Cuba

Post Reply
User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Cuba

Post by blindpig » Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:03 pm

This thread is a continuation of two threads from the old Bell:

http://www.thebellforum.net/Bell2/www.t ... l?t=155787

&

http://www.thebellforum.net/Bell2/www.t ... l?t=147365

Is it possible to meld the best of capitalism and socialism?
Enrique Ubieta, editor of the journals Cuba Socialista and La Calle del medio, talked with Cubadebate about political centrism, neo-annexation, and the permanent clash between socialism and capitalism, as conflicting systems - all important issues in the ideological struggle underway around the world today

Author: José Raúl Concepción | nacionales@granma.cu
july 10, 2017 14:07:48

Image
Cuba is a country trying to build a society different from one which the people have never experienced. This is a period of change and new, previously rejected elements are being introduced in the conception of the socio-economic model. Photo: Dilbert Reyes Rodríguez
WHEN the world had two political poles, a statement that sounded obvious was sometimes made: "Let's unite the best of capitalism and socialism in a single system." If both have their defects and virtues, why not just discard what doesn't work? The idea is attractive, it would be an idyllic society. But what prevents this? Why are we still talking about socialism and capitalism? Behind the apparently self-evident concept lies another: you can't extract the best of capitalism as if it were a damaged spot on a piece of fruit. The virtues of this system are based on its defects.

The idea cannot deliver what it promises, and the same options remain in place. We maintain a way of life that damages every corner of the planet or we seek an alternative to solve the problem at its roots.

In politics, as in life, trying to find a middle ground is tricky. But those who prefer to straddle the fence exist.

Cubadebate talked about political centrism with the Cuban intellectual, Enrique Ubieta, who responds to simple questions with dissertations on the history, relevance, and possible implementation of a "third way" in Cuba.

Is it possible for centrism to represent the best of both capitalism and socialism?

Capitalism is not the sum of its negative and positive components, of elements that can be saved or discarded. It is a system, that at one point was revolutionary and today is not. It engulfs and links everything: advanced technology, the most sophisticated wealth, and the most absolute poverty. The elements that contribute to greater productivity are the same ones that alienate human labor. Those that generate wealth for a few, produce poverty for the majority, on the national and international level. Establishing such a goal seems fallacious to me. The "best of capitalism" doesn't exist, as if it could be cleaned up, as if a good capitalism were feasible. There are very bad versions, like fascism and neoliberalism, but I am not aware of any good version. Capitalism is always savage.

On the other hand, socialism, as opposed to capitalism, is not an organic total, a reality already constructed, but rather a path that cannot, all at once, leave behind the system it is trying to replace. We try this and that, we adopt new structures, advance and retreat, eliminate what doesn't work, correct errors over and over again - a path to another world, in the middle of the jungle, because capitalism is a hegemonic system. What characterizes it is its expressed, conscious intention, to replace capitalism.

Image
Enrique Ubieta explains the history and implications of centrist politics in Cuba. Photo: Annaly Sánchez/ Cubasí/ Cubadebate Photo: 5daysforthecuban5.com

Does a center exist? On what principles is it founded? In the capitalist electoral system, a left and a right supposedly exist, but this left - with social democracy as its ideological framework, which was Marxist in its origins, and sought to reform capitalism until it gradually disappeared - functions today within the system and has rejected Marxism. This left differentiates itself from conservative parties with its social policies and its non-prejudiced understanding of diversity. The centrist formula functions within the capitalist system as an electoral option. The voter is managed like a customer since elections function like a market, and are full of right wing parties and left wing parties that alternate in office, but implement similar policies, and thus the system constructs a false "third way."

But real alternatives are not within a system, they are counterpoised. They are capitalism or socialism. A center does not exist; there is no neutral ground between the two systems. Social democracy places itself within capitalism, but pretends to be a center, attempting what I have described as impossible, taking the best from both systems. In reality, it proposes an alternative method, not a fundamental change. Beyond a few isolated cases, like what Olof Palme could have been in Sweden, in a very rich country, which even without colonies, as part of the capitalist system benefited from the colonial and neo-colonial system.

