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Magali Llort Ruiz has passed away

3 years ago Granma, Translations,

Magali Llort Ruiz passed away(+Video)

Magali Llort distinguished herself for her firmness in defense of the principles of the Revolution.

Author: name | internet@granma.cu
September 23, 2021 16:09:42 PM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

September 23, 2021 16:09:42 PM

Magali Llort. Photo: Taken from the Internet

n the morning hours of September 23rd, Magali Llort Ruiz, mother of the Hero of the Republic of Cuba Fernando Gonzalez Llort, passed away.

Magali began her working life at the National Bank, where she started as a secretary. She was a union leader and reached management positions in the bank. In 1994 she retired and began working at the Union of Construction Companies of the Caribbean (Uneca) until 2000, when she actively joined the mothers and wives of the Five Heroes in the campaign for the release of the anti-terrorist fighters.

She was elected deputy in the VII Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power. The Commander in Chief, in a solemn act in the Karl Marx Theater on March 8, 2002, awarded her the Mariana Grajales Order, by agreement of the Council of State. She was also awarded the August 23rd Medal, an honorary distinction of the Federation of Cuban Women. Magali Llort distinguished herself for her firmness in defense of the principles of the Revolution. At the time of her death, she was a member of the Cuban Communist Party. At the request of her family, her body will be cremated.

 

Unseemly proposals: medicines “a la izquierda”

3 years ago Granma, Translations, ,

Unseemly proposals: medicines “a la izquierda”

Unfortunately, while some seek any remedy to survive the setbacks in the midst of a health crisis, there are those who take advantage of this misfortune to enrich themselves.

Author: Ventura de Jesús | internet@granma.cu
Date September 4, 2021@ 00:09:22 AM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Photo: Freddy Pérez Cabrera
One listens impassively, as if deaf, when someone mentions that a certain medicine, such as a Rocephin vial or an Azithromycin tablet, is quoted in the informal market at prices exceeding one thousand pesos.

This is a simple reaction, because this type of information is not always completely real. However, we are facing a sad truth.

According to the listings on digital platforms, there are other drugs that exceed 500 pesos, such as Cephalexin, Duralgina, Vitamin C, Ibuprofen, Amoxicillin, Paracetamol, Metronidazole, Tetracycline, Clotrimazole in ovule and Nasalferon, just to mention a few.

One knows that the real basis is the shortage caused by the obstinate economic blockade of a government that cannot stand us as a sovereign country, and hunts us down in order to hinder any attempt to buy medicines and the supplies [needed] to manufacture them -and then they say that it is not to death, that the war they are waging against us is not against the people-. This, together with the world crisis that has unleashed this pandemic.

However, no one can deny that, behind closed doors, the shortage situation is aggravated by the lack of administrative control over the flow of drugs, and by carelessness, irresponsibility and indolence.

In any case, it takes a hard face, and a human face like a rock, to approach a family that is fighting tooth and nail for the life of a loved one, and make the unseemly proposal of selling salvation at a sky-high price.

It happens that, overwhelmed by the illness of the family member, shaken by the desperation caused by the real risk of death, many people get away from what is decent and unceremoniously pay the shameless opportunists for the smuggled medicine or the one brought in duty-free from abroad and which was not authorized for legal sale. On the other hand, necessity means that no one takes the trouble to speculate on the origin of the drug, nor does anyone notice the clear malice of the gesture. It is like a reciprocal effect, the shameless one takes advantage and the needy one solves part of his problem.

On the subject, in recent days it became known that a woman from Matanzas is serving a six-year prison sentence for illicit drug trafficking, an unscrupulous practice which, we insist, has been accentuated in times of pandemic.

The aforementioned author of the crime managed to acquire in several units of the province the analgesic known as Tramadol, for its subsequent sale at an overprice, using the informal market in Havana.

The severity of the sentence also has to do with the fact that the said drug is among those that produce effects similar to drugs, narcotic and psychotropic substances.

After the investigation and the exhaustive review of the facts, the First Chamber of the People’s Provincial Court of Matanzas issued the sentence, which also included sanctions for other persons involved.

This issue, and its different aspects, has been addressed without failing to point out the undeniable link of this practice with the lack of control and supervision, especially within the pharmacies and the whole network of entities involved, in one way or another, with the distribution and sale of medicines.

Successive evaluations of the pharmacy system in Matanzas in less than a year have brought to light the disorder in those establishments, according to the local newspaper Girón. On the other hand, in only two units economic damages for a value of more than 107,000 pesos were detected, a sign of fissures in the organization of the processes.

Even so, no explanation can justify the transfer of high-demand medicines which, as it is known, are not enough to satisfy the demand of the population.

Unfortunately, while some seek any remedy in order to survive the setbacks in the midst of a health crisis, there are those who take advantage of this misfortune to get rich.

There must be an end to contemplation with them, commented in recent days the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, referring to this unacceptable procedure at the expense of human health.

Díaz-Canel at Mexican Independence Day

3 years ago Granma, Translations, , ,

Díaz-Canel: “Among all the brothers that Our America has given us, Mexico counts, for many reasons, as one of the most dear to Cuba” (+Video)

Address by President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez at the civic-military parade on the occasion of the celebrations for the anniversary of the Grito de Dolores. Mexico, September 16, 2021

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
September 16, 2021 1:09:34 PM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Díaz-Canel recalled that “Mexico was the first country to recognize our armed struggle and to open its ports to ships flying the Lone Star flag”. Photo: Estudios Revolución

(Shorthand Versions – Office of the President of the Republic)

Dear Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of the United Mexican States;

Distinguished guests;

Dear Mexico:

Thank you for the opportunity you give us to bring Cuba’s grateful embrace to your beautiful patriotic celebrations for that Grito de Dolores that aroused so much libertarian eagerness in our region more than 200 years ago.

Among all the brothers that Our America has given us, Mexico counts, for many reasons, as one of the most dear to Cuba.

That affection that unites our lands begins with the dazzle caused by its deep and diverse traces in the literature and history of America:

“How beautiful is the land inhabited by the brave Aztecs!” said the Cuban José María Heredia in the Teocalli of Cholula, opening a fascinating door to that Mundo Nuestro, much earlier than that of the terrible conquest that began centuries later, with unrestrained slaughter and destruction, the Spanish troops coming from Santiago de Cuba, under the command of Hernán Cortés.

