We are ready and willing to do everything to defend what is most sacred, what unites us

25 OCTOBER 2021

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 25 (ACN) Cuban News Agency reproduces the full text of the speech delivered by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic Miguel Diaz-Canel at the closing ceremony of the Second Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the Convention Palace, on October 24, 2021.

(Shorthand Versions - Presidency of the Republic)

Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;

Comrades members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba;

Guests:

For almost two days the II Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the PCC has been in session, which is the first one after the Congress, because remember that the I Plenary Session was held during the Congress, and that it was postponed due to the incidence of the pandemic outbreak, that has required us to focus on aspects concerning the functioning of the Party as a continuity of the Congress, but also to address current issues of the Party's work.

The implementation of the agreements of the Eighth Congress, the modification of the statutes, the rules for the functioning of the permanent commissions, the strategy for the implementation of the cadres policy, the program for the transformation of the political-ideological work, the process of balance of the committees of the PCC and the program of digital transformation of the organization were discussed.

In addition, the political assurance to important processes to be developed and the necessary debate on the improvement of the People's Power were discussed.

The complexity of the current moment points out the need to meet more frequently to discuss and decide on the most urgent and strategic problems of the situation of the country, especially if we are able to discuss the issues with depth, objectivity, comprehensiveness and in a critical manner to find solutions to the complex problems that concern us. This spirit was manifested, as stated by the General of the Army, in this II Plenary.

An analysis of the situation in the country and the global situation shows us that the world in COVID-19 is not even the unjust world that revolutionaries dream of changing. It is that same world, now under the effects of many simultaneous crises: economic, labor, productive, environmental, sanitary and also moral.

Cuba does not escape the critical conjunction of the planet; undoubtedly, we are not the most affected, but we are the most punished. No underdeveloped nation is burdened as we are with the aforementioned crises and with the conditions imposed by the economic blockade reinforced and intensified with 243 measures applied by Trump and maintained by Biden, in addition to facing an intense, stark and perverse communications war. We are unique in the world for the duration and cruelty of this punishment.

It is up to us to give a worthy response to that undeserved and immoral condemnation. Our originality is bound to be as great as the wickedness of our adversary. We are challenged to be exceptional in our ability to resist and create. This is how it has been since the origins of the Cuban nation; this is how the Cuban Revolution has resisted 62 years undefeated.

The enemy does not cease in its efforts to destroy us. It will not forgive us for the audacity of new generations to continue the will and commitment to maintain independence, sovereignty and the construction of socialism.

The stated objective of the U.S. Government is to overthrow the Cuban Revolution.

The enemy's hope is that our great material difficulties will soften the people and bring them to their knees, that is why they feed the idea that the country cannot resist.

The U.S. administration is trapped by the desire to win the Florida vote and these electoral purposes condition its policy towards Cuba, which becomes dominated by the Cuban-American mafia in Miami. These facts are not casual, there is an intention, a premeditation, and a political interest.

The imperialist strategy is to create maximum discontent within our country. To foment instability through the worsening of the living conditions of the population, to make it more and more difficult for us to survive, in order to lead us to the outbreak of a violent conflict. They intend to fill us with hatred and take away our happiness.

The campaign is vile: they discredit our achievements, they use grossly distorted images of our reality, they try to suffocate us economically, to weaken solidarity with Cuba, making use of lies and slander. Several representatives of the U.S. Government insist in their pronouncements on social networks to keep accusations against Cuba on human rights issues in a high profile.

As a reflection of the current bilateral scenario in relations with the United States, the Embassy of that country in Cuba has been playing an active role in efforts to subvert the internal order in our country. This behavior is not new; it has always been present in one way or another since the establishment of the interest sections in 1977.

In contrast, although our mission in Washington carries out intense political and diplomatic work in favor of bilateral relations, in terms of lifting the economic blockade, aimed at showing the truth of our reality and counteracting the slander against Cuba, it can be categorically stated that there has never been any illegal activity aimed at undermining the political, legal or constitutional foundations of that country.