Social democracy which appeared to triumph, made no sense when the Soviet Union collapsed and the socialist camp disappeared. Not even in Sweden could it be maintained. (Olof Palme was assassinated). Since then, the system has no need for it, and it needs to remake itself. The third way of Tony Blair is a center that has moved to the right, accepting and implementing neoliberal policies, allying itself with imperialism in its wars of conquest. The history of social democracy is essentially European.

What role do centrist politics play in Cuba?

In reality, what is this center? It is a political orientation that appropriates elements of revolutionary discourse, adopts a reformist position, and in the end, brakes, detains, and creates obstacles to the development of a true revolution.

In other cases, as in ours, centrists attempt to use the political culture of the left that exists within Cuban society, because you can't get anywhere here with an ultra right wing discourse, trying to win adherents. You need to use what the people interpret as fair, and with this left wing discourse begin to introduce capitalism through the back door. This is the role the center would have within a society like the Cuban.

Using different terminology in different contexts, positions similar to centrism have been present in Cuban history since the autonomy tendency attempted to derail the independence revolution of 1895… Why do you think there is a kind of resurgence of centrism in Cuba today?

In Cuban history, there is a very clear dividing line between tendencies, between reformist and revolutionary forces. This is a longstanding discussion in the history of Marxism, but today I will just refer to the Cuban tradition.

Reformism is represented by autonomism and annexationism. There are writers who insist on saying that annexationism aspired to a radical solution to win independence from Spain. In this case, the term "radical" is misused, because the roots of the problem were not addressed. Being annexed by the United States was a radical solution in appearances only, since advocates intended to protect the privileges of a social class here, avoid the economic damage of a longer independence war, and maintain the status quo via domination by another power which would guarantee order.

The two tendencies, annexationism and reformism, had as a basic premise an absolute lack of confidence in the people - the fear of "the mulatto horde," as the autonomists said.

Sell-out reformism has existed throughout the history of Cuba, into our times; it has not disappeared. The Revolution of 1959 swept it away as a real political option, but the class struggle has not vanished. If the bourgeoisie, or those who aspire to be, attempt to retake power in Cuba, that is the class that has been created outside of the country or that which could be gestating within, it is going to need an outside force to back it.

There will not be an autonomous capitalism in Cuba; it doesn't exist anyplace in the world, much less in a small, underdeveloped country. Cuban capitalism, as in the past, can only be semi-colonial or neo-colonial. The only way the bourgeoisie could retake and maintain power in Cuba is by way of an external power. That is the only option to multiply their capital, and we already know that the bourgeoisie's homeland is capital.

Today a situation exists that favors this kind of centrist tactics, promoted in Cuba from the North. The generation that made the Revolution is ending its historic-biological cycle. Some 80% of Cubans never lived under capitalism. Just imagine. Cuba is a country trying to build a society different from one which the people have never experienced. This is a period of change and new, previously rejected elements are being introduced in the conception of the socio-economic model. It is within this context that pro-capitalist forces construct their pseudo-revolutionary discourse, only for show, attempting to link up with changes underway in the country.

Does the updating of Cuba's economic, social model have any relation to centrism?

It does not. I'll appeal to concepts I found in the philosophy of Argentine Arturo Andrés Roig. It is imperative to differentiate two planes: discourse and discourse directionality, meaning and direction. I recall that when I studied the decade of the 1920s, I noticed that Juan Marinello and Jorge Mañach said almost the same things. They addressed very similar concepts, because they were intellectuals and part of the vanguard of Cuban thought and art. But if you follow the course of their lives, you understand that those words with similar meanings had very different intentions. Marinello joined the Communist Party and Mañach founded a party with pseudo-fascist tendencies. One fought for social justice and socialism, while the other longed, too late, to become the ideologue of a national bourgeoisie which no longer existed. I don't believe that this rupture was only the result of a later evolution; it was already implicit in the differing historical directionality of their discourses.

It is absolutely imperative to differentiate directionality, today more than ever, because we live in a very contaminated, promiscuous linguistic environment, in a global society which has assimilated the discourse and traditional gestures of the left, especially since WWII. The class struggle is covered up, and we must unmask our interlocutors.

What do the Guidelines propose? Seeking an alternative route of our own to advance toward socialism, since no universal model exists, and every country, every historical moment, is specific. Cuban socialism means a Cuban path toward a society that is different from capitalism, in a hostile world, facing poverty, an implacable blockade, and with few natural resources, except for the knowledge of its citizens.