But no one would tell us more about Mexico than José Martí. I quote excerpts from his memorable speech delivered at the evening in honor of this country at the Hispanic American Literary Society in 1891: “(…) today we gather to pay honor to the nation girded with palm trees and orange blossoms that raises, like a flourish of glory, to the blue sky, the free summits where the whistle of the railroad awakens, crowned with roses as yesterday, with the health of work on the cheek, the indomitable soul that sparkled in the embers in the ashes of Cuauhtémoc, never extinguished. We salute a people that melts, in the crucible of its own metal, the civilizations that were cast upon it to destroy it!”.

Later, referring to the significant date we commemorate today, Martí said: “Three hundred years later, a priest (…) summoned his village to war against the parents who denied the life of soul to their own children; it was the hour of the Sun, when the adobe huts of the poor Indians were shining through the mulberry trees; and never, although veiled a hundred times by blood, has the sun of Hidalgo stopped shining since then! They hung the heads of the heroes in iron cages; the heroes bit the dust, with a bullet in the heart; but on September 16 of every year, at dawn, the President of the Republic of Mexico cheers, before the people, the free homeland, waving the flag of Dolores”.

Due to its characteristics, the Mexican independence process, which began with the Grito de Dolores, led by Father Miguel Hidalgo on a day like today in 1810 and was consummated 11 years later with the entrance of the Trigarante Army in Mexico City. It had a notorious component of social and indigenous demands that differentiated it from other processes that typified the independence era. Its impact was, without a doubt, extraordinary in the libertarian and anti-colonialist struggle in our region and particularly in Cuba.

It gathered ancestral aspirations of entire peoples that inhabited the territory, not only in Mexico, but also in Central and South America and the Antilles. It vindicated all poor Creole sectors -white, black and mulatto- submerged in misery, hunger and exploitation, and opposed the slavery of the blacks.

The broad popular presence had a decisive influence in its radicalization and in the realization of important social and political demands, which constituted an immense inspiration and encouragement for our independence movement.

There are many notable Cubans who left their blood and their names in the history of Mexico. The Cuban solidarity in Mexico’s confrontation with the Texan invasions in 1835-1836 and the North American invasion of 1846-48 stands out, especially the generals Pedro Ampudia, Juan Valentín Amador, Jerónimo Cardona, Manuel Fernández Castrillón, Antonio Gaona, Pedro Lemus and Anastasio Parrodi.

In March 1854, Cubans Florencio Villareal and José María Pérez Hernández launched the historic Plan de Ayutla, which was decisive in the rupture of the Mexican army and society with the dictatorial government of General Santa Anna.

As confirmed by the prestigious researcher René González Barrios, several of those men held key positions in Mexican political-military life and were governors or military commanders in important places in the country.

Two of them, Major Generals Anastasio Parrodi and Pedro Ampudia Grimarest were Ministers of War and Navy in the government of Benito Juarez during the Reform War.

In the Congress, the Government, in exile or in the war at Juarez’s side there were always Cubans. Prominent compatriots such as General Domingo Goicuría y Cabrera, and poets Juan Clemente Zenea and Pedro Santacilia, who was his son-in-law, secretary and agent of the Republic of Cuba in Arms before the Mexican Government, praised his magnificent work.

In the war against the French, the brothers Manuel and Rafael de Quesada y Loynaz, general and colonel respectively, served the Mexican army; colonels Luis Eduardo del Cristo, Rafael Bobadilla and Francisco León Tamayo Viedman; doctor commander Rafael Argilagos Gimferrer and captain Félix Aguirre. All of them would return to Cuba at the beginning of the Ten Years’ War.

It was Mexico, then, the first country to recognize our armed struggle and to open its ports to ships flying the Lone Star flag. The Congress approved it, Juarez pronounced it and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, President of the Republic in Arms, thanked him in a memorable letter to his Mexican counterpart: “…[it is] highly satisfactory that Mexico has been the first Nation in America to have thus manifested its generous sympathies to the cause of independence and freedom of Cuba”.

One of the main tasks that Pedro Santacilia would then fulfill, with Juarez’s consent, was to send to Cuba a select group of Mexican soldiers to contribute to the formation and training of the nascent Liberation Army. Mexicans shone in the fields of Cuba and their prowess inspired the troops and all those who heard about them.

Once again, the Father of the Cuban Homeland left a record of that dedication in a letter to the “Benemérito de las Américas”. Céspedes wrote: “Some Mexican gentlemen have come here and have shed their generous blood on our soil and for our cause, and the whole country has shown its gratitude for their heroic action”.

Two of those brave Mexican soldiers, veterans of the Reform War and the battle against the French Empire, reached the rank of Brigadier General of the Cuban Liberation Army and were part of its main chiefs: José Inclán Risco and Gabriel González Galbán.

Dear friends:

Because of that endearing memory that we share, we are moved and inspired by these acts that revere history and we return again and again to each line written for Mexico by José Martí, who forever links our two nations in all his work, but especially in his letters to his great Mexican friend Manuel Mercado.

It is also to that soul friend to whom he leaves in an unfinished letter, his resounding political testament: the will consecrated to the objective of “preventing in time, with the independence of Cuba, the United States from spreading through the Antilles and falling, with that force more, on our lands of America”.

Years before, on his way to Veracruz, Martí wrote: “O beloved Mexico, O adored Mexico, I see the dangers that surround you, I hear the clamor of a son of yours who was not born of you! From the North, an avid neighbor is curdling (…) You will be ordered; you will understand; you will be guided; I will have died, O Mexico for defending and loving you!”.

Here died for the Revolution, the young communist Julio Antonio Mella, assassinated in a street of this same city where Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro Ruz would meet, years later, through his brother Raul.

It was here that the young people of the Centennial Generation trained and organized their expedition. Here they forged friendships and affections that still endure and were immortalized in a song that is like a hymn of those epic times: La Lupe, by Juan Almeida Bosque.

From that Mexican period, among many others, the names of María Antonia González, Antonio del Conde, El Cuate, key in the acquisition of the Granma yacht; Arsacio Venegas and Kid Medrano, professional wrestlers who gave physical training to the troops; Irma and Joaquina Vanegas, who offered their house as a camp, will remain forever in Cuban history.

