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Translations, mostly from Spanish to English. Mostly edited and posted to the Web by Walter Lippmann. Translations prior to August 2015 can be found here.

US Govt November provocation

3 years ago CubaDebate, Translations, , ,

cuba-debate

The United States government is the true organizer and promoter of the provocation mounted for November (+ Video)

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Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

The Round Table transmitted a special presentation by compañero Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, as part of the public complaint made by the First Secretary of the Party at the closing of the Second Plenary Session of the Central Committee on the plans of the US government and its political operators in Cuba to try to overthrow the Revolution.

At the beginning of his statement, he recalled the words of the First Secretary of the Party in the conclusions of the II Plenary of the PCC:

“Now they appear with a supposed peaceful march. It is nothing more than an escalation in the way of acting against the Revolution and a challenge to the authorities and to the socialist rule of law endorsed in our Constitution; (…) It is a provocation as part of a “soft blow” strategy. Its purposes coincide with the main lines of attack, slander, lies and threats used by those financed by the United States Government who oppose the Cuban political system and try to destabilize it and restore capitalism.

“We are not going to legitimize the imperialist actions in internal politics or give way to the desire for neocolonial restoration that some have accumulated and that are reinforced in crisis situations. It is not an act of civility, it is an act of subordination to the Yankee hegemony ”.

Special remarks by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party. Photo: Abel Padrón Padilla / Cubadebate.

The Head of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee recalled that between September 20 and 27, a small group of citizens delivered similar texts to the headquarters of the municipal or provincial governments of eight provinces of the country announcing the decision to hold a supposedly peaceful march. .

“He underlined ‘the decision to hold a march’ because it was not a request: the holding of this march was being taken for granted. The action was conceived with a national scope in evident coordination by its promoters ”, he emphasized.

Later it was referred to as on October 12, the authorities of the municipalities where the aforementioned documents were delivered , gave a personal response to the senders. “On that occasion, the precise arguments were offered on the illegal nature of the march according to articles 56, 45 and 4 of the Constitution.”

“Among the reasons expressed, it was clearly established that the public projections of the promoters and their links with subversive organizations or agencies financed by the United States government have the manifest intention of promoting a change in the political system in Cuba, so that the the announced march constitutes a provocation as part of the regime change strategy tested by the United States in other countries,” he said.

Polanco Fuentes drew attention to how as soon as the march was announced, it received public support from US legislators, political operators and the media that encourage actions against the Cuban people, try to destabilize the country and urge military intervention. “It is something recurrent and permanent as these media and political operators from the United States urge military intervention in our country,” he said.

The Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba said that from the beginning it was evident that it was a destabilizing plan orchestrated from abroad through internal political operators with violent intentions.

“Faced with the challenge of the promoters of the provocation in their attempt to ignore the refusal of the authorities, on October 21 the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic at its headquarters in several provinces began a process of warning these citizens; stating that if they did not comply with the authorities’ decision, they would incur the crimes of disobedience, illegal demonstrations, instigation to commit a crime, and others provided for and sanctioned in current criminal legislation ”.

In this sense, he explained that the action of the Prosecutor’s Office was based on article 156 of the Magna Carta, which establishes that “it is the State organ whose fundamental mission is to exercise control of the criminal investigation and the exercise of criminal action. on behalf of the State, as well as ensuring strict compliance with the Constitution, laws and other legal provisions by State bodies, entities and citizens ”; as well as Law 83 of 1997 “Law of the Attorney General of the Republic” in its article 7.

A new chapter in the Unconventional War against Cuba

It is evident that we are facing a new chapter of the unconventional war, the soft coup or the manual of non-violent struggle that the United States has carried out during contemporary times in several countries, Polanco Fuentes pointed out.

“Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Venezuela are some of the examples where these unconventional war actions have been carried out. There is sufficient doctrinal information on how the United States has carried out these actions “

As explained, circular TC-1801, one of the main documents of the United States Special Forces, urges taking advantage of the possible vulnerability of the government to overthrow, distance itself from the population, displace the portion of the citizenry that acts in a neutral manner to positions against them, to exploit these elements through subversion and when this does not lead to the desired strategic results, resort to armed conflict, through the promotion of the insurgency.

“For that they use all the elements of the model, the economic and psychological point of view, actions of subversion, as well as the massive use of information and communication technologies with the aim of overthrowing those governments with a lower economic cost, political and military ”.

In his speech he referred to his personal experience in Venezuela, a country where he served as a diplomatic official. In this sense, he recalled that in 2013, 2014 and 2017 the so-called guarimbas were developed. These were violent actions by representatives of opposition sectors in Venezuela to overthrow the Bolivarian government that caused innumerable economic and human damage to society.

“There is a report from the Venezuelan state ‘The truth of Venezuela against infamy: data and testimonies of a country under siege’ published in September 2020 that has elements that are related to the actions that are intended to be carried out in our country. This report states that the total number of deaths during the violent protests in February 2014 was 43 people, while in the protests from April to July 20174 the Public Ministry registered 121 deaths and 1958 injured, however, in relation to the protests of 2014 the then secretary of states of the United States John Kerry issued a statement in which he affirmed that “the demonstrations were peaceful and accused the Venezuelan government of confronting peaceful protesters by force,” he said.

“A detailed examination, says the report, of the events that occurred reveals that most of the demonstrations provoked and promoted by opposition leaders between April and July 2017 were carried out in violation of current national and international legislation. These demonstrations led to actions of extreme violence characterized by the use of firearms, Molotov cocktails, mortars and homemade weapons, the placement of barricades, death traps on public roads, damage to institutions, schools, health centers, and siege against military and police facilities. There were three unprecedented practices in the recent history of the country: setting fire to people designated as supporters of the government, using children and adolescents to prepare firebombs,guarding barricades and attacking the security forces, as well as the combination of high levels of violence with religious and patriotic symbols ”.

The official also highlighted how the report itself acknowledged with concern the fact that the media intended to present these events as peaceful demonstrations. “Some here are beginning to look for so-called non-violent methods of struggle to obtain advice and carry out some of these actions in Cuba.”

Special remarks by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party. Photo: Abel Padrón Padilla / Cubadebate.

Abundant funding for subversion

Regarding financing for subversive actions in other countries, he warned that it has been a systematic practice of the governments of the United States, which is why a network of institutions with multimillion-dollar funds has been created.

He emphasized that among the emblematic institutions are the NED and USAID. Polanco recalled that the first was born in 1983 within the so-called Democracy Project to openly do what the CIA had been developing for decades in a covert manner. “The objectives of the NED have always been political subversion and the so-called regime change from a network of organizations that promote courses, events, awards, scholarships, the foundation of NGOs, think tanks, foundations and university centers.”

In his presentation, he explained that among those organizations born in Latin America is CADAL (Center for Democratic Aperture in Latin America) , which is part of a wide network of non-governmental organizations that the United States uses to finance and channel financing. for its political operators through the NED and USAID.

“There are many public references to the financing of the NED to CADAL as part of the tentacles for the framework against progressive processes in Latin America and other parts of the world. The NED awarded CADAL $ 107,000 in 2017 and $ 100,000 in 2021 for the project called “A regional approach to promote democratic values ​​in Cuba.”