The work through time of our Embassy and before that, of our Interests Section, has always been absolutely clean.

U.S. diplomatic officials frequently meet with leaders of the counterrevolution, to whom they provide guidance, encouragement, logistical and financial support.

In their communication platforms, including digital networks, they issue daily offensive pronouncements that constitute open meddling in the internal affairs of our country. This is a provocative behavior, alien to what should be the conduct of a diplomatic mission and in total violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which has among its pillars the respect of diplomats to the laws of the country where they are accredited and refrain from passing judgments on its internal affairs.

The U.S. Embassy seeks information to defame Cuba on issues such as human rights, democracy and social contradictions in our country. They intend to identify and promote leaders, especially young people, to prepare them abroad in order to use them to promote their anti-socialist, pro-capitalist and neo-liberal ideas.

We will not stand idly by in the face of such behavior. We are determined to confront the subversive and aggressive work of this diplomatic representation, including public denunciation. We have the experience of many years of diplomatic and operative work against the United States under the guidance of the historic leadership of the Revolution, and we also have the support of the institutions of the State and the political and mass organizations which, under the guidance of the Party, play an important role in this battle.

We have as powerful tools unity, discipline, organization, approved work strategies, the necessary procedures and ideological clarity.

At a time like this we can also make some considerations about the so-called events of July 11, which were nothing more than provocations and vandalism as part of this whole strategy of the Unconventional War and the "soft coup" against our Revolution.

They try to maintain a narrative that pretends to present July 11 as a reference of rupture and popular rejection of the Revolution, and the attempts to take advantage of the existing nonconformities to provoke destabilization; but July 11 is not a reference of rupture, it is, in any case, a reference of unity, and July 11 constituted one more victory of the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionaries went out to defend the Revolution with high morale, with a willingness to fight and win.

They believed that the Revolution would collapse in a few hours, as they believed when the socialist camp collapsed, but once again they were wrong.

From those events and from the events we have lived through in this last year and a half of pandemic, we have also learned some lessons. One of those lessons is that we have to defend and assume as a strength the heterogeneity of Cuban society, and this implies, as we have discussed here, a differentiated political-ideological work; that we have to strengthen and develop the mechanisms of popular participation and work with the population, which cannot be dismantled in any of the adverse situations we may experience, and that the revolutionary guard, the revolutionary vigilance can never be neglected.

The reference, in fact, is the Eighth Congress of the Party. In that great event of our organization, the causes of all the problems that the country is experiencing were analyzed, the strategies and also the work proposals to face them were addressed, that is the true reference point!

The country has lived through other difficult moments in the Revolution, this is not the most complex of those moments.

It is about sowing the matrix that nothing works, that everything works badly, and it is about denying the work of social justice achieved, that is why we have to encourage the critical analysis of reality, self-criticism and move away from complacency, enhancing the need to communicate more timely and better and that all our work structures listen, dialogue, give answers and also solutions.

It is important to prioritize the work in the attention and dialogue with young people, which must be a priority, and the need to propose and implement measures to solve each of the problems also by perfecting the methods of attention to the population.

As we are doing, it is important to renew the social work in the communities, where the social base of support to our Revolution lies, weaving and developing a genuine, inclusive, democratic and participatory process that defends that concept of popular power that we were discussing here, so that we reach consensus on how we can exercise it. These issues distinguish our unity, our capacity for resistance and our dignity.

In the midst of these difficulties, the country is moving forward, we have the courage to face them and the capacity to find solutions. We cannot be discouraged, because the peoples who are discouraged, as Fidel said, do not get far, they are victims of confusion and go to failure, that will not be the case of the Cuban Revolution.

We are winning this battle by defending and developing the ideas of socialism, we have a tremendous force of intelligence, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, tenacity, firmness, conscience, patriotism and revolutionary spirit in our people, we have the obligation to move forward, and they, the imperialists, will take away a new lesson by underestimating us.