The passage of Fidel and his companions through Mexico left a deep impression on the future Granma expeditionaries and an accumulation of legends everywhere that are still spoken of with admiration and respect.

We will never forget that, thanks to the support of many Mexican friends, the Granma yacht set sail from Tuxpan, Veracruz, on November 25, 1956. From that historic vessel, seven days later, on December 2, the newborn Rebel Army landed to liberate Cuba.

Nor do we forget that, just a few months after the historic triumph of the Revolution in 1959, General Lázaro Cárdenas visited us. His willingness to stand by our people after the mercenary invasion of Bay of Pigs in 1961 marked the character of our relations.

Faithful to its best traditions, Mexico was the only Latin American country that did not break off relations with revolutionary Cuba when we were expelled from the OAS by an imperial mandate.

Throughout the years, we have never broken what history has indissolubly united. Our two countries have honored their sovereign policies, regardless of the closeness or distance between governments. A very Mexican principle prevails: respect for the rights of others is peace.

There is unquestionable merit in those who have dedicated life and energy, heart and soul, to nurture that brotherhood with the tenderness of peoples. I pay tribute here to the sustained, invariable, passionate and firm solidarity that we always find in this land, which all Cubans must love as our own.

It was said by the Cuban Apostle, who also drew with his colorful prose a faithful portrait of this generous people when he declared: “As from the root of the land comes to the Mexican that character of his, shrewd and stately, attached to the country he adores, where through the double work of magnificent Nature and the brilliant touch of the legend and the epic, the order of the real and the romantic feeling come together in their rare measure”.

From those words until today, the common heritage built by an infinite list of prestigious intellectuals and artists of both nations has not ceased to grow. We are united by literature, cinema, visual arts, bolero and mambo.

It could be said that the significant cultural exchange between Mexico and Cuba reaches all manifestations of culture in its broadest meaning, inasmuch as it is no less influential the relationship in sports, especially, baseball and boxing, where the connection is so natural and deep that at times the exact origin of works and facts is lost and we must conclude that it comes from both.

Friends:

For these and other reasons, which do not fit in a necessarily brief speech, it is a great honor to participate in the military parade commemorating the beginning of the struggle for Mexico’s independence and to express our feelings before your Government and your people.

I do so conscious that it is a recognition of the historical ties and brotherhood existing between Mexico and Cuba, a genuine token of appreciation, affection and respect for which I am deeply grateful on behalf of my people.

The decision to invite us has an immeasurably greater value at a time when we are suffering the onslaught of a multi-dimensional war, with a criminal blockade, opportunistically intensified with more than 240 measures in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, which has such dramatic costs for everyone, but particularly for the less developed countries.

We are facing, in parallel, an aggressive campaign of hate, disinformation, manipulation and lies, mounted on the most diverse and influential digital platforms, which ignores all ethical limits.

Under the fire of that total war, Mexico’s solidarity with Cuba has awakened in our people a greater admiration and the deepest gratitude.

Allow me to tell you, dear President, that Cuba will always remember your expressions of support, your permanent demand for the lifting of the blockade and for the annual United Nations vote to be converted into concrete deeds, something that your country has fulfilled in an exemplary manner towards our people.

We are deeply grateful for the aid received in the form of medical supplies and food to alleviate the combined effects of the economic harassment and the pandemic.

Mexican sisters and brothers:

In the face of the complex epidemiological situation facing the world, solidarity and cooperation among our peoples takes on greater transcendence.

For this reason, our health professionals and technicians did not hesitate to accompany the Mexican people whenever necessary. And we will do it again whenever they need it.

We recognize the excellent work carried out by Mexico at the head of the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States, a mechanism of genuine Latin American and Caribbean vocation aimed at defending the unity in the diversity of Our America against the neoliberal recolonization project that is trying to impose on us.

As Fidel expressed in an act of Cuban-Mexican friendship held on August 2, 1980: “We will not tolerate anything against Mexico! We will feel it as our own. We will know how to be faithful to the friendship forged by centuries of history and beautiful common principles!

Long live Mexico!

Long live the friendship between Cuba and Mexico! (Applause.)

Mexico was the only Latin American country that did not break relations with revolutionary Cuba when we were expelled from the OAS by an imperial mandate, said Díaz-Canel. Photo: Estudios Revolución

Parade for the 211th anniversary of the Grito de Independencia of Mexico. Photo: Estudios Revolución

Border Opening Begins as of November 15

3 years ago Granma, Translations,

Cuba’s borders will be gradually opened as of November 15

Considering the progress in the vaccination process in Cuba, its proven effectiveness and the prospect that more than 90% of the entire population will complete their vaccination schedules in November, conditions are being prepared to gradually open the country’s borders as of November 15, 2021.

Author: Granma internet@granma.cu
September 5, 2021 21:09:18 PM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

New sanitary protocol measures at José Martí airport adopted to José Martí, Boyeros. Photo: Endrys Correa Vaillant

Taking into account the progress in the vaccination process in Cuba, its proven effectiveness and the perspective that more than 90% of the entire population will conclude the vaccination schedules in November; conditions are being prepared to open, gradually, the country’s borders as of November 15, 2021.

According to a note from the Ministry of Tourism sent to our editorial office, health and hygiene protocols will be made more flexible upon the arrival of travelers, which will be focused on the surveillance of symptomatic patients and the taking of temperature. In addition, diagnostic tests will be performed randomly, PCR will not be required upon arrival and travelers’ vaccination certificates will be recognized.

The domestic tourist market will also be opened gradually, in accordance with the epidemiological indicators of each territory.

 

Recovering from Hurricane Ida (+Video)

3 years ago Granma, Translations

“Now we have to put up with the hurricane, with effort and will” (+Video)

The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, together with members of the Government team, carried out an extensive day of work this Sunday in the province of Pinar del Río and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud to assess the damages caused by Hurricane Ida in both territories, amid the complexities imposed by the COVID-19.

Author: Yaima Puig Meneses | internet@granma.cu
August 29, 2021 11:08:26 AM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Díaz-Canel’s tour of Pinar del Río and Isla de la Juventud
Photo: Estudios Revolución

The way in which the damages caused by Hurricane Ida are being restored shows that there is coherence, capacity and organization, said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, at the end of an intense work tour yesterday afternoon, as part of which he arrived early in the morning in the province of Pinar del Río, and in the afternoon, in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.