The links between the United States and its political operators in Cuba

He revealed that two Cuban citizens are part of the generous beneficiaries of the funds of these US organizations: Manuel Cuesta Morúa and Yunior García Aguilera, signatories of the documents delivered to the Cuban authorities regarding the intention to carry out marches in various cities of the country.

Both, he explained, traveled to Argentina in 2018 to participate in an event of this CADAL organization coordinated by the project “Times of change and the new role of the Armed Forces in Cuba.”

Among the objectives of this course, Polanco pointed out, were to give continuity to the FAR stadium to transmit possible scenarios and supposed future allies to activists, cooperate with Cuban actors in order to link with members and former members of the FAR open to change processes. “The subversive, conspiratorial and coup intentions of these projects are clear. You have to be delusional to make a dent in the dignity of our undefeated Revolutionary Armed Forces ”, he prevailed.

The Cuban politician denounced that both CADAL and its director Gabriel Salvia have been very active in supporting the provocations for next month in Cuba.

“In 2019 Cuesta Morúa and García Aguilera continued their preparation in a workshop sponsored by the Universidad San Luis Campus Madrid. There they received lessons from Richard Youngs, an expert on public protests as a method of political change ”.

As Richard Youngs points out, riots are increasingly a major route through which ordinary people seek to achieve social, political and economic transformation. “Protesters must make tough decisions, do they just disengage from politics or build new kinds of civic campaigns? Do they join existing political parties or do they move away from mainstream politics altogether?

The Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba listed that among the new types of civic campaign are the so-called political prisoners, violence, the formation of organizations, as well as the creation of conditions to carry out new demonstrations and the proclamation of new dates for these mobilizations. Actions are also promoted to evade police control and prevent police forces from preserving peace in the country.

He added that the Cuba Money Project website revealed that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded at the end of September about $6,669,000 dollars for subversive projects in Cuba, out of a total of $18,000,000 that it can allocate until 2023. for these purposes.

“Among the main beneficiaries are the Cuban Democratic Directorate, led by Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, which has received $617,500, as well as the media created for the media campaign against Cuba, including ADN Digital with $2,031,260 and Cubanet $783,000. There are more than 70 million dollars that were dedicated during the Trump administration for subversion, to which should be added the more than 100 million the broadcasting office for Cuba of the misnamed Radio and Television Marti ”.

These organizations, he said, have served as financing for politicians and mercenaries living under the generous spill in Washington. He also recalled that these organizations continue to receive support and funding from the United States authorities, the State Department, the National Security Council and the Embassy in Havana, as denounced by the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. of Cuba in the recent plenary session of the party organization.

The United States is the organizer of the provocation

“The United States government is the true organizer and promoter of the provocation mounted for November, the facts and statements prove it. They have not taken care to hide it. Senior government officials participate directly in its conduct ”, he stated.

Special remarks by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party. Photo: Abel Padrón Padilla / Cubadebate.

Similarly, he added that recently the US government threatened new measures against Cuba, if the local operators of its anti-Cuban strategy are not allowed to act with impunity in the country, as stated in an interview by Juan González, director for Western Hemisphere affairs of the National Security Council. He pointed out that his administration will act if Cuba processes the organizers of the march “Cuba does not accept threats, nor is it intimidated. Our history of resistance and dignity confirm this ”.

“Save your threats as our people say. Nor are we surprised by the support for this alleged march by violent organizations and notorious terrorists of the anti-Cuban mafia and the hate-generating media center in Miami. We have all witnessed that since it was announced by its organizers, the march received the public and notorious support of US legislators, political operators and the media that encourage actions against the Revolution, ”he highlighted.

The enthusiastic support of Miami’s anti-Cuban mafia

Polanco stated that tweets, statements, resistance assemblies and other frenzied actions that have occurred these days in Miami, as if the actions were to take place in that city. “Regime change, government overthrow and military intervention” are once again the prevailing narrative in South Florida. Among the most fervent have been some of the congressmen, already known, as active promoters of the blockade and its subversion against Cuba and defenders of the violent riots of July 11.

Among the first to speak is the reconverted terrorist Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, who has declared that this action will serve to overthrow the regime. This is the head of the so-called Cuban Democratic Directorate, leader of the self-styled Assembly of the Resistance. On December 4, 2020, after the events of November 27, he advocated an armed intervention in Cuba to overthrow the government. After July 11, he has repeatedly called for military intervention in the country.

The USAID and the State Department have awarded the organization at least $6,970,979 from 2006 to 2019, public records show. This character coincides in some platforms for the capitalist restoration in Cuba that have a certain academic profile with one of the promoters of the supposedly peaceful march

Another of the march’s enthusiasts is the Cuban-American National Foundation, the spearhead of anti-Cuban policies since the 1980s. Besides being the organizer of numerous terrorist acts against Cuba and several attempted attacks against Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz. In 2019, this foundation received $1,385,637 dollars of US taxpayer money to “empower Cuban civil society to build a lasting democracy in Cuba that is free from human rights violations, by improving awareness, the effectiveness of civil society on the island, in non-violent activism and facilitating training materials, communication equipment and technical knowledge ”. These days on its Facebook page, the foundation is giving guidance – he pointed out – on how to go and what to do in the supposedly peaceful and independent march.

One of the promoters of the violent provocation, Polanco indicated, is the Cuban citizen Saily González Velázquez who recently recognized the support of the Cuban-American National Foundation through its human rights director, Omar López Montenegro.

The alleged marchers also have the encouragement of the mercenary network of Brigade 2506, whose president on duty declared in Miami that “with these steps, an explosion will be promoted within Cuba, so that new us brothers take to the streets and this lead us to the collapse of the regime ”. These are the external political operators who call for overthrowing the Revolution, violence and chaos.

Special remarks by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party. Photo: Abel Padrón Padilla / Cubadebate.

The head of the Ideological department in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba warned that another of those who is applied among the promoters of the provocation is the terrorist Ramón Saúl Sánchez, whose violent record is such that he has not even been able to receive official asylum in the States United, although he has never stopped having the protection of its authorities.

“He has been linked to a dozen terrorist organizations since he was 16 years old, including the Organization for the Liberation of Cuba, Omega 7, Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), Alpha 66, National Front for the Liberation of Cuba, Youth of the Star and the Democracy Movement. With Alpha 66 he participated in more than 20 terrorist acts, mainly against ships and diplomatic missions ”, denounced Polanco Fuentes.

It also indicated that Ramón Saúl Sánchez was the second head of CORU, an organization that carried out more than 90 terrorist attacks against Cuban facilities in various countries, including within the United States. The most notorious was the bombing of the Cubana de Aviación plane over Barbados, where 73 people died.

Documents dated between 1979 -1982 link this terrorist to the attack on the Cuban Interests Section in Washington and the repeated assassination attempts on the then Cuban ambassador. “The so-called Democracy Movement has been a promoter of flotillas that have violated Cuban territorial waters on several occasions,” Rogelio Polanco revealed.

Provocation is doomed to fail

“The provocation of November 15 is doomed to failure, it was never authentic. Its attempt to cover itself with some legality is a perverse manipulation. The Constitution of the Republic is a genuine creation of the people, there is no plot that it can hide. The promoters of the alleged march follow the Yankee script, carry out their orders, surround themselves with violent men and terrorists and dream of carrying out their destabilizing actions with impunity,” he said.