This is Cuba's real situation. We propose to maintain and expand the social justice we have achieved, and to do so, we must revitalize our productive forces. We therefore establish limits on the accumulation of wealth and property, and we are concerned about the mechanisms used to enforce these limits. On the contrary, centrists, with language similar to ours, suggest that we have abandoned the idea of social justice, but demand more profound changes that would lead to the dismantling of the minimum achieved in terms of justice. The "deepening" demanded by centrists, from both the economic and political point of view, is a return to capitalism. Divergent, critical opinions can and must be heard, but they must all be directed in the same direction, toward the same horizon.

When someone says that socialism has not been able to eradicate corruption or prostitution, it saddens me, because it's true. But at the same time, one should ask: What would capitalism do about this? Make it worse. When the accusation is not directed toward strengthening the system we have in the country - the only one which can correct its defects, deficiencies, and errors - but rather toward its destruction, the criticism is counterrevolutionary.

Because everything we do will not be fine. We are going to make mistakes, of this we can be sure. One who moves forward makes mistakes. What's important is to have the capacity to rectify and be clear about the direction of what we are doing, why we are doing it. If at some moment we lose our way, we will need to check the compass. May everything we can do now, and what we discuss, be marked by the clarification of what we want and where we are headed.

Is it possible to be both centrist and at the same time revolutionary?

Absolutely not. A reformist is not a revolutionary. Which doesn't mean that a revolutionary can't make reforms. Revolutionaries made the land reform, the urban reform… Being a reformist is something else.

Reformists believe in statistics, in the exhaustive descriptions of their environment that ends up making it incomprehensible. A minimal description of this room's walls does not allow us to understand where we are, because this room is located in a building, in a city, in a country. That is, in order to be useful, the description presupposes a broader perspective. To be a revolutionary one must take the flight of a condor, which is what Martí demanded.

Reformists are descriptive; they believe that reality is limited to what can be seen and touched - that is why they are confused and fail. In politics, a reformist can only sum up the social environment's four visible elements. The revolutionary adds a fifth subjective element, that cannot be detected in plain sight - an element reformists do not take into account, because they have no confidence in the people. We can summarize this fifth element recalling the historic reunion in

Cinco Palmas of the eight survivors of the Granma expedition. In Raúl's words, "He (Fidel) embraced me and the first thing he did was ask how many rifles I had, after that the famous phrase: Now, yes, we have won the war!" This is leaping over the abyss, as Martí said.

This is what differentiates a revolutionary from a reformist. And a centrist is worse than a reformist, because in a certain way, he is a fake.

In the European tradition, all this conceptual, theoretical, political drama that has been concocted since the 19th century gives these debates some weight. In Cuba the underlying foundations of these debates are revealed much more clearly. And all of this talk of melding capitalism with socialism, trying to stay on a revolutionary plane of discourse, but in practice counterrevolutionary, in one way or another, from my point of view, is also evidence of a certain level of cowardice, of inability to fight for something you believe in. These people believe in a project that is opposed to ours, but don't have enough political strength, or the courage, to say so openly. (Cubadebate)

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2017-07-10/is- ... -socialism
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:07 pm

Hmm, how do we edit posts?

Other link for above post: http://www.thebellforum.net/Bell2/www.t ... l?t=147365
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
Dhalgren
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:22 pm
Location: Belly of the beast - south

Re: Cuba

Post by Dhalgren » Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:42 pm

It's the pencil icon at the top.
" If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism." Lenin, 1916

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Thu Jul 20, 2017 1:11 pm

Aleida Guevara: "The Cuban Revolution will endure because of social consciousness"

Major abstracts of an interview by Aleida Guevara, daughter of the heroic Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, during her recent visit in Cyprus. The interview was published in the portal Dialogos / Translation in english: In Defense of Communism:

We talked about great personalities like Fidel, Che, Raul, Camilo. Their personalities frequently overshadow the Revolution of the Cuban people and the resistance which lasts for so many years. Something that imperialism feeds with illusions is (the perception) that the biological death of Fidel and Revolution's leaders will result to her collapse. How do you comment?