Accompanied by the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, as well as by a representation of the country’s government team, the Head of State was able to verify at different points of both territories the progress in the clean-up work, the recovery of the affected planting areas, the restitution of the main services that were interrupted and the response that is beginning to be given to the quantified damages in the houses.

The work that has been carried out,” he said, “shows that there is a spirit in our people to overcome adverse situations caused by events of this type. This, he emphasized, gives us confidence and optimism to be able to move forward in the midst of so many difficulties that we have had to face in recent times; furthermore, it is an expression of unity and understanding of the problems we have and that we must continue to face.

Photo: Revolution Studios

BETWEEN THE ONE-WAY COMPLEXITIES AND THE PANDEMIC

“Now, none of the products that have been recovered should be lost”, was one of the main ideas reiterated by the President in Pinar del Río, when he exchanged views with producers whose crops were affected by the hurricane.

It is precisely in agriculture that the greatest effects of the meteorological phenomenon in the province have been observed. Preliminary data, offered by Governor Rubén Ramos Moreno, speak of 687 tons of yuca and 551 tons of plantain, as well as losses of boniato and pumpkin. Everything that could be recovered -he assured- was sold to the population.

While touring areas of the Hermanos Barcón productive pole, one of the main ones in Pinar del Río province, the Head of State insisted to producers and managers on the priority to work to achieve a short-cycle planting strategy, which will allow for the availability of more products, the immediate recovery of plantain plantations and an increase in harvest and replanting.

No time can be lost in planting,” he stressed, “because this is a good time to take advantage of the moisture left by the rains. One of the great challenges, he stressed, is to achieve greater diversification of crops, which will make it possible to meet the food demands of the population today.

During the meeting with the main authorities of the province, he also reported on the damage caused to houses by Hurricane Ida. Preliminary figures showed that 148 buildings were affected, two of which were counted as total collapses and 109 with partial losses in their roofs. It was reported that since the Recovery Phase was declared, the movement of resources to different places began in order to respond as soon as possible to the situation of the properties.

Regarding the reestablishment of the electric service, it was learned that the arduous work that has been carried out had allowed, in the morning hours of yesterday, the recovery of almost 70% of the damages. According to what was explained by the Minister of Energy and Mines, Liván Arronte Cruz, five workgroups from the provinces of Havana and Matanzas will arrive in the next few hours to reinforce the recovery work.

Regarding the rainfall, the authorities of the territory expressed that it was mostly beneficial, especially in the municipalities of San Juan y Martínez and Isabel Rubio.

In the midst of the new complexities left to Pinar del Río by Hurricane Ida, the Head of State insisted on not neglecting for a moment the actions to confront covid-19 in the territory, which during the last days has shown high levels of transmission of the disease.

Ariel Godoy del Llano, provincial director of Public Health, commented that in recent days there has been a decrease in the number of people with symptoms in health institutions. More than 4,000 people remained at home this Sunday, which is a great challenge. He also referred to the vaccination of the population over 19 years of age in the main municipality and in population groups at risk in the other municipalities, which is a guarantee to advance in the protection of people and reduce the rates of infection.

Díaz-Canel’s tour of Pinar del Río and Isla de la Juventud
Photo: Estudios Revolución

WORK HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT IN AN ORGANIZED AND RAPID MANNER

“Here we have worked in an organized and fast way”, said the President in an exchange with inhabitants of La Fe, one of the main towns of the special municipality, where the Government team arrived after midday this Sunday.

After touring several areas affected by Ida’s ravages, the President insisted that we cannot let ourselves be defeated by the weather conditions. That is why we also ask for your cooperation to restore in the shortest possible time, he stressed. “Now the hurricane we have to put it ourselves, with effort and will; that is what we are calling you to.”

As the coronavirus continues to be a challenge, even on the Isle of Youth, where the spread of the epidemic has been successfully contained, the First Secretary asked the Pineros to “continue taking care of yourselves, because, although you are the best territory in the country in confronting covid-19 and have maintained a rigorous control, you cannot neglect yourselves.”

In conversation with producers, the government team found that the main damages in this sector occurred in crops such as banana, pumpkin and pumpkin fruit. There was no loss of animals in the different farms, where only the roofs of the buildings were damaged. So far, said Mayor Adiel Morera Macias, 136 tons of recovered products had been sold to the population, including two tons of beans.

At midday on Sunday, some 9,700 customers remained without electricity service.

9,700 customers, especially in the areas of La Fe and La Demajagua, where 46 poles were down. According to estimates made in the municipality, by the end of the day between 90% and 95% of the service would be restored.

At the headquarters of Empresa Eléctrica, the President was informed of the reestablishment of more than 70% of the service in the special municipality. In the town of Gerona, 99% of the damage was restored and in La Fe, 79%. The Minister of Energy and Mines assured that the priority during the first hours was the service to the houses and the one that guarantees the water supply.

According to the Pinero Intendant, the greatest damage to housing is concentrated in light roofs, with partial damage to 141 properties. The work of the community factors in the popular councils will make it possible to count everything.

Photo: Estudios Revolución

MUCH REMAINS TO BE DONE

The President, shortly before concluding the day on the Isle of Youth, commented on the characteristics that distinguished the weather phenomenon. The first of them, he said, is that it was an event that passed through the country in a very short time, therefore, the passage to each of the phases was very hasty, which demanded an additional effort from the leadership bodies for the confrontation. On the other hand, particularly in Pinar del Río, actions were taken with disaster reduction plans already updated by the pandemic.

These singularities demand more precision, coherence and effort. And both Pinar del Río and Isla de la Juventud, including Artemisa, which was also affected, responded quickly. “The main value is that there is no loss of human lives to be regretted”.

In view of the fundamental damages that occurred, especially those related to the distribution of electric energy, which were almost total in both territories, the President highlighted the agility with which they have worked to solve them.

He acknowledged the efforts made to maintain the health services in the midst of the weather conditions. He especially emphasized the effort, in the midst of the hurricane, to support oxygen coverage, which demanded meticulous joint work with the National Management Center.