With our first party secretary and president of the Republic of Cuba we proclaim that “there are enough revolutionaries here to confront with intelligence, with respect and in defense of our constitution; but also with energy and courage any manifestation that tries to destroy the Revolution ”.

On November 15, he said, Cuba will open its doors to the world and will also open schools to children, that explosion of joy, happiness and hugs so far contained by the hard months of the pandemic. That is the joy that the promoters of hatred intend to frustrate, “but they will not be able to prevent Cuban mothers from enjoying that sublime moment of accompanying their children to the classrooms, nor the tender smiles of the teachers with the return of their longed-for students. They will not be able to prevent Cuba’s triumph in the face of the pandemic thanks to their own vaccines created with the ingenuity of scientists trained in Revolution. Vaccines made possible by the visionary thought and action of Fidel, founder of a genuinely Cuban biopharmaceutical industry ”.

“They will not be able to prevent the transition towards a new normality, a responsible normality that will allow us to gradually open up our economic and social life in the coming weeks. They will not be able to prevent the feat of Cuba, of its health professionals, of its workers, of its youth, of an entire people that in creative resistance advances optimistically over colossal adversities. They will not be able to prevent Cuba’s victory in the face of subversion and the criminal blockade of the United States, intensified in the midst of the pandemic, which magnifies our glorious epic ”, he pointed out.

Like our National Hero José Martí, whom some seek to outrage with their neo-annexationist pretensions, we proclaim “… What should true lovers of the country do…? We are here to prevent the enemy from cornering the standard-bearer, or the flag falling into the wrong hands:… Here we are vigilance and love, cordiality and sentinel, passion, reasoned by judgment, of everything that bears the name of decorum. Cuban”.

These are our reasons, the reasons of Cuba!

[No English subtitles in this 45 minute video.]

Revolution’s strength is in the neighborhoods

3 years ago Granma, Translations

The Revolution’s strength is in the neighborhoods (+ Video)

The President of the Republic arrived this Friday to La Timba to appreciate the resuscitation actions that have been carried out there for a few months. This time he was accompanied by the first secretaries of the provincial committees of the Communist Party and the first secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Party in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, who are in Havana to participate in the II Plenary Session of the Central Committee

Author: Yaima Puig Meneses | internet@granma.cu

October 22, 2021 16:10:43

Translated by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

The First Secretary of the Party and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called on the residents of La Timba to continue and not stop in everything that is being done in this vulnerable neighborhood. Photo: Revolution Studios

From a balcony the child’s voice overcame the noise of the patching equipment and the bustle of the people. The President heard him. He slowed his pace. He turned his face away. He raised his hand in greeting and smiled back at the boy.

The hustle and bustle continued in La Timba, one of the 65 neighborhoods that are part of the transformation experienced by deep places in the Cuban capital, and one of which the Head of State arrives every week.

This Friday, the visit there of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party had a sui generis company: together with him, the 15 secretaries of the provincial committees of the Party in the country and the secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Party in the municipality walked streets and citadels special Isla de la Juventud, who are in Havana to participate in the II Plenary Session of the Central Committee.

The president shared with them the experience that has multiplied in Havana since July, with the challenge of “extending to the entire country, taking into account the particularities of each territory.”

The tour had begun at the Gustavo Pozo elementary school, where the first secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Party in Plaza de la Revolución, Leira Sánchez Valdivia, spoke to them about the development challenges that distinguish the municipality, including the management of differences that are generated in an environment where large buildings and 53 citadels converge.

«In La Timba a dream is being built; now we are at a starting point that will continue to give us content to work more, “he said, and then detailed about the 47 works in which constructive actions are carried out, all of high interest to the population, such as the winery, various markets , the family doctor’s and nurse’s office, a post office, and more.

La Timba’s road structures were well defined since its inception, but the neighborhood “has grown disorderly” over the years and its streets require extensive paving and patching.

In the midst of these tasks, the President toured the community, greeted the small groups of workers, asked them about the works and continued to advance: in recent months here, more than 300 tons of asphalt have been used in patching actions and they have repaired almost 150 cubic meters of sidewalks.

“With these actions and later, when all the buildings and properties are painted and repaired, the streets have another life,” Díaz-Canel told a group of neighbors, whom he called “to continue and not stop in everything that is doing”.

Are you aware of the priorities? Do you agree? ”He asked again and again as he advanced through the busy crowd, which barely stopped to greet him.

Thank you, President! Thanks, mijito! Thank you! ”Were phrases that some shouted from afar and others –those who, no matter how fast or well located, could bump fists with the president– would burst out at him when they were close to him.

La Timba is a people that trusts in its Revolution, that is grateful. Mayra Arevich Marín, Minister of Communications – the organization that sponsors this neighborhood – reminded Díaz-Canel how in the first days of beginning the resuscitation work in the community, she thought that the people would never join. That was only at the beginning, he said, then the participation overflowed all spaces.

 

MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL PRIORITIES

Because among the priorities defined by the community are the ways to initiate actions, one of the most important that is currently being carried out in La Timba is aimed at the conservation and maintenance of buildings, the construction of new homes for people who they live in critical condition, and the rehabilitation of citadels with their infrastructures.

More than a thousand families in the community –with some 4,000 inhabitants– will benefit from some of these actions. The President wanted to know about it, without any reports, retracing the streets and “asking permission” to break into the humble homes that today are filled with hope.

In the eventfulness of the journey, it was impossible to keep track of how many homes he visited. He entered, walked, filled the neighbors and builders with questions, left, advanced on the journey, and again the cycle was repeated. Each family has a story to tell, and in each family singularities can be discovered, which also help to solve many problems in the country.

La Manigua is a cultural and creative center that runs in the heart of La Timba, and aims to become an innovative space, where girls and boys can learn, experiment and have fun with Cuban history, art and culture, through the humor and the values ​​of Juan Padrón’s work.

Near the place of the constructive actions, Silvia Padrón, daughter of the revered Cuban cartoonist, explained to Díaz-Canel that the place will be the materialization of “a dream that my father had, of seeing his work transcending the world of cartoons, where the children could interact with her, experiment and connect ».

Then this idea came up, “which is a gift for the Cuban family; It will be very connected to La Timba, but it is a gift for the whole city. The idea is that the people who come can, based on the values ​​of the work itself, connect with the best of being Cuban and enjoying the game. This is what this site is all about: people are going to learn by playing, having fun.

Thus, during the tour, Díaz-Canel and those who accompanied him were able to learn about different community projects that are developed and implemented in La Timba, including one that they have decided to call Entimbalao, and that has come to life in a park, where adolescents and young people play sports with skateboards.

Here the boys themselves have participated with their opinions in the design of the park, and according to the leader of the project, once completed, it will also contribute to improving the quality of life in the neighborhood and expanding recreational offers.

The tour concluded at the Plaza Cultural Center. There, a fruitful exchange between President Díaz-Canel and the party leaders who accompanied him took place, along with them also the member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization and Politics of Cadres, Roberto Morales Ojeda; the Minister of Communications, Mayra Arevich Marín, and the Governor of Havana, Reinaldo García Zapata.

For more than an hour, useful experiences were shared from that stage that ratified the urgent need for resuscitation actions carried out in capital neighborhoods to reach all the country’s territories.

