars, conflicts, where unilateral coercive measures are increasing to pressure
those who think differently, with walls rather than bridges built, where often the
poorest countries are targeted to be crushed; a world increasingly unequal, the
rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the poor have less access to development.
Living in these times is really bad luck!
And
yet, I believe luck is not the problem…the problem is how we face adversity, misfortune
and those extreme and complex situations.
In
Cuba, we have historically developed a way to face challenges, we do face the
challenge! And proof of that is Fidel and Raúl and their generation, the
generation that made the Revolution. They attacked the Moncada barracks, they
were taken prisoners, a prison that they described as a fruitful time for them.
Look it is a lofty concept for facing challenges: the fruitful prison! In
prison they studied, prepared themselves and grew as people.
AR: They
did not see it as a misfortune.
MDC: They
did not see it that way.
The
voyage and landing of Granma with all its vicissitudes and difficulties; the
battle of Alegría de Pío and the meeting in Cinco Palmas, when the few
remaining finally met, Fidel said: "Now we have won the war!” He
defied adversity.
Later,
in the years of the Revolution, especially in the early years, there were the
events of the blowing up explosion of the French freighter La Coubre, the
invasion of Playa Giron, the Escambray mountains and other mountains where the
gangs of enemies of the Revolution roamed and murdered peasants and committed
misdeeds; the rupture in the early years with the United States and the
beginning of the blockade; the October Crisis, which put the world on the brink
of a world war; hurricane Flora which hit the country in the early years of the
Revolution, when we did not have the current levels of organization our Civil
Defense system and our risk and disaster reduction system have, which also
caused material losses and the loss of many human lives.
If
Fidel would have thought he had bad luck while living those moments in the
early years of a thriving Revolution, the Revolution would not have lasted as
it has until these days. Especially with all the things the Revolution has gone
through in all its years; we lived a Special Period once, and we are living a
very complex situation right now.
I do
believe in the possibility of turning setbacks into victories, a way of
overcoming adversity, of overcoming challenges, that is in our history, in
Cuban history. I believe in our history built, written by a people determined
to make their dreams come true, a people who has never given up on making their
dreams come true. It is so engaging and encouraging to face it, Arleen.
AR: I
have heard you say that you are fueled by history, by the country and by the
people. Do you feel how that energy floods you? Honestly, because we are from
the same generation, and I have said: the day is too short...it can't be, I
can't do so much, and I get done, let's say, half of the stuff I want to do, I
can't always keep up with the rhythm you are carrying, and that is when the
question that seems rehearsed pops in. That is when anyone can say: "You
know each other.” Yes, we have known each other for many years, but the
closeness in age makes me feel that I can't keep up sometimes. I mean, it's a
schedule where there's no room for a change of program.
In
fact, we are doing this interview at this hour because you told us: "When
I finish my agenda for the day." Today you had important meetings in your
agenda.
Now I
want to talk about the critics, about those who say that it is not bad luck,
but bad administration of the country: those who said that the Restructuring
was done at the wrong time; it is a good measure, but the timing was not the
right one. That the bankarization, which is also an excellent measure, is
executed at the wrong time.
How
would you respond to them (the critics)?
MDC: They
have the right to criticize. I believe that there is no perfect work. It would
be ideal to think everything has been done well, everything is perfect, we are
right about everything. We are living in a situation of maximum pressure. They
have put us in a situation of maximum pressure: of economic asphyxiation, to
provoke the collapse of the Revolution and to fracture the unity between leadership
and people to obliterate the work of the Revolution. This is expressed in the
financial persecution, the intensification of the blockade, the enormous,
ongoing campaign of subversion. It has recently come to light, you have talked
about it in your podcast (Chapeando bajito), the strategy of hatred involving
huge amounts of money provided by USAID and NED to other countries and particularly
to Cuba -to discredit the Revolution and everything we do.
Now, in
circumstances as difficult as these it is impossible to find the perfect time.
What is the perfect time? What is the perfect measure?
Let us
remember, we were living in a blockade until the first semester of 2019, we
were living with other shortages we do not have today; with complex situations,
but with other shortages. The economy functions in a very different way to how
it works now. All this began to change
in the second half of 2019, when Trump tightens the blockade with 243 measures.
Then, at the beginning of January 2021, with only a few days left at the White
House, he includes us in a spurious list of countries that supposedly sponsor
terrorism, completely cutting off all other forms of financing that we could
have, a huge financial and energy persecution.
Biden
comes along and maintains those measures with the same intensity.
The
pandemic came and affected the whole world causing it to collapse. It lasted
three years, the world has not yet recovered from the pandemic, we have not yet
recovered from the effects of the pandemic either. It was already complicated
times, regardless of whether we had applied measures or not.