We must remember what the Commander-in-Chief said when we lived through the times of the Special Period: "We bear our difficulties and our shortages with dignity, with the dignity of those who do not give up, with the dignity of those who will never get down on their knees". That is why we are going to emerge victorious from this battle in difficult conditions against an empire full of arrogance and frustrations.

It is through struggle that obstacles and problems are overcome, not by surrendering to the designs of those who cynically and shamelessly are the main cause of them, without yielding to our principles, without failing our independence and our sovereignty. These are difficult times, but also with prospects of new opportunities to grow and surpass ourselves. We have a great responsibility as generations, which is the challenge of saving the Revolution and saving the Cuban nation.

There are serious objective problems, there are shortages, circumstances like these, as Fidel also warned us, are propitious for opportunism, cowardice, inconsistencies, desertions, betrayals, laziness, cowardice, which demands more from the Party work. We cannot be satisfied with what has been done, but we cannot accuse the Revolution of clumsiness or incapacity, because the problems we are facing among all of us are really great.

In the midst of this situation our national pride rises, when we have victories as our scientists have given us with vaccines; when in the midst of a complex situation we are able to develop an intense legislative exercise; when we have a proposal for a truly inclusive and modern Family Code; when we give way to new economic actors; when we are fully engaged in the programs in the neighborhoods and in the exchanges in the meetings with social sectors of our country. We can irrefutably define that the majority of our people accompany and support the Revolution (Applause).

In the midst of these circumstances and in the face of the failure of their plans, new actions continue to be woven. Now they are appearing with a supposedly 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 plan orchestrated from abroad, think tanks and spokesmen of the US Government are involved in the conception and preparation of these actions.

Recently they have threatened to apply more sanctions to our country if the legislation in force is used to prosecute those who disobey the mandate of the authorities.

This action is welcomed in the circles of the anti-Cuban extreme right wing based in the United States and is part of a mode of action in accordance with the manual of Unconventional Warfare.

Their violent aims are evident in the remembrance they make of the guarimbas in Venezuela, of the crimes against Chavista fighters, of the events in Nicaragua, the exaltation of vandalism, the death threats against revolutionaries and the support of characters and organizations with a violent and terrorist history based in the United States.

The right to demonstrate is recognized and regulated in Article 56 of the Constitution, it must be exercised for lawful and peaceful purposes, respecting public order and compliance with the precepts established by law. Another article of our Constitution, Article 45, states that: "The exercise of the rights of individuals is only limited by the rights of others, collective security, general welfare, respect for public order, the Constitution and the laws".

On the other hand, Article 4 of the aforementioned legal body states, among other issues, that the socialist system endorsed by the Constitution is irrevocable, and that citizens have the right to fight by all means, against anyone who attempts to overthrow the political, social and economic order established by the Constitution.

It is not lawful, therefore, the call to march, it is a notice of protest in which its promoters, its public projections and links with subversive organizations or agencies financed by the US Government have the manifest intention of promoting a change of political system in our country, it is a provocation as part of a "soft coup" strategy. Its purposes coincide with the main lines of attack, slander, lies and threats used by those financed by the U.S. Government who oppose the Cuban political system and try to destabilize it and restore capitalism.

We are not going to legitimize imperialist actions in domestic politics nor give way to the desires of neocolonial restoration that some have accumulated and that are reinforced in a situation of crisis. This is not an act of civility, it is an act of subordination to Yankee hegemony. Such actions are intended to return the country to a historical time of subjugation, to which we will never return.