Among other issues, Díaz-Canel spoke then of joint work, always listening to what the community wants and needs as a key to strengthening this experience and making it sustainable over time. He underlined the importance of fostering public debates, where the population participates; the transparency of the procedures; hone the role of the delegate; and assume with ever more sensitivity the problems that exist in our communities.

And because “the strength of the Revolution is in the neighborhoods,” the First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee insisted on constantly looking at them and learning from the many lessons that the people always leave us.

To the inhabitants of the community, who were waiting for his departure from the Cultural Center to greet him, the Head of State asked to continue working as they have done so far: together with the organizations that have arrived to support them.

That everything we do – he added – is because you propose it and you need it. “There are many problems and we cannot solve them at once, but every day we are going to be tearing a bit out of each one, and thus we are going to move forward,” he explained.

In them he left the challenge of “supporting that everything is done with quality and nothing is violated that are motivations and aspirations of the population in the neighborhood.”
TEN MORE PHOTOS: 
https://www.granma.cu/cuba/2021-10-22/vuelve-diaz-canel-a-la-barriada-capitalina-de-la-timba

VIDEO: Seven minutes

Mandatory quarantine ends November 7

3 years ago CubaDebate, Translations, ,


Cuba eliminates mandatory quarantine of international travelers upon arrival in the country from November 7 (+ Video)

By: Lissett Izquierdo Ferrer, Journalist from Cubadebate. Graduated from the University of Havana (2014). She worked at the Cuban News Agency from 2011 until September 2018. Contact: lissett@cubadebate.cu
October 19, 2021
Translated by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

As of November 7, the mandatory quarantine of international travelers upon arrival in the country is eliminated. Photo: Ariel Ley Royero / ACN.

The 10 international airports are already ready for the reopening of the Cuban borders on November 15, Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García Granda reported on Tuesday at the International Press Center.

“It will be a controlled and staggered reopening, with the guarantee that in the next month more than 90% of the population will have the complete vaccination scheme,” he said and commented that in the last 15 days there has been a decrease in the number of positive cases to covid-19, with the same behavior in all provinces.

García Granda specified that as of November 7, the mandatory quarantine of international travelers upon arrival in the country is eliminated.

Other measures announced by the minister:

  • By day 15, the border entry PCR is eliminated.
  • All travelers (Cubans or foreigners) who enter the country must present a health passport or international anticovid certificate of those vaccines certified by the corresponding regulatory agencies.
  • Those who do not have these documents are obliged to present a covid-19 negative PCR certification at the arrival of the country with no less than 72 hours before traveling, carried out in a certified laboratory in the country of origin.
  • Epidemiological surveillance of international sanitary control will be maintained at all entry points, as well as in hotel facilities, for which medical assistance is strengthened with the location of basic health equipment in the facilities themselves.
  • Children under 12 years of age, regardless of their nationality, will be exempt from presenting a vaccination schedule or PCR test upon arrival in Cuba.
  • The presentation of the Declaration of Health of the Traveler (Affidavit of Health) will be required for all those who arrive in the country.
  • The mandatory use of the nasobuco is maintained within the air and port terminals, as well as throughout the country.
  • To board the flight at origin, airlines will require their passengers to provide evidence of a vaccination scheme or a negative PCR test applied within 72 hours beforehand.
  • The International Sanitary Control staff will randomly take samples for PCR at the airport.
  • Any traveler who arrives in the country and shows signs and symptoms of covid-19 or another communicable disease will be referred to a health institution and a PCR test will be performed.
  • The owners of rental houses or people who host non-resident travelers in the country are responsible for immediately informing the corresponding health authorities of the appearance of any symptoms that they present.
  • The health areas in the community will maintain epidemiological surveillance of tourists staying in private homes.
  • For Cuban travelers residing in the country, the obligation to appear at the family doctor’s office or health area is restored within a period of no more than 48 hours after their arrival, to be followed up by the family doctor.
  • All Cuban travelers residing in the country, if not vaccinated, will be performed an antigen test on the seventh day of arrival in their health area and if they present symptoms, they will be treated as a suspected case.
  • The protocols in the facilities are reinforced: the use of the mask in closed places and in the presence of other people, physical distancing, constant sanitation, hand disinfection measures, taking temperature and others.

 

The minister recalled that workers in the tourism sector and workers in transport, customs, immigration and aviation, together with those of Public Health, were among the first to be vaccinated, and it was agreed that before November 15 they would be vaccinated. apply a booster dose.

“We work for a responsible recovery of tourism in Cuba: All the facilities that will provide service will have the Tourism + Hygienic and Safe certification, guaranteeing compliance with the sanitary protocols established by Public Health”.

García Granda highlighted that a second training cycle is currently being developed on hygienic-sanitary protocols in the tourism sector, with the participation of state and non-state workers.

Varadero opens its doors to domestic tourism from next October 25

 

Varadero opens its doors to domestic tourism from next October 25. Photo: Ismael Franciso / Cubadebate.

As they announced in a press conference, as of November 15, the domestic market, complying with the established protocols, will be able to fully enjoy the country’s tourist offer.

The minister announced that starting next Monday, October 25, the Varadero tourist center will receive domestic tourism and the marketing of all open facilities is authorized , including those that operate today for the international market, such as Cayo Santa María, Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo.

The owner specified that there are provinces such as Matanza and Havana whose tourist facilities already receive customers, and “as inter-provincial and inter-municipal mobility increases and taking into account the situation of each territory, this activity will grow.”

“We are in a favorable moment of de-escalation, which means to begin to recover our customs, to be able to visit relatives and go on vacation, as well as to recover the economic activity of the country, not only in the state sector, but also in the non-state sector.”

Cuba expects to receive 100,000 international travelers in the remainder of the year

 

The 10 international airports are already ready for the reopening of the Cuban borders on November 15. Photo: Ariel Ley Royero / ACN.

According to the minister, so far this year some 200,000 travelers have entered the country, and another 100,000 are expected before the end of 2021. “It is a challenge, because it depends on how the markets react, but we are optimistic.”

“We do not think that on the 15th (November) the country will be full, but we estimate that we can have an early winter,” he predicted.

The owner said that since the announcement of the opening of the Cuban borders, a great expectation has been created among tour operators and airlines and thanked the commercial partners for their confidence in the Cuban destination.

“Our expectations have been exceeded, because the tour operators of the traditional destinations in Cuba have requested more requests than planned.”

There are, he said, requests for flights from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and from other European countries, as well as from Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic, essential to connect the markets of the Southern Cone and some European customers who are in those Destinations.

As for Russia, he specified that it plans growth for the winter season and announced that it has already been authorized to fly from different cities in that country to Cuba.

García Granda pointed out that today there is air connectivity through the regular lines that have historically flown to the Island, such as Air France, Iberia, Air Europa, and charter flights with Evelop. Recently “WorldToFly was incorporated, in which we have placed a lot of trust”.

For its part, Cubana de Aviación will soon resume its traditional routes to the markets of Argentina and Spain, said the minister and argued that for those customers who wish to come from Asian countries and the Pacific area, they can do so through Turkish Airlines, which has restored frequencies to Havana.

Regarding flights from the United States, the minister emphasized that Cuba is open to all countries, “no one is discriminated against,” and it is even expected that American airlines will be among those that will rejoin when the borders are reopened. “There will be the option of traveling to any of the 10 international airports, everything will depend on what they are allowed to do.”