Our
main sources of income were affected: remittances, tourism, exports. We ceased
to have financing to repair electric power plants, buy the oil and food we
needed, buy raw materials and inputs needed to provide goods and services to
the population, we even lacked money to buy raw materials to produce essential
medicines.
There
were two alternatives: surrender or fight. Surrender meant applying shock
formulas, neoliberal policies and leaving every man or woman for themselves.
Fighting meant prioritizing human life, and after we won with the lives of the
people, we would continue working to move the country forward.
The
fight for people's lives during COVID-19, did we win it or not? I think we won
and we did it in a praiseworthy way: the people, our health system, the
cooperation of the whole world, human solidarity and our scientists with their
vaccines won in a meritorious way. Imagine this country if we had not had the
vaccines on time. Imagine if we would have lived through the fire in the
Supertankers Base, the gas explosion in the Saratoga Hotel, intense rains,
floods and cyclones, as it has happened all this time? The country was saved by
the strategy to face the pandemic. The concept is creative resistance, which is
not only to resist and endure, but to resist and to overcome situations and adversities
to advance as well with your talent, your effort, the effort of the people.
How
many countries in the world were able to develop their vaccines like we did?
How many underdeveloped countries were able to develop vaccines? How many were
able to control the disease through their protocols and their own medicines? I
believe that Cuba taught us a lesson in this regard and, moreover, we taught it
by sharing it with the world, by expressing solidarity with the world.
In the
midst of this situation, we applied a measure such as the Restructuring. There
was a group working on it ten years ago but the Restructuring could not even be
developed in the most propitious conditions. Now, is the inflation today caused
by the Restructuring? I think this is a subject to be discussed. I am not going
to say whether more or less, but without the Restructuring there would have
been inflation nonetheless.
AR: And why is the outside world discussing it?
MDC: Why
is there inflation in the world and they have not undergone the Restructuring?
Because, there were fewer supply options than could not meet the demand, due to
all these problems. What happened is that it would have been an inflation where
the wage-price ratio had the absolute magnitude of that time, which in absolute
terms would have been lower than the absolute magnitude it has now; but in
percentage terms, the purchasing power of the wage in relation to prices would
have been more or less the same, because there would have been the same
disproportions between supply and demand.
Recently
we have had to apply bankarization. The bankarization is necessary, we are
creating the conditions and it has been said that it is a gradual process. What
happens is that bankarization also comes at a time when we do not have cash,
for other reasons. If we did not apply bankarization the cash deficit would
have been greater, with bankarization we immediately obtained a response: more
money will start to come in, more cash will be deposited in the Central Bank
and it will come out of circulation.
We are
not closed-minded or dogmatic, we are making an exhaustive analysis of all the
antecedents of the Restructuring, where we could have made mistakes, where we
could have done wrong and also what factors influenced negatively on the
implementation of the Restructuring even if we had done everything right.
We are
doing the same with bankarization almost on a daily basisl; we analyze it every
week. This critical analysis will be shared with the population as we have
every intention of adjusting, as soon as possible, the deviations that may
exist in the measures we apply.
We do
that every day with everything that happens, and we are constantly looking at
what the economists are proposing, what the people are proposing.
AR: Do
you read it?
MDC: We
read it, we study it, and I assign it as homework to other people. We do not
deny any of it, we agree with most of it, what happens is that many of the
things proposed, which we are convinced about and which are part of our
Macroeconomic Stabilization (Measures) Program (MSMEs) to be implemented need foreign
currency and that is what we do not have today.
For
example, we need to expand the foreign exchange market and I agree, but what are
we to change without foreign currency to make changes. Today the foreign
currency we have is giving us enough to buy a little fuel, which is not enough,
and to fractionally distribute the basic commodities and other inputs needed to
maintain the vitality and basic needs of the population.
We are
willing to make the critical analysis required, rectify errors and analyze specific
situations. We are not standing still, but in economy, every time you move a
variable, everything changes. I am convinced that wages, the minimum pension
and the minimum wage, must be increased. However, if we do so without increased
supply, prices will immediately go up even more due to the difference between
supply and demand. Thus, after three months we will be in the same wage-price
ratio average while losing purchasing power.
There
are measures we are convinced need to be implemented gradually, or wait for
another moment, because they have to be implemented in conjunction with other
measures.
There
is talk about why we do not subsidize people instead of products. We are
working on that, also in the Guidelines, but it has to be done gradually.
Should we take away subsidies from everybody in the midst of this situation? When
we talk about vulnerable people, we need to measure vulnerability. We are
studying a methodology to not leave anyone behind.