Image

"It is exactly what they did for the people of Cuba that makes them so great revolutionaries. It is that they formated social consciousness also through their own personal example. For example my father set some basic points of reference of the Revolution. One thing he taught us is when we do not understand something, we have the tast to demand an explanation. Not to be afraid of saying what we think. Always with respect and earning the right to be heard. This is very important. Our young people have this educational method. We have full consciousness of the power we have as people. Because it is something more internal, many people do not know that is like that in Cuba.

It is difficult to understand the level of Cuban people's consciousness. […] There is a large popular critique and our people have a big powers. They hear us. This is the important. The Revolution will endure after the biological absence of great people who led our people. We endured and resisted for many years, being so close to the largest imperialist center.

This didn't happen due to a handful of revolutionaries. It happened because of the developed social consciousness of our people. The people decided and knows what they want. I wouldn't like to be in the position of the one who will lead the people after the historic leadership of the Revolution, because of the obvious comparison with Fidel. It will be difficult, but the important is the will power of the people and the dedication by the CP of Cuba (PCC)."

Regarding the changes in Cuba's socialist system, Aleida Guevara said:

"There has been much criticism. The PCC prepared a series of issues. These issues were analysed by the people in every workplace, in schools, universities, everywhere. The people expressed their view. The National Assembly of People's Power recently adopted the final document with over 1,800 modifications made by the Cuban people. The changes in the first text were made through the popular participatory democracy and that is what the Parliament verified. We are very critical as a people. We have the political education to do something like that. Therefore, what will happen is a decision taken by the people."

In the question about the U.S policy towards Cuba and how she evaluates Trump's announcements on Cuba, Dr. Guevara mentioned the following:

"Obama “varnished” a bit the aggressiveness of the USA, but the worst sanctions of Washington against our people were set during Obama's period. He was simply a clever politician and presented himself as someone who wanted “changes”. In tactics, not in strategy. Obama's aim remained the overthrow of the Revolution. The same policy continues and Trump is simply rougher. He proved that when he made the statements alongside the US-funded anti-Cuban mafia of Miami. Alongside terrorists and murderers. And on that point I must say that not all Cubans living in the USA are enemies of our people, like the members of this reactionary and terrorist mafia. The aim of the USA were always the same against our people. Trump simply returned to the face of the previous US Presidents. We aren't worried. Everyone knows that our people kneels only to pay tribute to the heroes of independence and Revolution. Our struggle continues. They gave us more strength. Maybe it is even better, because many were “drifted” with Obama. They thought that there was a change. They wrongfully thought that the blockade was ended. Exactly the opposite took place. Obama was probably the worst clamp upon Cuban economy. Our people and all the people must remember what Che was saying about imperialism: You can't trust him at all."

Image

Aleida also talked about Che's admiration for the Soviet people, his affection for reading and studying. Among other things she said:

“My father was always a critical person. He was applying the same with the Soviet Union, but with much respect towards the Soviet people who he admired and respected also for his role in the international level”.

“In order to exercise critique you have to study a lot. My father was very well-read. He studied and talked with Mao Zedong himself and he could discuss in a documented way with him. That was an advantage of Che. He wasn't criticizing without reason. If we was criticizing something, that was because he had searched and found answers. That's why his critique was constructive and he was treated with respect”.

Dr. Aleida Guevara mentioned her participation in medical brigades, where she offered her skills and knowledge, like for example in Angola. This experience, she said, strengthened her anti-racist views: “I am a pediatrician and I saw children dying, while I could save them if I had enough medicines. This is unjust. If a child is black or lives in this planet's south, does it mean it must be condemned to death? There isn't any right in this situation. That is why I react in everything racist and colonial and I will fight against these until my last breath”.

“Cuba remains a symbol of Socialism. She proves that with her internationalist solidarity. What makes Cuba special? Socialism and our values. The fact that human is above everything. For example, when the Ebola virus broke out in Africa, the WHO (World Health Organisation) did not call a developed capitalist country. It didn't call the USA or the EU. It called Cuba. And the Cuban doctors stopped this epidemic which would be dangerous for the whole world. Socialist Cuba taught us to be ready to sacrifice ourselves in order to save lifes and help humanity. And the example of Cuba is very significant, because it shows that if we- a poor people- can be against american imperialism, then every people can do it."


https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/0 ... -will.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Fri Aug 04, 2017 2:47 pm

Cuba has graduated 170 doctors from the United States

ACN | Thursday, 3 August 2017 | Click here for original article

Image
HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 2 (ACN) Cuba has graduated 170 doctors from the United States through the project of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), which was initiated by Cuban leader Fidel Castro in November 1999.