Asked about the losses suffered by the sector due to the pandemic , García Granda recalled the impact that tourism activity has on the national economy and said that currently the focus is on reversing the situation as soon as possible. “More than looking back, looking forward; how much more needs to be done to attract travelers; what must be foreseen so that the level of satisfaction is higher ”.

Tourist offer will have 4,000 new rooms

 

The minister informed that 4,000 new rooms will be incorporated and asserted that the country is open to more negotiations, air operations and even to cruises from any destination.

In these last two years, he commented, the sector has taken the opportunity to increase e-commerce and its necessary infrastructure, as well as to increase “the participation of all economic actors that complement and enrich the tourism product and enable new life experiences for those of us. they visit ”.

Likewise, he added, work is being done on the possibility of offering Cuban anticovid vaccines to international visitors.

  • At airports, the client will have access to free WiFi for 30 minutes.
  • The facilities have improved their comfort, and those with a five-star category already guarantee Internet connection from the rooms, public areas and beach areas, while working in four and three-star hotels.
  • New platforms and APKs are incorporated to serve the client in airports, transport and hotel facilities.
  • The information will be digitally available and online payment facilities are enhanced.

The owner recalled the ban on using the US dollar in cash in Cuba, and reiterated that transactions may be carried out in freely convertible currencies authorized in the country such as the Canadian dollar, the euro, the British pound, the Japanese yen and the Mexican peso. .

For months, prepaid cards in freely convertible currency (MLC) have been available, which can be purchased by tourists in the exchange offices of airports, marinas and tourist areas, and used to pay for services in Cuban territory.

These cards are valid for two years and the amount that the traveler has not spent upon leaving the country will be reimbursed if he wishes.

Prepaid cards available in freely convertible currency (MLC). Photo: Ariel Ley Royero / ACN.

 

“We work for a responsible recovery of tourism in Cuba.” Photo: Ariel Ley Royero / ACN.

On video, press conference


https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1059060618236269

What Adele looks like now

3 years ago Juventud Rebelde, Translations,

JuvReb

What Adele looks like now and what her new album will bring us

The British diva is working on a new album, and has issued statements about her makeover and upcoming plans

Author: Juventud Rebelde|digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Posted: Saturday 09 October 2021 | 10:33:28 am.

Adele has posed for Vogue, as part of the promotion of her new album. Autor: Pictwitter Publicado: 09/10/2021 | 10:32 am

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

British singer Adele has revealed details about the recording of her new album, 30, whose lyrics will be very attached to her divorce process and personal self-improvement, according to international media.

Adele, in addition to impressing with her renewed slim image, has confessed to several media that she became addicted to exercise several years ago and assured that all the diets that were invented using her image are false. It was physical activity that made her lose 45 kilos and she also talked about the role that her divorce played in her transformation.

The 33-year-old Brit recently starred on the cover of Vogue magazine and referred that exercise helped her fight an anxiety disorder.

“It was because of my anxiety. By exercising, I felt better. It was never about losing weight, it was always about getting strong and spending my time every day without my phone. I became pretty addicted. I exercise two or three times a day,” she revealed, Sputnik news quotes her as saying.

It has been almost six years since Adele released 25, her last studio album. Thus, her return to music has become one of the most celebrated events in the music industry so far this year.

“I feel like this album is self-destruction, then self-reflection and then sort of self-redemption. But I feel prepared. I really want people to hear my side of the story this time,” the singer has said.

(With information from Sputnik news and Vanguardia)

Argentine solidarity in defense of Cuba

3 years ago CubaDebate, Translations,

cuba-debate

Argentine solidarity prevents action against Cuban embassy in that country (+ Video)

October 13, 2021

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Last Monday, October 11, from the most recalcitrant of the Argentine right wing and the small group of Cubans residing in the country who adhere to the so-called Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life), an attempt at an attempted attack was organized against the Cuban diplomatic delegation in Buenos Aires.

In the face of the attempt by a gusano-Cuban group financed by CADAL, Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America, an Argentine anti-communist NGO linked to the US State Department, the CIA and USAID, the MAS Cuba, Argentine Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, immediately mobilized and occupied the front of the Embassy, preventing the action, which included throwing eggs against the front of the building.

The tiny anti-revolutionary group had the support of the right-wing faction of the Libertarian Party, which openly adheres to the policies of Bolsonaro in Brazil and VOX in Spain, and tries, with violent actions and speeches, to capture the most dissatisfied sector of society, reproducing those policies in our country, which only benefit Washington’s recolonizing project.

#CubaNoEstaSola, those in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, with their quick call, did not allow an attack on the diplomatic representation of Cuba in Argentina.

In video, solidarity prevents attack on Cuban Embassy in Argentina:

Cuba reports 2197 new cases of Covid 19

3 years ago Granma, Translations,

Ministry of Public Health: Cuba reports 2 197 new COVID-19 cases

Author: Digital Editor | internet@granma.cu
October 17, 2021 10:10:06 am

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

At the end of yesterday, October 16, 25,457 patients were admitted, 15,123 were suspected, 1,651 were under surveillance and 8,683 were confirmed active.

For COVID-19, a total of 30,359 samples were taken for surveillance during the day, resulting in 2,197 positive results. The country accumulates 10 million 172 thousand 672 samples taken and 934 thousand 965 positive.

Of the total number of cases (2,197): 2,189 were contacts of confirmed cases; 5 with source of infection abroad; 3 with no source of infection specified. Of the 2,197 diagnosed cases, 1,159 were female and 1,038 were male.

Of the 2,197 positive cases, 5.4% (118) were asymptomatic, making a total of 129,294, representing 13.9% of those confirmed to date.

The 2 197 diagnosed cases belong to the following age groups: under 20 years of age (495), 20 to 39 years of age (488), 40 to 59 years of age (681) and over 60 (533).
=====
Of the 934,965 patients diagnosed with the disease, 8,683 remain hospitalized, of whom 8,428 have a stable clinical course. There were 8058 deaths (21 during the day), with a case fatality rate of 0.86% vs. 2.04% in the world and 2.45% in the Americas; two evacuated, 55 returned to their countries. During the day there were 2,274 discharges, 918,167 patients recovered (98.2%). There are 255 confirmed patients in intensive care, of which 88 are critical and 167 are serious.

During the day, 21 patients died. We deeply regret what happened and convey our condolences to their families and friends.
=====
As of October 16, 190 countries and 32 territories have reported cases of COVID-19, with 241 million 65 thousand 235 confirmed cases (+ 436 thousand 600), 17 million 870 thousand 542 active cases and 4 million 908 thousand 8 deaths (+ 7 thousand 117) for a case fatality rate of 2.04% (=).

In the Americas region, 93 million 106 thousand 348 confirmed cases (+ 135 thousand 747) were reported, 38.62% of the total number of cases reported in the world, with 11 million 50 thousand 910 active cases and 2 million 282 thousand 106 deaths (+ 4 thousand 185) for a case fatality rate of 2.45% (=).

How U.S. finances actions against Cuba

3 years ago Granma

How does the U.S. finance psychological actions against Cuba?