Regarding what was appreciated in the two territories, he considered very important the actions for the collection of solid waste in the roads and communities. We have seen an atmosphere of willingness among the population to participate, he said.

These days were also full of teachings and lessons learned. In this sense, he gave as an example the way in which the damage caused to houses have been taken care of. It contrasts,” he said, “with that in recent years where we have been able to provide a faster recovery response, with the fact that the solution for people who have been waiting 12 years or more for a response and are living in temporary facilities, something very stressful for the life of a family, has been relegated to the back burner. This is an issue that we have to prioritize in the housing plans, even if we are a little late in the new buildings. These are things that we have to take care of and to which we have to give a different vision, he said.

With satisfaction, he highlighted what has been done in both territories, which prevented the consequences from being greater. There is still a lot of work to be done and, therefore, we must also put our hearts into dealing with the effects of the hurricane.

Decree-Law 35 and All Cubans’ rights

3 years ago Granma, Translations, ,

Decree-Law 35: Cuba’s rights and those of  all Cubans (+ Video)

Our State has the necessary tools to preserve your security, as well as the inalienable and sovereign right to regulate telecommunications and information and communication technologies, which play a significant role in the political, economic and social development of our country.

Author: National Newsroom | internet@granma.cu 
August 20, 2021 12:08:06 AM

Translated by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Cuban applications for mobiles

Photo: Dunia Álvarez Palacios

Information and communication technologies (ICT) constitute an already historical component of aggression with extreme doses of manipulation and hatred by the US Government against Cuba.

Radio was the first medium used against our nation. One of the most concrete examples was the airing, in 1960, of La Voz de América (VOA), the central organ in the media attack against the nascent Cuban Revolution. Less than a month later, Radio Swan, renamed Radio America by the CIA, swept through the ether after the defeat of the mercenary invasion of Playa Girón in April 1961 and the total discredit of the station. They followed in his sad footsteps in this dirty war Radio Martí (1985) and Televisión Martí (1990).

In the age of the internet, the White House has allocated millions of dollars in funds for subversion projects mounted on technology, and for which it created a Task Force destined to promote anti-Cuban leaders and strategies in cyberspace.

Our State has the necessary tools to preserve your security, as well as the inalienable and sovereign right to regulate telecommunications and information and communication technologies, which play a significant role in the political, economic and social development of our country. They constitute an effective means for the consolidation of the conquests of socialism and the well-being of the Cuban population.

This is precisely what the legal package whose approval was officially announced in April 2021 refers to. It was not born, as our enemies insist on making believe, in response to the riots of last month.

But it has been Decree-Law 35 On telecommunications, information and communication technologies and the use of the radioelectric spectrum, out of all the rules contained in the Ordinary Official Gazette No. 92 of August 17, 2021, which it has generated more reactions… and misrepresentations.

  • The establishment of rights and duties of the users of public telecommunications/ICT services, as expected, caused the alarm of the anti-Cuban machinery, which works precisely against what Decree-Law 35 faces in the defense of Cuba:
  • the use of telecommunications / ICT services to undermine security and internal order in the country;
  • the transmission of false reports or news;
  • the motivation for actions aimed at causing harm or damage to third parties and as a means of committing illegal acts;
  • the realization or incitement to transmit offensive information or harmful to human dignity;
  • the emission of sexual, discriminatory content, to generate harassment, and damage personal and family privacy or one’s image and voice; the identity, integrity and honor of the person;
  • and the call for actions against collective security, general welfare, public morality and respect for public order.


WHY WAS DECREE-LAW 35 NECESSARY?

The first of the general objectives of this Decree-Law is to contribute to making the use of telecommunications services an instrument for the defense of the Revolution, which is not to the liking of the historical enemies of our country.

But it also seeks to promote the use of ICTs for development, to strengthen sovereignty in the use of the radioelectric spectrum; and ensure citizen access to telecommunications services and constitutional rights; in particular the principle of equality, privacy and secrecy in communications.

In ten titles and 129 articles, Decree-Law 35 also addresses how to guarantee an efficient use of the limited resources of telecommunications / ICT; how to integrate research, development and innovation in the sector for the evolution of networks, equipment, devices, appliances and services; as well as how to preserve the development of human capital associated with the activity.

READ CALM, AND WELL

A look at this legal norm allows us to highlight some elements of great value for citizens. In Title I, which addresses the object, general objectives, scope and institutional framework, in Chapter 2, it is specified that the State Council or the National Defense Council, as the case may be, provides for the implementation of special national or regional, for the management of the radioelectric spectrum in case of exceptional situations, such as military maneuvers, situations of radio-electronic espionage of the enemy, and other circumstances related to national security and defense, as well as internal order.

Title II, which is the object of the greatest number of attacks, also includes the rights of telecommunications users, operators and providers, among which is to access all public services under conditions of equality and affordability and to receive them with quality and efficient, equitable and non-discriminatory treatment.

It is, in addition, to receive the guarantee in the services provided, have free and priority access to emergency services, access to truthful, sufficient and timely information on goods and services provided by operators and suppliers, as well as of its prices or rates, billing and its facilities, and obtain the due compensation for the interruption of the service that is contracted.

In accordance with the legislation, citizens must receive timely information on the effects on the service, they have the right to use terminal equipment other than those offered; and to make requests, complaints, claims … and that they are duly attended to and answered.

Title III, Chapter 1, highlights that private telecommunications services are only provided to third parties with the authorization of the Ministry of Communications; and that public services in this area have priority over private ones.

In the case of amateur radio services, it explains that they are governed by the regulatory provisions established for them, and the specific frequencies that are authorized are used, through a general permit.

In its content, Title V, on the Universal Telecommunications Service, it is clear that the State must preserve and progressively guarantee compliance with the obligations of the Universal Telecommunications/ICT Service with respect to the fixed and mobile telephone service; internet access; sound and television broadcasting; access to public telephones; to free emergency and distress calls; and the application of preferential rates for people with special needs.

Likewise, through Title VI, focused on human capital and science, technology, research, development and innovation activities in the telecommunications / ICT sector, the ministries and other organizations are encouraged to establish actions to encourage access to the resources that allow adequate education, training and professional improvement.