We are
willing to subsidize people rather than products, measures may be applied in
the medium term on the concept of people or families closer to situations of
vulnerability. But we have to do this well, avoiding creating conflicts. In any
case, not subsidizing products does not mean to stop importing the levels of
food we are importing now. Even if we subsidize people, food has to be available
for everybody…
These
are complex challenges that require much thought…everything requires a lot of
elaboration. Some measures that have been applied were postponed, for example, there
is now criticism about MSMEs.
AR: I was
going to ask about it.
It is
one of the action items included in the documents of Party Congress. However,
there are people who said that the MSMEs could be a neo-liberal measure. What
would you answer them?
MDC:
First, I think it is very offensive to say MSMEs are an expression of
neoliberalism…The existence of a non-state sector in the Cuban economy is not new.
Most of the land in Cuba is managed and produced by agricultural cooperatives,
credit and service cooperatives and mores. In other words, the private
and cooperative sector is not unknown in Cuba; it has been in the Guidelines in
the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Party Congresses. We reached a moment, due to economic
contraction and a worsened blockade; thus, a number of people found an employment
option in the MSMEs…
There
are private MSMEs and there are state-owned MSMEs. Who works in the MSMEs? Are
they enemies of Cuba? Are they not Cubans, people trained in our Revolution…can
we say that they are counterrevolutionaries, are they against the Revolution,
do they want to overthrow the Revolution? No. Let us not mixed things up.
Who
wants this sector to become a sector of fracture with the Revolution? The
enemy, the Yankees, they demonstrated it now when a group, with the best of
intentions, went to an event in the United States, supposedly a business event,
a commercial event, an exchange event, not a political one, but it was politicized.
Some of them had a terrorist at a dinner. Who politicized the MSMEs, those who
travelled from Cuba to the event or the Cuban Government? No, the United States
politicized it.
But
they say it shamelessly: "We are going to turn this sector into an
opposition sector." They were told that they were going to be "agents
of change," and we have seen the reaction of many who have not allowed
themselves to be manipulated with these things.
Furthermore,
MSMEs have set up productive systems for goods and services. Is everything
perfect? No, it is not, it is also a very new phenomenon. They have taken
advantage of certain situations in which they are ahead of state enterprises,
because many of them go to seek financing in an illegal market in foreign
currency that unfortunately has been created due to the lack of foreign
currency by the government that would strengthen our legal exchange market to
which people would go more to if that possibility existed.
Sometimes
it is easier for them to import, they are less blocked than the state is, although
they are also blocked. What does the business of many of them consist
of? They import raw materials and chain themselves with capacities
that we have idle in Cuban companies, and together they have started up
productive systems with efficiency.
MSMEs
have also been occupying service spaces in society that the State, in a process
of socialist construction, does not necessarily have to assume.
Have
there been deviations? Yes, some have sold at very high prices and abused
prices, used speculative prices…But there are State entities that have also
done it. In other words, these deviations are present within all the actors of
the economy.
Now we
are making an analysis. Two years after this process became more intense and
dynamic, we have the right to make assessments, which we are sharing with
representatives of this sector and of the state sector. And we are going to
organize or perfect appropriate relations between the state sector and the
non-state sector. We want to make clear, precise and coherent rules that do not
allow distortions.
Those
who accuse us of being neoliberals should inform themselves more. If we had
applied neo-liberal formulas we would have solved the problem of 1% of the
population, while the rest will be every man for himself. No. We are in a very
difficult situation, but we continue to share a basic food basket with
everyone, even with those who do not need it.
In
addition, in the midst of this entire situation, the country approved a program
against racial discrimination. Isn't that attending vulnerability or a group of
people who may be at a social disadvantage?
We
have implemented a program for the advancement of women, isn't that also
addressing situations of social disadvantage?
We
have gone through a process of social transformation in the neighborhoods with
popular participation and not only with assistance.
We
have approved a policy oriented to children, youth and adolescents, which will
end with a law.
We
have continued developing and maintaining social programs that were designed by
the Commander in Chief in another moment of the Revolution. For example, the
programs of the Battle of Ideas, which are well known, and they are still supported
by that economy that many times we criticize, oriented to society.
In
addition, we have not raised rates. Today we have companies and workers of
state-owned companies at a disadvantage for not raising tariffs to the
population in the midst of this situation. The electro-energy workers are at a
disadvantage as the price of fuel goes up and expenses of companies generating electricity
go up; however, electricity tariffs for the population is not raised, therefore
these workers earn less and less while continue providing a service to the
population, and we all know the heroism of the electro-energy workers in all
these times of energy crisis.
Our public
transportation companies are almost bankrupt, because we have not raised public
transportation fares.
There
are luxuries that we will not be able to afford for a while, but we continue
being supportive and trying to take care of everyone. We have inequalities, and
some inequalities have been generated since the Special Period, they are not
new. They have accumulated and perhaps they are observed with greater dimension
in complicated moments because we are living a crisis.