El Estornudo, Periodismo de Barrio and Cuba Posible are some of the sites of “independent journalists” that appeared to be promoting the actions of July 11 and 12 in Cuba, as recently denounced in a report by the Argentine Club of Journalist Friends of Cuba.

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
October 1, 2021 23:10:13 PM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

El Estornudo, Periodismo de Barrio and Cuba Posible are some of the sites of “independent journalists” that appeared to promote the July 11 and 12 actions in Cuba, as recently denounced in a report by the Club Argentino de Periodistas Amigos de Cuba (Argentine Club of Journalists Friends of Cuba).

These journalists, confirms the source, “are trained and awarded” by NGOs that operate with common sources of financing: the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a front for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Open Society Foundations founded by tycoon George Soros.

The note warns that the Cronos Civil Association based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, received “$80,000 dollars from the NED in 2020, to train journalists from the Island linked to the dependent media. This organization has, according to the Argentine club, two main media outlets, Revista Anfibia and Cosecha Roja. In relation to the Caribbean nation, they point out, “these sites carry out training projects and scholarships for journalists”.

On the other hand, the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) based in Lima, Peru, received in 2020 a total of $70 523 dollars to develop programs aimed at training “Cuban independent journalists” and promoting their links with journalists in the region. “In turn, Cronos and IPYS receive funds from the Open Society Foundations,” the publication explains.

Likewise, the Investigative Journalism in Cuba project of the Espacio Público Foundation, based in Chile and developed between 2019 and 2020, the text indicates, also works with funding from the NED.

“The agenda of these media and journalists is that of political correctness, an aesthetic and a profile friendly to progressivism that appears to have a low political profile, questionable in light of their sources of funding, NGOs linked to the worst crimes against the peoples,” comments the club of journalists in solidarity with the largest of the Antilles.

This is only one part of a huge continental project to train its journalistic cadres in Latin America, which includes other organizations (such as the Gabo Center, in Colombia, and Article 19, in Mexico).

Cuban dependent journalists are trained, awarded scholarships and prizes by this network of organizations throughout Latin America.

“Analyzing the message of these media allows us to understand the depth and complexity of the psychological action promoted by imperialism against our peoples”, they state.

Reason is our shield

3 years ago Granma, Translations, , ,

EDITORIAL

Reason is our shield (+ Video)

Dignity, resistance and unity are our most powerful forces in the face of the dishonorable and dishonorable annexationist action that serves the historical enemy of the Cuban nation in its plan to fracture and divide us in order to defeat us.

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
October 13, 2021 00:10:13 AM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.


Photo: Yaimí Ravelo
After hard months of the pandemic, of shocking world economic crisis, of intensified and sustained blockade -which have harshly hit our people-, Cuba is beginning to revive its social life, public spaces and services, schools, tourism and other sectors of the economy.

We are already the country in the Americas with the highest percentage of the population with at least one administered dose of the vaccines against COVID-19, the one with the highest daily vaccination rate in the world and the only one that has been able to develop a massive campaign in children from two years of age. All this has been possible due to the country’s capacity to produce its own vaccines, as a result of the scientific policy outlined and promoted by Fidel and the talent of men and women forged by the Revolution.

We are rising up with our own strength, with the unbending spirit, the dignity and the capacity of resistance of our people, with the serene and firm leadership of the country, with the spirit of victory and the creativity that has been cultivated in the midst of so many years of hard battles.

Those who have bet on the failure of Socialism in Cuba and saw July 11[,2021] as the definitive blow to the Revolution, are frustrated and in a hurry in their plans. They intend to prevent any possibility of well-being, individual and collective development, citizen tranquility and peace in our Homeland.

That is why they are promoting various destabilizing actions in the country, to provoke an incident that will lead to a social outbreak that will bring about the longed-for military intervention, which they are vociferously calling for in Miami and even in front of the White House itself.

Neither 62 years of blockade nor its 243 additional measures have been able nor will they be able to bring us down, hence the repeated attempt at a “soft coup”. It is part of the unconventional warfare that they apply to us with intensity. Strike on top of the blow.

In the Central Report to the 8th Party Congress, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz warned:

“The program of subversion and ideological and cultural influence has been redoubled, aimed at discrediting the socialist model of development and presenting us with capitalist restoration as the only alternative.

“The subversive component of U.S. policy toward Cuba is focused on the breakdown of national unity. In that sense, priority is given to actions aimed at young people, women and academics, the artistic and intellectual sector, journalists, athletes, people of sexual diversity and religions. Matters of interest to specific groups linked to animal protection, the environment, or artistic and cultural manifestations are manipulated, all aimed at disregarding existing institutions.

“Act of aggression have not ceased to be financed with the use of radio and television stations based in the United States, while the monetary support for the development of platforms for the generation of ideological contents that openly call to defeat the Revolution. They launch calls for demonstrations in public spaces, incite the execution of sabotage and terrorist acts, including the assassination of agents of public order and representatives of the revolutionary power. Without the slightest modesty, they declare the fees paid from the United States to the executors of these criminal actions.

“Let us not forget that the U.S. government created the “Internet Working Group for Cuba” which aspires to turn social networks into channels of subversion, creation of wireless networks outside state control and the carrying out of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure.

[…]

“Lies, manipulation and the propagation of fake news no longer know any limits. Through them, a virtual image of Cuba as a dying society with no future, on the verge of collapsing and giving way to the longed-for social explosion, is shaped and spread to the four winds.”

Sectors of the traditional counterrevolution and new characters, educated in leadership courses financed by US foundations or the US federal budget, have joined forces to try to fulfill such purposes. They lack a social base in the country, but they are duly instructed, financed and supported from abroad.

The empire puts money and expectations on the annexationists trained by them, who, under the false banner of pacifism, seek to provoke new disturbances, generate chaos and induce the destabilization of the country.

In the last few weeks, they made public their intentions to hold a march in November, supposedly peaceful, designed to take place simultaneously in several cities of the country. Their declared purposes and their organizational scheme reveal a provocation articulated as part of the strategy of “regime change” for Cuba, previously tested in other countries.

They choose dates with a certain symbolism? But this time it seems that they also wanted to show off their annexationist stature. Did they want to celebrate President Biden’s birthday with an attack on the Revolution that has so annoyed imperial administrations for 62 years? They were left wanting.

One of its promoters has been trained in courses sponsored by the right-wing Argentine foundation CADAL, U.S. universities and think tanks such as the Carnegie Fund for International Peace (directed until recently by the current CIA director, William J. Burns). Among the topics of their indoctrination have been the formation of leaders, confrontation against government structures, the dynamics of mobilization, and the role of the Armed Forces in the “democratic transition”.

Last July 11 he was the organizer of an attempted takeover of the ICRT, complying with instruction 167 of the Nonviolent Action Workshop which states: Nonviolent “Attacks”: invasions: starting with a march and taking peaceful possession of a place or property.

More recently he has joined a subversive project in academic garb, in which he shares a seat on its Deliberative Council with the terrorist Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat.

He is accompanied among the organizers of the November demonstration by counterrevolutionary leaders of the so-called Council for the Democratic Transition of Cuba, a platform that is articulated according to the anti-constitutional coup in the country, and who have openly acknowledged receiving funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a front for the U.S. government.

As soon as it was announced by its organizers, the march received public and notorious support from U.S. legislators, political operators of the anti-Cuban mafia and media that encourage actions against the Revolution.