In exclusive to Cuban News Agency, Zenia Díaz Catalá, director of the general secretariat of the ELAM project, said that since the first graduation in 2005, to date, ELAM have graduated more than 28,500 doctors from 103 countries, free of charge.

Dr. David Floyd, from the 2016-2017 promotion, thanked the Cuban leadership, the Cuban people, the teachers and workers of this noble project, an example of integration between peoples for a more humane world.

For me it has been a wonderful experience, I am impressed on the link between study and work, unlike training in the United States and other nations, stressed the young physician.

In Cuba we are trained by touching the patient, that was the greatest thing, the solidarity; in my country no one helps the other student, here teachers support the preparation with excellent behavior, said Floyd, an African-American, who studied in Cuba for seven years, including the pre-doctor studies.

The doctor finished his curricula at the Salvador Allende Faculty of the University of Medical Sciences of Havana, an institution that graduated 52 foreign doctors, 25 of them from the United States, Dr. Suiberto Echavarría, dean of that institution, said.

David Floyd, the father of the recent graduate, conveyed his eternal gratitude and said he was very impressed, pleased and honored because his son is a doctor trained in Cuba under ethical and moral principles, with a humanist conception.

Diaz Catalá explained that currently the ELAM project has a enrollment of 4,969 students from 112 nations in the 21 faculties of the country's medical science universities, of which 83 are from the United States.

http://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news/arti ... ted-states

More powerful than a thousand polemics.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Sat Aug 19, 2017 2:13 pm

Forests cover 30.6% of Cuba’s land area
The province of Pinar del Río is the most reforested in the country, with 47% of its total area covered by trees

Author: Orfilio Peláez | orfilio@granma.cu
august 19, 2016 10:08:36

Image
Cuba is among the developing nations that maintain sustained growth of their forest area. Photo: Idania Ruiz

Cuba ended 2015 with 30.6% of its territory covered by forests, a result that confirms the island’s place within the small group of developing nations that maintain sustained growth of this important environmental indicator.

According to the report “Environmental Outlook: Cuba 2015”, published by the National Office of Statistics and Information (www.onei.cu), in 2010 the forest area of the archipelago was 27.6%.

Once again, the province of Pinar del Río has seen the greatest reforestation, with 47% of its total area covered by trees, followed by Guantánamo with 46.7%, Matanzas with 39.1%, Holguín with 38.3%, Santiago de Cuba with 33% and Granma with 26.7%.

Meanwhile, the Isle of Youth Special Municipality has a significant 65.2% of its total area covered by trees, while in Las Tunas province forests cover just 19% of the local area.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2016-08-19/for ... -land-area
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Fri Aug 25, 2017 8:19 pm

Bolivian Health Minister discusses Cuban medical cooperation in her country
Over 770 Cuban health professionals are currently providing services in Bolivia, many in remote areas, including 106 specialist doctors

Author: Prensa Latina | internet@granma.cu
august 25, 2017 14:08:43

Image
Bolivian Health Minister Adriana Campero noted that Cuban doctors are present across the country’s nine departments, where they guarantee healthcare services and support the implementation of government programs in this field. Photo: revistamedicabolivia.com
HAVANA.— “We will always appreciate the support of the Cuban Medical Brigade,” stated Bolivia’s Minister of Health, Adriana Campero, on August 23.

Speaking to Prensa Latina in the Bolivian Embassy in the Cuban capital, Campero explained that today over 770 Cuban collaborators are providing their services in her country.

“They are all specialists and are present in places where many of our compatriots do not want to offer their services to the people,” Dr. Campero, who studied Medicine in Cuba, noted.

Campero emphasized that Cubans work in remote areas of the country and very close to its borders.