In
recent times, when there have been hurricanes, when there have been natural
disasters, when there have been accidents, what has been done with the people
who have been affected by those disasters? There has been solidarity from the
state institutions and the people, and work to attend them all. Then, how can
we think that what we are applying is neo-liberalism? We apply an enormous
desire to continue perfecting socialism. And to build socialism with what we
can make possible today in the current circumstances, without denying and
without compromising the future of socialist construction that we will reach
when we overcome these circumstances.
And
the other thing, which is a certainty: the fundamental means of production
continue to belong to the people as represented by the State. The main means of
production are not in private hands nor are they managed by the private sector.
They are managed by state enterprises, they are the property of our people and there
will be no privatization of those fundamental means of production. We have to
carry out a heroic work of creation. We have to heroically and creatively build
the socialism of the 21st century in Cuba. This is what it is all about.
I am
willing to discuss these issues and to listen, but not if it is slander. Not
always with intention but still insulting -I am not speaking personally, I am
speaking on behalf of the Government and the Party- when every day we are
attentive to anything about how we can give a little more to the population,
how we can improve. We make mistakes? Yes. Those who say that we are
neo-liberals are also making a mistake, creating distrust and discrediting the
Revolution. We would have to see what they would do if they were in our
position, leading, how they would face these challenges: would they have the
courage to stand up and face challenges while continuing believing in the dream
of socialist construction, continue believing in our people and giving
themselves body and soul to the people.
Now,
is it the ideal, is it perfect?
Moreover,
has the world solved these challenges? The world is complex, people talk about
inflation in Cuba, we also have induced inflation. But, Arleen, I do have the
conviction that we are going to overcome this for the better, to be better
later on and increase our capabilities in the present and the future.
AR: A
common friend, Osvaldo Martínez, a great economist, when I once asked him what
the Cuban model was, he told me: "The anti-model, because we have never
been able to do what we wanted to do,"
MDC: You
are right we have always had to face challenges as they have always tried to
slow us down and stop what we proposed. We are going to achieve it one day,
Arleen; we are going to achieve it one day!
AR: That
is to say, we are not giving up the dream of building the Cuban socialism of
the 21st century, as you were saying.
MDC: We
are not giving up on that.
AR: We
are now in the midst of a complicated situation, as you said at the beginning,
a situation where, for example, in the energy issue, the availability of
foreign currency is again complicated, it has slowed down the processes once
again; measures have been taken that have stopped important production
processes, science has been affected, strategic sectors, health, the production
of medicines. If you had to define it right now, how do you assess, compared to
other periods, the situation Cuba is going through now? What would you say to
the Cuban people in terms of the need to understand, to comprehend and to
contribute to the situation we are going through?
MDC:
First, an approach to the problem. For example, in the daily exercises we do to
analyze the situation, where we exchange ideas and criteria to understand what
we are going through and how to face it, most of our comrades agree that the
fundamental problem of the country is the low availability of foreign currency
because of levels of exports, because of the things that have been cut in
remittances, in credits (we are one of the few countries in the world that
works without credits). Other people have observed that the problem is of
production. I believe that the two problems are closely related.
It is
necessary to produce: if you do not create wealth you cannot distribute wealth.
Even worse because we aspire to distribute wealth in terms of social justice, growth,
social development, equity. Many of the processes to create wealth in Cuba
depend on certain amounts of foreign currency. So, there are two problems: we
are living at a time when production is very deteriorated, and we have low
availability of foreign currency. You can tell me: "It is impossible,
there is no way out of this situation".
Yes,
we can get out of it. There are reserves, there are productivity reserves,
there are savings reserves, there are things that can be done with a minimum of
foreign currency, and others can be done almost without foreign currency. What
happens is that we have to believe it. This is a political discussion; we are having
it now and systematizing it in exchange meetings held these days with the
provincial bureaus of the Party in each one of the territories. What we cannot
do is to give up the dreams of possible prosperity for our country, our people
deserve prosperity like no one else.
We
have to take advantage of the possibilities we have as a socialist state to
plan and distribute available resources to prioritize the production that at
this moment could give us more possibilities, and also to protect people who
may be in a situation of social disadvantage or vulnerability, preserving the
greatest possible social justice in these conditions.
We are
in a moment of contraction in the availability of foreign currency. It means we
buy less food, less inputs, less raw materials. This has an impact on social
sectors such as health, education and the production of medicines, which
continue to be a priority.
There
is a path of remittances that has gone to the illegal foreign exchange market,
and that illegal market, due to the inadequacies of the legal market which
cannot counteract it, has become a place where illegal exchanges are made, and
where they almost fix the exchange rates and fix the prices of the products.
All this, undoubtedly, brings imbalances in the economy.
AR: And
it causes migration.
MDC: And
it causes migration.
Translated
by ESTI
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