Tweets, declarations, Resistance Assemblies and other frenetic actions fill Miami these days, as if the demonstration were to take place in that city. Regime change, the overthrow of the government and military intervention is once again the prevailing narrative in South Florida.

Among the most fervent supporters of the provocation are Congressmen Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar; the reconverted terrorist Gutierrez Boronat (who has declared his support for this action “to overthrow the regime”), the Cuban American National Foundation and the mercenary retinue of Brigade 2506, whose president on duty declared in Miami that “With these steps, an explosion will be fomented inside Cuba so that once again our brothers take to the streets and this will lead us to the overthrow of a regime…”

As denounced by the U.S. media outlet MintPressNews, many of the operators of the digital social network campaign in support of the demonstration are residents of Florida and other U.S. states. “The participation of foreign citizens in Cuba’s internal affairs is at a level that is hardly conceivable in the United States,” the publication says.

The direct involvement of the U.S. government in the counterrevolutionary farce is also explicit and provocative. No care has been taken to conceal it and no one can do so honestly. High government officials are directly involved in its promotion and, with the support of the special services, in its organization. An important instrument, though not the only one, is the U.S. embassy in Cuba, whose public statements often include blatant meddling in the nation’s internal affairs.

That office, fruit of the bilateral agreements signed in 2015 to formalize diplomatic relations between the two countries, has not fulfilled any diplomatic office for years. It does not even serve for the provision of immigration and consular services that citizens of both countries demand and depend on.

Its officials, including the Chargé d’Affaires, are forced to play the unworthy role of babysitters of the counterrevolutionary exponents and provocateurs in our country. They have the thankless task of falling in behind them, providing them with logistical and material support, as well as advice and guidance. Everything is known and documented. The embassy’s own activity in the digital networks provides evidence of what is happening and what the counterrevolution is doing.

Such behavior is in total contravention of International Law and in particular of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

With such sponsors and declared purposes, it is very difficult to presume civility and pacifism in the action called for November. Much less any legitimate and sovereign intentions.

What is at stake here, and there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind, is Cuba’s right to defend itself against foreign aggression, regardless of the disguise it takes.

The organizers try to cloak themselves in the Constitution to legitimize the provocation. They use constitutional precepts to defend anti-constitutional strategies. They adduce the right to demonstrate expressed in the Magna Carta, but they forget that this same Constitution, in its Article 45, indicates that the rights of the people are limited, among others, by the respect to this supreme norm: “The exercise of the rights of the people is only limited by the rights of others, the collective security, the general welfare, the respect to the public order, the Constitution and the laws”.

This Magna Carta, approved in a referendum just three years ago by 86.85 % of the voters, clearly defines in its Article 4 that: “The socialist system endorsed by this Constitution is irrevocable”. And in Article 229 it also establishes that “In no case shall the pronouncements on the irrevocability of the socialist system established in Article 4, and the prohibition to negotiate under the circumstances foreseen in paragraph a) of Article 16, be reformable”.

It is clear that neither now nor in the future can the right to demonstrate be used to subvert the political system, to overthrow the Cuban socialist project, or to establish alliances with groups and organizations that receive foreign financing with the objective of promoting the interests of the government of the United States and other foreign powers.

There does not exist in our country the right to act in favor of the interests of a foreign power and to put the stability of our citizens at risk. It is unconstitutional, illegitimate, immoral, to adhere to an annexationist project. Our laws say so and our history says so.

This is what our National Hero José Martí warned: “On our land, there is another plan more sinister than what we know until now, and it is the iniquitous one of forcing the Island, of precipitating it to war to have a pretext to intervene in it, and with the credit of mediator and guarantor, to keep it. (…) To die, in order to give a basis on which to rise to these people who push us to death for their benefit? Our lives are worth more, and it is necessary that the Island knows this in time. And there are Cubans, Cubans, who serve, with disguised boasts of patriotism, these interests”.

Enough of lies and gross manipulation of the facts. Nobody is going to be crushed by tanks in the streets as the spokesmen of the next provocation have spread. The Moncada exercise [November 20, National Defense Day] is part of the training we constantly do in preparation for defense. In the face of provocations such as this one, we are assisted by the most legitimate act in defense of the people and their conquests.

Dignity, resistance and unity are our most powerful forces in the face of the dishonorable and dishonorable annexationist action that serves the historical enemy of the Cuban nation in its plan to fracture and divide us in order to defeat us.

They have not been able to and will not be able to. Reason is our shield.

(No English subtitles on the video.)

Cuba bets on gradual economy opening

3 years ago Granma, Translations, ,

Cuba bets on the gradual opening of its economy

The Council of Ministers analyzed, during its most recent meeting, the performance of the economy at the end of August and other important issues to maintain the country’s vitality.

October 3, 2021 15:10:42 PM

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

All the power that is exercised in Cuba is done through the people, with the participation of the people to solve the problems of society, Diaz-Canel stressed in the most recent Council of Ministers. Photo: Estudios Revolución

The tightening of the US government blockade, the international economic crisis aggravated by the COVID-19, and the epidemiological situation itself, determine that the Cuban reality at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year continues to be complex.

However, Cuba is committed to the gradual opening of its economy, which should have a favorable impact on productive activities. This was stated by the Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, when presenting a report on the performance of the economy at the end of August, at the most recent meeting of the Council of Ministers, chaired by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and led by the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.

As a favorable element amidst the complexities, Gil Fernández defined the growth of employment, which distinguishes Cuba. “In many countries, the tendency has been to unemployment, to the cheapening of the labor force,” said the also deputy prime minister. Together with the fight against the epidemic, he stressed, we generate jobs and we are going to generate more with the improvement of the economic actors; the opening of gastronomy, services, tourism and the non-state sector.

So far, he said, 203,733 people have sought employment at the municipal Labor and Social Security departments, of which 138,656 were employed and 5,440 were linked to qualification courses to access a job.

Of the total who have been employed, he highlighted, 36% are young people under 35 years of age. The same percentage corresponds to women.

Referring to the main food balances in the national production, he pointed out that at the end of August, rice, corn, beans, milk and egg production, as well as beef and pork were out of compliance.

As for the vegetables, even though the demand is much higher than the supply, he pointed out that in August there was a greater quantity of stockpiled products than in previous months. This trend continued in September.

He referred to the behavior of energy carriers in the country. In August, he pointed out, the actual generation of electric energy was well below the foreseen plan, which meant a non-negligible cost in the economy and productive activities, with the objective of reducing the effects on the population.

Gil Fernández stressed the need for greater initiative and creative work, as well as “to take more advantage of the measures that the Government has been approving in the last few months to grant greater autonomy to the socialist state-owned company”.

These are measures -he valued- that must be taken advantage of in order to be able to move forward with greater efficiency in the state-owned enterprise. “A productive effort is required in all sectors to achieve, in the remainder of the year, the maximum possible economic growth”.

Complying with the design to control the pandemic, and with the economic measures adopted, Gil Fernandez assessed that “we can be in better conditions to, with an additional effort, in the fourth quarter try to aspire to the highest possible economic growth this year and start better 2022”.

Regarding the challenge that the reopening of tourism on November 15 means for Cuba, the Prime Minister considered that “it is an event that is already gaining strength at the international level”.