“In the nine departments of Bolivia, Cuban doctors are present, and in addition to guaranteeing healthcare in the sites where they are located, they support us in the implementation of the health programs promoted by the government,” she added.

The minister noted that together with Bolivian doctors, Cubans participate in the country’s recognized health fairs.

“We take a mobile clinic to the most remote communities, the last fair was held in a town called Lauca Ñ, in the Tropic of Cochabamba,” she explained.

“We undertook more than 22,000 medical consultations, and the residents of that and the surrounding areas were able to benefit, free of charge, from the work of 106 Cuban doctors in 22 specialties.”

Campero also noted that Bolivian doctors from the Mi Salud and Telesalud social programs participated, and provided assistance with translations for indigenous communities.

“In those three days many lives were saved, and patients were referred to hospitals who after a diagnosis needed more complex care,” she added.

“We went and explained our health programs, and we took allowances for pregnant women,” the minister stated.

“Now in Cuba, we are undertaking a packed agenda as the Ministry of Health, along with the Bolivian ambassador here, Juan Ramón Quintana.

“We have covered different topics, the first of which is the training of doctors in a second specialty, that is those who have already graduated as Comprehensive General Medicine doctors, can pursue another specialization.


Cuban doctors provide their services in the most remote areas of Bolivia. Photo: Enviada por Yordanis Rodríguez Torr
“We had a meeting with Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales, and we are grateful for the willingness to open up the specialties offered to our Bolivian colleagues, which the country needs.

“We also addressed the possibility of new medium-term training opportunities for more specialists for the nation,” Campero added.

“We want to work on another framework convention that includes the exchange of scientific research, technical, and commercial guidance between the two countries on medicines and health technologies.

“Together with Quintana, we visited the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), where we had a meeting with the management.

“We currently have more than 3,000 medical graduates from ELAM working on Ministry of Health plans in more than 25 indigenous communities in 307 out of 339 municipalities, in places where other doctors had never arrived.”

The minister emphasized that these medical personnel are based in remote communities where they are most needed.

Campero added that they are currently organizing Disaster Contingency Rapid Response Brigades.

“In fact, a major disaster occurred in the southern department of Tarija, and we were there with our team,” she concluded.

http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2017-08-25/bo ... er-country
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
Dhalgren
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:22 pm
Location: Belly of the beast - south

Re: Cuba

Post by Dhalgren » Sat Aug 26, 2017 12:17 pm

Damn commie bastards! Helping people with free health care! Who do they think they are?!
" If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism." Lenin, 1916

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:09 pm

A change of mentality bears fruit
Machado Ventura tours farms and ranches in the province of Camagüey, as well as a recently renovated hospital

Author: Miguel Febles Hernández | febles@granma.cu
august 29, 2017 09:08:56

Image
Photo: Miguel Febles Hernández

CAMAGÜEY.–In an extensive tour of farming and ranching areas in this province, José Ramón Machado Ventura, second Party secretary and a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, confirmed that new ways of thinking and working are gaining ground among cattle ranchers here, leading to much-needed diversification and an increase in the delivery of foodstuffs to society.

Visiting a center where calves are weaned early and raised artificially, Machado noted the contribution of this type of facility to the recovery of the cattle industry.

Image
Photo: Miguel Febles Hernández

Accompanied by Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca and Isabel González Cárdenas, leaders of the Party and People's Power in Camagüey, respectively, Machado confirmed that work is progressing on rehabilitation of infrastructure that will ensure veterinary attention to livestock in the municipalities of Guáimaro, Sibanicú and Jimaguayú.

The program includes the reopening of dairies, centers for the development of heifers, and pastures for the fattening of animals, which should lead to improved reproduction and better genetic quality of cattle, meaning more meat and milk for the population.

Image
Photo: Miguel Febles Hernández

The effort was evident at the Evelio Rodríguez Curbelo Credit and Services Cooperative, the first in the country to reach the goal of a million liters of milk sold to industry, and at the dairy 1-14, affiliated with the La Paz unit of cooperative production, where more than 100,000 liters have been delivered.

Machado Ventura commented here that everyone has the right to benefit economically from their efforts - the individual worker, the cooperative, the state enterprise - but that everyone must keep the nation's interests foremost in mind, since the state has allocated significant resources to support an increase in agricultural production.