Related information

Meeting with our President at the FMC

3 years ago Granma, Translations,

 

Impressions of a meeting with our President at the FMC (+ Video)

Karima Oliva Bello | internet@granma.cu
August 15, 2021

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

The President spent much of the time he had to speak (because we spoke more) explaining what it means to lead a country that is blockaded and attacked by the media. At the same time, he reaffirmed what has always been the maxim of this Revolution, to move forward in spite of the blockade, not to stop in front of it.

As it happened to me when I had the opportunity to exchange views with Deputy Minister Johana Odriozola, I realized that managing the economy in the midst of a war like the one we are living through, without applying a neo-liberal adjustment package, requires tremendous effort and inventiveness, and is extremely complex.

Johana told us: “It is as if they wake up every day and say, how are these people still breathing? And wherever they find a vent, they plug it up”. The President confirmed this when he told us that we have just received important help with oxygen, which is so badly needed, “but I won’t say where it comes from, because if I do, they block it”.

Faced with this, I contrasted how easy it is to sit down to write with the aim of discrediting, sometimes even from other latitudes, without any real difficulty, prescriptions of what the President, or this minister or this organization or the other should do. It requires a tremendous dose of arrogance. It is good to give an opinion, but a little humility would be good for all of us as long as we do not cease in the exercise of criticism.

I noticed the commendable work done by so many people on a daily basis to move this country forward, in silence, women leading the industry, the police, science, agriculture, the National Program for the Advancement of Women. I realize the sterility of so many discussions in social networks that are exhausted in who is right about one issue or another, while so many work hard in all fields, including the social sciences, with much work and less words and vanity.

There is a very strong struggle in Cuba between the oppression and hopelessness produced by so many years of toil due to economic shortages and the desire to move forward with all the fairness that the Revolution has meant. This is a dramatic expression of the class struggle. It is the resistance to the violence of imperialism, concretized in advancing over the economic terrorism that is done to us. And, in short, as Ileana Macías says, “In my neighborhood, if there is food, nobody cares about anything else”.

Cuban women have emancipated ourselves tremendously. However, the tears there, of some of them, denounce that this equality has cost us to go head-on against a patriarchy that we have not yet managed to banish completely. We women have been the most important pillar of the Revolution because not only did we advance towards every trench in the vanguard, but also because we did so without ceasing to support the houses of all in the rearguard.

Those were the words cried by the one who coordinates an important working commission of the FMC in defense of women’s equity. The National Program for the Advancement of Women is perhaps one of the most advanced public policies proposed by any state in the world in this field.

In Cuba, any woman, regardless of age, profession, income level, skin color, feels entitled to speak to her President without any protocol whatsoever. To tell him what she thinks and feels without any filter. That is rare in a world like the one we live in, where most presidents come to power to represent the interests of untouchable elites.

There I did not see one more candidate in a clientelist play to capture votes. I saw a man seriously concerned about capturing the ideas and feelings of all, to fully assume his responsibility to the country, with a collective leadership style. For those who are so concerned about dialogue and democracy, the system is in very good health in that sense, although it also has important challenges ahead.

Popular wisdom sees: it knows how to differentiate between what is fair and what is not, because dignity and life are at stake. Ileana went from La Güinera to there, not to be right or to say the last word, she went to speak for her neighborhood and to ask for it. That is the wise thing to do and that is what she said. We are facing a leadership style of a vocation to listen and serve a collective project, a style inherited from Fidel’s school and unprecedented in today’s world.

This exercise of dialogue with various sectors of the population, of the highest leadership of a country, in fact, its President and also First Secretary of the PCC, speaks of a feature of Cuban socialism that has much to show the world in terms of democracy.

Let us bear witness to this, because the hegemonic media will not tell it. It is clear that I am not avoiding in this recognition the awareness of all the democracy that is still missing. We need to be in spaces like this so that the mirage of the fracture of consensus and the disintegration of the social fabric that we imagine in our rhetoric does not prevent us from seeing reality.

Florida: Pandemic’s Epicenter in the U.S.

3 years ago Granma, Translations, , ,

Florida: Epicenter of the Pandemic in the U.S.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of this week, this territory has registered almost 25% of the hospitalizations due to COVID in the whole country, despite the fact that Florida represents only 6% of the total population of that nation.y

Author: Elson Concepción Pérez | internet@granma.cu
August 10, 2021 23:08:21 PM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

General view of a crowded beach in South Beach, Florida. The state accounts for nearly 25% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. Photo: Reuters Photo: Reuters

If truth, not interference and hatred, prevailed in our world, a “humanitarian intervention” would be called for right now in the state of Florida, the current epicenter of the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

That territory, unfortunately, is the site of nearly 25% of the nation’s COVID hospitalizations this week, despite the fact that Florida represents only 6% of the nation’s total population.

Also of concern is that Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county with some 2.7 million people, has been the number one county for infections and deaths throughout the pandemic and remains so today.

However, after Florida reached 21,683 new cases this Saturday, the state governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, continues to resist issuing an order for the mandatory use of masks and the requirement of vaccinations by employers.

But there’s more: Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio noted on Twitter Monday that there is a “hysteria” by the media regarding COVID, “because bad news sells.” And he stated, “The real story here is how, for fully vaccinated people, the risk of serious disease appears to be close to zero.”

However, data from the Johns Hopkins University show that Florida is the third state in number of cases and the fourth in number of deaths in the entire United States, the country most affected by the pandemic in the world, with more than 35 million infected and 613,000 deaths, as of March 1, 2020.

To give a more complete picture of the situation in the nation, some 72,000 children and adolescents contracted the disease in the week of July 22-29, a figure five times higher than in the previous month, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. And 20,000 of these cases are in Florida.

Now, what is the other reality that can be observed today in the territory: On the one hand, what has been described above and which reflects how the COVID-19 with its new Delta variant is hitting the Floridian population, and on the other hand, the Republican government there, as is also the case in Texas, is adopting resolutions so that the inhabitants, including children, do not use masks or have to apply social distancing measures, as warned by health authorities.

Next week, students in that state will resume classes in person, and the use or not of masks by students is also part of the political debate, an aspect that has become a business, since parents who do not accept such measures are encouraged to transfer their children to private schools, where regulations could be more flexible.

Therefore, it should not be surprising that in Florida and, specifically, in Miami, the beaches are crowded with people, mostly children and young people; that bars and other entertainment centers are open and that this is the other side of a reality that, unfortunately, is already lethal.