In the midst of these circumstances, many are also asking themselves where we are going, and I think it is important to answer that question: there is nothing new to say, we are simply going towards what is contained in our programmatic documents, towards the development of those ideas in the last three Party congresses and which are contained in the Conceptualization of our Economic-Social Model and our National Plan for Economic and Social Development until 2030, in our Guidelines and, above all, in our Constitution, and all these documents, elements that provide an answer: "Cuba is a socialist state of law and social justice, democratic, independent and sovereign, organized with all and for the good of all as a unitary and indivisible republic, founded on the work, dignity, humanism and ethics of its citizens for the enjoyment of freedom, equity, equality, solidarity, well-being and individual and collective prosperity."

Our Vision of the Nation defines us as a sovereign, independent, socialist, democratic, prosperous and sustainable nation, through the long-term National Economic and Social Development Plan and other actions to consolidate it.

Guaranteeing the irreversibility and continuity of our socialism by strengthening the principles that sustain it, economic development and the raising of the standard of living and quality of life of our people are combined with the necessary formation of ethical and political values, and is part of the issues we have addressed here.

A democratic, prosperous and sustainable socialist society can be achieved from a deep revolutionary conscience and sense of duty, the rescue of the value of work with efficiency and effectiveness, the participation and creative initiative of workers, high motivation, rational use and saving of resources, progress and the application and generalization of the results of science, technology and innovation; also taking into account the sustainable increase of production as an essential material premise to gradually raise the standard of living and quality of life of the population, and contributing to the full realization of human beings and their individual, family and collective projects through a fair and equitable distribution of wealth, advancing in the eradication of illegitimate inequalities. That is the path we have taken, that is the path we are on and the one we will reach sooner rather than later.

If someone were to ask us to define in a short sentence, in a short phrase our socialism, we would say that it is to achieve the greatest possible social justice (Applause).

In a meeting like this one, we cannot ignore the economic situation the country is going through; the inflation the economy is facing is currently at levels higher than those foreseen in the Ordering Task, affecting the purchasing power of the income received in Cuban pesos by retirees, pensioners, workers and the population.

The tightening of the blockade, together with the effects of COVID-19 have reduced the country's foreign currency income to minimum levels, which has not allowed the financing of industrial productions, nor the import of raw materials and consumer goods to maintain a stable state retail supply in Cuban pesos, a situation that unscrupulous people take advantage of to profit at the expense of the needs of the people by reselling products, including food and medicines at prices much higher than the official ones.

On the other hand, due to the growing demand for foreign currency by the population and the non-state sector for purchases on the spot or imports, together with the impossibility we have to sell foreign currency at the official exchange rate, an informal market for the purchase and sale of foreign currency has been generated, also at much higher exchange rates than the official ones, which is expressed in the prices faced by the population.

That is why we have to continue working with priority in the implementation of anti-inflationary measures that require a greater participation of national, state and non-state producers, in order to satisfy the demand of the population.

Actions are required that allow for a better control of liquidity in the hands of the population and that its increase be accompanied by an increase in supply.

In addition, compensatory measures have been adopted to assist the most vulnerable, but they are still insufficient.

The opening of tourism and economic activity, as part of the success with which we are facing the epidemic, will put us in better conditions to face this complex scenario; therefore, we have lights on the way, there are solutions for each of the problems. It is necessary to continue encouraging a collective debate to promote the solutions to the problems, to argue them, to socialize them, to convince, to assure, to mobilize, to participate and to improve.

In the face of the offensive to discredit the Cuban Revolution and the campaigns in social networks, the provocations in international scenarios, the call for constant protests and destabilization actions, we have the revolutionary articulation in those social networks, the effective confrontation of the counterrevolution from the revolutionary and administrative vigilance that has been reorganized in these times.

In the face of the intensification of the blockade we have international support, with the constant denunciation we make of it and also moving the participation and support of the Cuban community abroad that has not broken with the Revolution nor has it broken with its country.

In view of the limited income in foreign currency, we have to continue advancing in the revival of the economy in the current conditions, promoting tourism, the export of vaccines, the export of foreign currency, promoting the national production of food and also contributing to energy saving and efficiency.