This is an issue -he reflected- that will have an impact on the economy; we are convinced that it will boost the economy, but for that “we all have to contribute. It is not only a tourism issue, but no sector is also unaffected by this event in the country”.


USEFUL AND DIVERSE AGENDA

Among other matters, the highest government body approved the new Portfolio of Opportunities for foreign investment in the country, consisting of 678 projects, 175 more than in the previous one.

In presenting the subject, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, explained that, in order to prepare it, it was based on the criterion of the greater importance of foreign investment in the current economic situation.

At this moment, he assured, we have 429 projects with approved directives, ready to be negotiated, and 56 in the Mariel Special Development Zone. The projects respond to strategic axes of the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030, as is the case of productive transformation and international insertion; natural resources and the environment; infrastructure; as well as human potential and science, technology and innovation.

According to him, from the territorial point of view, the Portfolio is distributed among all the provinces and, for the first time, the food production sector is the most represented.

The Prime Minister drew attention to the need to promote foreign investment in a more dynamic way and always preserving our sovereignty. “It is necessary to give it the priority that this matter carries at the higher levels of management, each one with the role that corresponds to him.”

At the meeting, the Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, presented a report on the results of the Port-Transport-Internal Economy Operation, in the first semester of the year.

According to the information provided, even though all the missions were secured during the period, “there are still insufficiencies, both of a subjective and objective nature, which will be the focus of attention in the last months of the year”. Many of them, he explained, will be solved as funding and resources become available.

The Prime Minister emphasized that, in the midst of the complex situation, “it is more necessary than ever to get this operation right. It has to work properly; it cannot be an obstacle for the distribution of the goods that we are able to bring in, to get stuck inside the national territory, he said.

At the meeting, which was attended by Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power; Salvador Valdés Mesa, vice president of the Republic; and Roberto Morales Ojeda, secretary of Organization and Cadres Policy of the Central Committee of the Party, all members of the Political Bureau, the provincial scheme of territorial organization of Villa Clara was approved.

Likewise, the status of accounts receivable and payable in arrears, in litigation and court sentences at the end of June was analyzed; the fulfillment of the integral plans to confront urban illegalities by the governments, agencies of the Central State Administration and higher organizations of Business Management; and the progress of the Government Scholarship Program in other countries.

The Council of Ministers was also informed about the approval of the first micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as well as non-agricultural cooperatives, after the regulations supporting them came into force on September 20.


THE KEY LIES IN POPULAR PARTICIPATION

We are obliged to design, among all of us, a system of popular control, aimed at confronting all the deviations that may exist in the fulfillment of the socialist legality, in the confrontation of corruption.

In this idea, considered the President of the Republic, lies the key on how we have to face the facts of corruption. His reflections were motivated by the presentation made by the Comptroller General of the Republic, Gladys Bejerano Portela, who presented to the Council of Ministers information on the fulfillment of the directives and the plan of control actions of the National Auditing System in the first semester of the year.

It is still insufficient, it was pointed out during the meeting, was the understanding, and the attention to the Policy approved for the improvement of the auditing activity and the urgency before the changes and challenges ahead. It is necessary to ensure the exercise of control and prevention as a method of management, exercised systematically in the development of all processes and not occasionally, or after they are concluded, as is generally the case. Control is the responsibility of those who exercise management; it must always be present.

The Head of State highlighted the political and governmental will that has historically existed in the Revolution to solve the problem of economic control and, in general, of everything that has an impact on efficiency and good performance, on the transparency of all our economic and social processes, as well as in the fight against corruption. On this, he said, it is necessary to look at the thinking of the Commander in Chief [Fidel] and the Army General [Raul]

Since the creation of the Comptroller’s Office, he recalled, work has been unleashed to create an adequate control environment and to advance in it. However, “the results are still insufficient and fill us with dissatisfaction,” he said.

After a broad reflection on our system of government and the leading role of popular participation in all scenarios, the President said that, on the basis of elements related to the defense of popular power, we can reach an analysis of how to make further progress in the fight against corruption.

All the power exercised in Cuba is done through the people, with the participation of the people to solve the problems of society, and this is one of them, he said. Hence his emphasis on there being a direct relationship in how the people participate in this battle. “I believe that by facing this with the people we are going to advance more.”

Díaz-Canel on racism at the UN

3 years ago Granma, ,

Díaz-Canel at the UN: The peoples of the world will always be able to count on Cuba’s contribution (+Video)

Speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the High-Level Meeting during the General Debate of the 76th Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Author: Redacción Digital | internet@granma.cu
September 22, 2021 10:09:29 am

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.


Photo: Estudios Revolución
(Shorthand Versions – Presidency of the Republic)

Mr. Secretary General;

Mr. President:

The world should be ashamed to observe the poor scope of universal agreements that were once the hope of the excluded and the dispossessed.

Twenty years after the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, the objectives set out in those documents for the fight against all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance have not been achieved.

Structural racism persists. Hate speech, intolerance, xenophobia and discrimination proliferate at worrying levels, including on social media and other communication platforms.

Developed capitalist countries try with demagogic speeches to divert attention from their historical responsibility in the enthronement and persistence of these scourges and their debt to the peoples who are victims of the slavery to which they were subjected. There is a lack of political will on the part of these same countries to make the promises of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action a reality.

The multidimensional crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the structural inequalities and exclusion inherent to the prevailing unjust economic order, which subjects the poor, those of African descent or migrants to all kinds of discrimination.

Mr. President:

In Cuba, beyond skin color, African, European and Native American genes are all mixed . We are one people, Afro-Latin, Caribbean, mestizo, in which several roots were fused to forge a unique, vigorous trunk, with its own identity, open to the world from a sense of belonging in which cultural values are assumed from an ethic of solidarity.

With a colonial slave-owning past, the black and mulatto Cuban population suffered for centuries the consequences of a system in which racism and racial discrimination were part of everyday life. Only with the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 did a process of radical transformations take place that demolished the structural bases of racism and eliminated institutionalized racial discrimination forever.

The advocacy of hatred, the promotion of intolerance and supremacist ideas on the basis of national, religious or ethnic origin and xenophobia are alien to the political, social and economic life of the country.

The new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba ratified and strengthened the recognition and protection of the right to equality, as well as the prohibition of discrimination.

The Magna Carta provides that all persons are equal before the law, receive the same protection and treatment from the authorities and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities; but laws and decrees are not enough to erase centuries of discriminatory practices in societies.

To make further progress in the emancipating work of the Revolution, the National Plan against Racism and Racial Discrimination was approved in November 2019, as a government program that favors the most effective confrontation of racial prejudice and social problems that still exist in our society.

Cuba’s commitment to the eradication of racism transcends its borders. Thousands of Cubans supported national liberation movements in Africa and against the opprobrious apartheid regime. Thousands of others have contributed their solidarity aid, particularly in the area of health.

We will not relent in our pursuit of social justice. The peoples of the world will always be able to count on Cuba’s contribution so that the commitments we assumed 20 years ago in Durban become a reality.

Thank you very much.

[1] The Cuban Genetic Map, 2015 Cuban Academy of Sciences Award, indicated that on average, without distinction by skin color, genetic crossbreeding marked the presence of European ancestral genes in a proportion of 73.8%, 16.8% of African origin and 9.4% of genes of Native American origin.