In this situation, White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, declared that while 25% of the hospitalizations in the country are in Florida, the governor (DeSantis) has taken steps that go against the recommendations of Public Health. She added: “The situation is too serious, deadly serious, to act in a partisan manner.”

What proposals for a solution would be given by those who, right there in Florida, have asked President Joe Biden for a humanitarian (read military) intervention against Cuba. Or is it that the dead and the infected in Florida do not count when it comes to politicking, as Marco Rubio and other feverish promoters of hatred, the blockade and the attacks against our Island do.

NYT: No Evidence of Sonic Attacks

3 years ago Granma, Translations, , ,

 
The New York Times reaffirms what Cuba has denounced so many times: there is no evidence of sonic attacks (+ Video)

The statement came after a meeting convened by the Director of National Intelligence, Avril D. Haines, with the intention of evaluating the investigations carried out on the alleged sonic attacks on State Department officials, CIA officers and their families.

Author: Raúl Antonio Capote | internacionales@granma.cu
August 10, 2021 00:08:29 am

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Sonic attacks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The saga of the so-called “Havana syndrome”, used by extreme right-wing elements in the US and the Cuban-American mafia to justify a hardening of policy towards Cuba, and to reinforce the idea that Russia and China constitute a threat to world security, is once again in the news.

As reported Monday by The New York Times, “the United States lacks the evidence to blame other nations for the existence of sonic attacks against its citizens inside or outside the country”.

The statement followed a meeting convened by the Director of National Intelligence, Avril D. Haines, to evaluate the investigations into the alleged sonic attacks on State Department officials, CIA officers and their families.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, present at the meeting, stated that these “unexplained health incidents” are a high priority, although there is no evidence to indict any country without any certainty that microwaves are the cause of the illnesses.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/08/us/politics/havana-syndrome-attacks-mystery.html

The Cuban Church Together with the People

3 years ago Granma, Translations

The Cuban Church will continue founding together with the people

The President of the Republic held a sincere and collegial dialogue with members of the Council of Churches of Cuba and ecumenical leaders of the country. This is the first meeting of others to be held in the future with leaders of religious institutions and fraternal associations.

Author: Yaima Puig Meneses | internet@granma.cu
August 7, 2021

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Meeting with Religious
Photo: Estudios Revolución
An open and sincere dialogue was held by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with members of the Council of Churches of Cuba and ecumenical leaders. The exchange became a space for gratitude, homage, faith, commitment, participation, learning, reflection and hope.

With them, Cuba will also continue to found. And just as Cuba will do, “the Cuban Church will also continue founding together with our people”, a certainty not only expressed by Joel Ortega Dopico, executive secretary of the Council of Churches of Cuba, but which in many ways marked the essence of more than a dozen interventions that nuanced the debate.

The President of the Republic summoned them to do and found together. It was a little more than three hours in which he was seen listening attentively to every word; taking notes again and again in his agenda; nodding; explaining doubts; inquiring about community projects that really contribute to the neighborhoods; opening ways to solve obstacles that hinder a better performance….

We can still improve and expand harmony, constantly building a lot of trust and the possibility of talking, discussing, debating, even if we do not always agree on the same thing, reflected the Head of State.

From the conviction that together it is possible to create and do more, he thanked everyone for taking the time to attend the meeting and express sincerely “what they feel”. It is tremendous -he said- their willingness to participate in the construction of our society “from all the experience they have and from all the contributions they make”.

“We are going to look for spaces in which you can contribute and participate, so that you can be with us in them and also so that you can teach us, because you have many things to teach, which have already been developed in all these years”, he ratified.

As part of the dialogue, necessary and contributing, the President thanked the prayers that, as those present told him, they make for him and his government team. In detail, he shared with them significant elements of the current situation of the country and the latest events.
A situation that he defined as extremely complex, and at the same time challenging; in the challenges there is also a charm, -he pointed out- and a way of seeing life to look for the capacity of response, encouragement, encouragement, and to go to a better moment, he trusted.

For that -he added- we have to continue multiplying everything that is efficient and contributive, what gives us harmony, usefulness and beauty, discarding what is inefficient, what hinders, what is bureaucratic, what is corrupt.

We need to reinforce the attention in the neighborhoods, and there we count on you. We know about the projects you have developed, the concept of popular education you have worked on, and we hope to be able to multiply your experiences and enrich everything we do with your participation, he emphasized.

In the meeting, which is the first of others to be held with directors of religious institutions and fraternal associations, as part of a permanent link with them that the country’s leadership has maintained during these years, the Head of State acknowledged the historical legacy of those who preceded him, whose path “we want to continue”.

He thanked them for their condemnation of the blockade in different scenarios and how they have defended Cuba’s position before their counterpart churches in the world. I believe that there is a coincidence between what you have proposed and what we want to do,” he said.

Photo: Estudios Revolución
He also spoke at length about the epidemic caused by the COVID-19 and how the country has been facing it for almost 17 months. The first concept, he assured, “has always been to save people’s lives, with whatever it takes…”

Challenges, future projects, shortages, changes in routines, solidarity and willingness to do, were deeply discussed during the day. From the respect for individual beliefs and dialogue, very useful ideas were born and more than one left with “assigned tasks”.

SERVE, PARTICIPATE, DO…

Serving the people and actively participating in the life of society and the Homeland have marked the course of the Council of Churches of Cuba, in its 80 years of foundation, Joel Ortega Dopico, its executive secretary, was heard to say proudly and firmly.

“Throughout these years of Revolution and throughout Cuba’s history, the Council and its predecessors have actively participated in the life of our society and our Homeland,” he evoked. Then, he listed some of the many scenarios in which they have also left their mark: the clandestine struggles in the Sierra; the literacy campaign; the actions for the return of Elián and the Five; the battles against the Bloqueo…..

With the latent emotion for the symbolic and transcendental exchange, he spoke to Díaz-Canel with the frankness of one who knows he is “taken into account”, and confided to him his expectation that the day of this August 6 marks a before and after in the strategy of the Cuban ecumenical movement with the leadership of our Revolution.

We have -he said- to go to the level of Frank País, to the level of Faustino Pérez, of those comrades who gave their lives, and here we are now, to reaffirm that we are also a continuity of their work.