In view of the shortages we have been experiencing for a long time, we have to put national products on the market, do everything possible to better supply the stores in national currency, increase the commercialization of agricultural products and also seek a greater incidence and impact with the measures we have taken in recent times of opening the economy, the development and contribution of the new economic actors together with the development of the state enterprise.

In order to eliminate queues, we will have to improve domestic trade, seek a better supply of goods and services, better schedules, better management, and the opening of new economic activities will also contribute to this.

In the instability we have had in the National Electric Power System, we are making progress in repairs, maintenance, savings, and also in the attention to the workers of this system, which will allow us to be in a better situation at the end of this year.

We are overcoming the pandemic with the health measures adopted and with this huge vaccination campaign, to which we are now going to add the booster doses, which have undoubtedly already led to a result of immunization in our population, in this way we will continue making progress in cutting transmission and returning, in the shortest possible time, to the new normality, which will also allow us to develop our economic activity and our social activity with more intensity.

And in the face of the dissatisfactions in our population, we will be very sensitive and work with people, attending the population properly, working in the neighborhoods and reactivating the mechanisms of popular participation. All this we must keep in mind in the debate that we will develop in the important processes that we must ensure politically in the midst of this situation and that were also discussed here. This requires from the Party a broad deployment of revolutionary politics.

We must give convincing arguments, raise debates and sustain them with coherence, communicate with precision and clarity, put ourselves in the place of the other to try to understand his reality, counterpoise ideas and positions that lead to objective conclusions and that allow us to build a solid perception of the circumstances around a phenomenon; it is about becoming pedagogues when interacting with society, not only in the way we transfer our contents, but also in the way we learn from that interaction.

The greatest virtue lies in being useful and doing for others.

Armando Hart analyzed all this revolutionary practice and catalogued it as "the culture of doing politics", and we have to do politics, placing Martí and Fidel as its most outstanding and relevant exponents, and pointing out both as representatives of "that purest and most useful fruit of the history of Cuban ideas".

Marti's definition of politics, as "the art of inventing a resource for each new resource of the opposites, of turning setbacks into fortune; of adapting oneself to the present moment, without the adaptation costing sacrifice, or the diminution (...) of the ideal being pursued; of giving up to gain momentum; of falling upon the enemy, before he has his armies lined up, and his battle prepared", we must all assume it as a constant of life.

As Hart reiterated on more than one occasion, it is necessary to know how to differentiate and, at the same time, relate ideology, understood as the production of ideas, with science, ethics and politics.

It is, in the present times, a humanism that relates culture, development, social justice and allows to assume with science and ethics the confusing globalized world in the real and the virtual for the present and for the future.

This legacy, as a whole, constitutes the culture of doing politics, conceived as a category of practice that, fundamentally, consists of defeating the "divide and rule" used by the enemy, and establishing the revolutionary idea of "uniting to win", on ethical foundations that incorporate the vast majority of the population.

To do politics is then to determine the contradictions we have in society, study them, evaluate their causes, evaluate and propose solutions; share with the population, take into account their criteria; enrich, convince, summon, mobilize, participate and solve, and participate effectively also through networking for each of the issues we address, evaluating results and then feeding back all our systems to improve them. It means, among other things, a special work with the population and in particular with our youth.

Taking a maximum awareness of the role to be played by each revolutionary institution, working particularly with each citizen, one by one and convincing; becoming preachers or shepherds of the Revolution and socialism; preparing ourselves well and studying deeply to decide; deepening our knowledge and ideas of what is happening in our country and in the world; to be honest, courageous, effective and self-critical, with a dialectical and flexible mentality, not dogmatic, without admitting opportunism and with attachment to the revolutionary principles, equipping ourselves with ideas and solid arguments so that our cadres can develop their work; to go out to visit and converse with each person in each place; to discuss, explain, teach, educate and learn from each process.

To win the time lost due to routine, schematism and the lack of link with the base in a group of scenarios, and to constantly extol the dignity and resistance of our people, their talents and their potentialities. This requires a predominance of the anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist approach against the injustice and oppression that exists at a global level; that is why we have to systematically maintain the meetings with the sectors of our society that have contributed so much to us and that already, in fact, many of their proposals are being applied in what we are implementing.

To continue working adequately in the implementation of the agreements of the Eighth Congress and to continue defending, as we saw here, the concept of popular power, seeking with the work in the neighborhoods democracy and participation, which means that there are spaces to debate and propose, that after debating and proposing there are spaces to implement, and that after debating and proposing, actions are implemented, then there will also be transparency to control, to exercise popular control, to be accountable and to advance. And all this we can achieve with the link with the people, with the popular mobilization and strengthening and updating the work of our mass organizations, as demanded by the debate of the Eighth Party Congress.

We must continue the observation and confrontation of the obstacles and bureaucratism, deepen in the essences of the Revolution, promote debates, strengthen the exercise of popular power, and thus we will be strengthening the State; advance the laws that deepen socialist democracy; develop the practice of the workers parliaments; enhance the role of the unions, taking as a conviction what Che advanced to us: not even a little bit of that to imperialism. We cannot give in to imperialism and its lackeys, and we cannot take a single step backwards in the conquests of the Revolution (Applause).

The answer in Cuba was designed by the maximum leader of the Cuban Revolution, the Commander-in-Chief, and it is popular power, a popular power that is not transferable, that is based on popular sovereignty and that is articulated in the state structure through organs with different functions.

To defend this concept of popular power is to defend the sustainability and viability of socialism in Cuba because it generates a truly democratic system far superior to capitalism.

Everything that stimulates, promotes and realizes popular participation has a defensive and constructive importance for socialism and contributes to social emancipation and national emancipation; that is why we must guarantee the dimension of the principle of popular sovereignty, power comes from the sovereignty that resides in whom? in our people.

We must constantly promote mechanisms of popular participation. It is not a concession; it is the essential element of legitimization of our government.

It is necessary to articulate and promote in municipal and community spaces participatory forms to meet the needs of citizens. And municipal management must be based on avoiding and preventing problems in the community, leaving behind tolerance and justifications, and designing a true and effective popular control; exercising control over the fulfillment of approved public policies and their effective implementation.

It is time to study and propose the improvement of existing public policies or the approval of new policies to address manifestations of poverty, marginality, vulnerability in individuals, families, and communities and in attention to youth and the elderly. Those aspects were also discussed here as a continuation of the meeting we had with the presidents of the municipal assemblies of People's Power in recent days.

Comrades:

The country is organized, we have a strong Party, an improving Government, a Revolutionary Armed Forces and a Ministry of the Interior that are part of the people, with glorious histories and very loyal, and mass organizations that are in renewal of their work.

The country and the Revolution have suffered as a consequence of the situation we have gone through, but patriotism and heroism have also been sown, commitment has been sown and is being harvested.

We have to draw inspiration from the people, it is an opportunity for us to become aware to overcome the difficulties, to fight and fight for victory without any discouragement.

The decision is to fight and win!

To close ranks, to fight for our problems, to fight with creativity, it is part of the combat!

There are enough revolutionaries here to confront with intelligence, with respect and in defense of our Constitution, but also with energy and courage, any kind of demonstration that seeks to destroy the Revolution.

Let the imperialists know that they will have to fight against a people that does not allow itself to be deceived, a people sufficiently numerous, courageous and heroic to fight that is not afraid of threats!

Every problem is an opportunity to become aware of our responsibility, a challenge to our ability to overcome the difficulties, a test of our will to fight, until victory always!

Ready and willing to do everything to defend what is most sacred, what unites us; to be consistent with the invariable decision of Homeland or Death, Socialism or Death and the deepest conviction that We Shall Overcome!

Thank you very much.