With the certainty that there are many issues still to be addressed to truly achieve the transformation that the nation demands, the Executive Secretary of the Council of Churches of Cuba referred to the necessary self-criticism, the pending rectification, the profound review of methods and styles of work that clash with the will to serve the people, the bureaucracy, the obstacles and the insensitivity of some that are so damaging. These are realities, I trust, which unfortunately the church has not been able to escape either.

How can we ensure that the church and religion become more and more part of the processes of participation in the changes we are experiencing? He asked himself and in turn asked the audience, to gradually string together ideas that ratified the importance of “seeking ways of dialogue so as not to stigmatize positions. There are cracks that we have to heal together”.

“…is the church we want to be, to be a church for our people…”

“Brother President,” Carlos Ham Stanard, pastor of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, then told him, “here we are, as part of Cuba, to reaffirm our vocation of service, to continue in the dialogue, in the struggle, in the work, and we hope to continue in this process of dialogue, mutually enriching each other.”
Without pretending to boast about his actions, because they have only had the purpose of “being useful”, the also Rector of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, told how in the institution an extension of the pediatric hospital was enabled, where 1500 patients were attended, in 47 days of service: 900 children and 600 parents and companions.

Those were days of great concern,” he acknowledged, “but also of defense, of fighting for life, and of great satisfaction in being able to serve our people on this front, fighting for life.

Joel Suárez Rodés, executive coordinator of the Collegiate Coordination of the Martin Luther King Memorial Center, spoke about the need to summon and add so that everyone feels part of it; to understand that today’s society is not like the one of 20 years ago, that it is diverse, complex, and has a multiplicity of actors.

Photo: Estudios Revolución
We ask to be convened more, especially in relation to labor and social policies for the attention to vulnerability, he suggested to the First Secretary of the Central Committee. “It is necessary to create a wide corridor to save this Homeland… and it is up to the Party leadership to motivate it…”

Dialogue cannot be imposed, it has to be born from the territory, from the place where people are doing, not saying, he considered.

Díaz-Canel then spoke about granting participation to all, of integrating, of convening. That, he said, we are able to build it and we would be many more contributing, participating. He was joined by members of the Political Bureau Manuel Marrero Cruz and Roberto Morales Ojeda, Prime Minister and Secretary of Organization and Cadre Policy of the Central Committee, respectively; as well as Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, member of the Secretary of the Central Committee, and Caridad Diego Bello, head of the Office of Attention to Religious Affairs of the Central Committee.

First of all, the 15 participants in the meeting who took the floor spoke about their gratitude and considered it a privilege to be able to “meet with our authorities and deal with issues of common interest”.

Regarding the obstacles and bureaucracy that prevent the quick entry into the country of medicines and other supplies necessary for the work they carry out in the communities, they also commented to the Cuban President, who assured them that many of these issues would be resolved immediately. The decision to create an office within the Government to deal with issues related to religious institutions will contribute greatly to open roads and make solutions feasible.

A cornerstone of the interventions was also the need to consolidate the existing spaces for dialogue, not only to talk about “things that concern us, but also to present solutions”; that they become systematic spaces, not temporary, in which to give continuity to the issues and see the answers to the proposals.

With the church we have the duty to work for the unity of our people and we have done it from our messages, with our relatives, friends, people that we have seen that they are wrong, explained Lydia Aguiar Batista, vice president of the Council of Churches of Cuba and vice president of the Sovereign Grace Church.

To embrace, respect and take advantage of the diversity that defines today’s Cuba, called Dora Arce Valentin, pastor and moderator of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church. We cannot reject diversity, she insisted, we have to see that diversity as a gift, as something that enriches society.

That is the Cuba we want, a Cuba where its families are diverse, where they assemble in the way they can, that they want, that they know, (…) because that is how we want Cuban society to be, and in that sense we can be counted on.

Representatives of the Christian youth, “that present that builds the country and the world”, were also heard as a light. From their experiences, they also spoke of participation and the enormous challenge of feeling part of the construction of a better Cuba, in the most diverse scenarios.

“That the religious sector be present in the dialogues with the youth, because from our spirituality and our faith we also have a contribution to those dialogues”, requested to the Cuban President Dianet Martínez Valdés, secretary of the Student Christian Movement for Latin America.

It is up to us now to nurture that unity from this country that we are and to celebrate the diversity that we are. It is up to us, as a church, to be mediators, to be conciliators, said Kirenia Criado Pérez, pastor of Los Amigos Church.

“Cuba is the center of my life, but reconciliation is the center of my task, and I believe that today it is our turn to have reconciliation as the center of our task and we offer ourselves as a church, because of this experience we have lived, to be a space for reconciliation there in the neighborhood, there in the church, there in the smallest communities, to work in these spaces of reconciliation that are so important.”

The intimate moment of reflection then turned into a tribute in which President Diaz-Canel received a wooden cross, a plaque and a Bible from the hands of Rhode Gonzales and Raul Suarez, former presidents of the Council of Churches of Cuba. Similar gifts were also presented to the rest of the members of the presidency.

For the 80th anniversary of its foundation, a recognition was given to the Council of Churches of Cuba, which has historically maintained an attitude of respect, social participation and commitment to the Revolution. Signed by the President of the Republic, this honor was received by the Vice President of the Council of Churches of Cuba, Lydia Aguiar Batista.

In this memorable meeting, the President of the Republic also conferred the Second Degree Felix Varela Order to Pastor Raul Suarez Ramos, pastor emeritus of the Ebenezer Baptist Church of Marianao, protagonist of that historic meeting with Fidel in April 1990.

From the integrity and courage of his years, he was heard saying among emotions: “Raúl Suárez did not retire, he is in full jubilee, which means joy and happiness, which is what has given us this meeting and the next ones we will have”.

Likewise, said decoration was granted post mortem to the Very Reverend Pablo Odén Marichal Rodríguez, a man of light who did a lot for the unity in revolutionary Cuba.

“Dispose and count on what we have, for whatever you wish for the benefit of the nation”, Marcial Hernandez Salazar, president of the Free Evangelical Church, had said a short time before.

And for the benefit of the whole nation, those present then joined in a prayer for life, and prayed together, because from our diversity our many strengths are also born.