Image
Photo: Miguel Febles Hernández

"That is why," he said, "directors, workers, and farmers must know how much every piece of equipment the state puts at their disposal costs; in what time period an investment must be repaid; how to take maximum advantage of a piece of land or resource; and how the main indicators of efficiency are performing. This is administration, definitely."

Machado likewise visited the Manuel Ascunce Domenech University Hospital in the city of Camagüey, an institution that today features more comfort and improved medical services, as well as better results in surgery and teaching, 55 years after it was inaugurated by José Ramón Machado Ventura himself, when he served as Minister of Public Health.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2017-08-29/a-c ... ears-fruit
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 10589
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Cuba

Post by blindpig » Sat Sep 02, 2017 5:07 pm

September 5 is a successful fact of our History

"Free we are with the Revolution today and free will continue to be, because I have great faith in our people. That is why I reaffirm that September 5 was a success

Author: Julio Martínez Molina | internet@granma.cu
September 2, 2017 00:09:49

Image

CIENFUEGOS.- Commander Julio Camacho Aguilera is one of those men who has tempered his character in the heat of the struggles of clandestinity and the Rebel Army; as well as throughout the revolutionary process and the innumerable missions that it has fulfilled from its beginning and still today, to its 93 years.

This fighter born in Holguin in 1924 led, on behalf of the 26th of July Movement, the armed uprising of the people of Cienfuegos against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, on September 5, 1957. Celia Sánchez called "the man from Cienfuegos" whom he commanded that popular deed, armed with an automatic rifle M-1.

Granma confesses that "the least I thought at the time was being able to be alive 60 years later, but it was nature that allowed it to develop this long struggle: first until January 1959 when the Revolution triumphed , and then for the social and political transformation of the country that began then.

We are free thanks to gestas like those of September 5
and others developed to make reality the aspirations
of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Martí, Maceo


Never could the enemy bend our integrity, we never give up. Photo: Efraín Cedeño
Despite recognizing its historical importance, most materials qualify as a "failed" uprising on September 5. What is your opinion?

-I think that none of the revolutionary actions that this country carried out since the Batista coup of March 10, 1952 was useless or failed. All had a historical result that is measured well beyond the immediate moment.

The Moncada, the assault on the Goicuría barracks in Matanzas, the Corynthia yacht expedition in Holguín, the assault on the Presidential Palace and the Cienfuegos uprising are historical facts of inestimable importance, which mark milestones and can never be interpreted as failures.

"It has been written that the uprising of 1957 was unsuccessful; although on the contrary I consider that both this and all the events recorded throughout this period were successful and resulted in the creation of an awareness of revolutionary struggle in our people.

"When a comrade fell, several comrades joined. It is very hard to see losing one's life to someone you love, that one appreciates and for now you see him dead, but the enemy could never break our heart, we never give up. We kept the faith, the faith that Fidel made us have stronger.

"When one studied in those days History would absolve me or when I studied the manifestos that came from Mexico, and then had a direct link with the thought and will of Fidel, it reinforced even more the strength of mind, the force of thought and the decision of struggle.

"I mean that the enemy could never defeat us in any action. Our people knew how to suffer the consequences of the lost children, but no son was lost in vain. And there is no freedom that does not cost. There are no rights achieved that do not have to pay their price to reach them.

"But how much beauty we have today as a result of that insurrectional environment of September 5 and this beautiful revolutionary process that since the 1st. January began in Cuba! Today there is a reality. This youth today has a truth in their hands, which the mambises could not achieve after 30 years of struggle.

"The mambises despoiled success when they had it in their hands. The nascent and growing empire of the north robbed these Cuban fighters of the right to freedom, conquered in the manigua. Our people were never happy with the 60 years of imperial presence in Cuba and were always rebellious against this state of affairs.

"Even the one who did not know where the evil came was against the prevailing order imposed on us here, with the apparent" freedom "we never had, because for the Yankee troops to leave the national territory those patriots were forced to accept the Platt Amendment.

"American imperialism became the true owner of our economy, of industry, land, electricity. Cuban "sovereignty" was mere appearance. We are only truly independent thanks to the efforts of our people, through their Rebel Army and the clandestine struggle.

"We are free thanks to gestas like those of September 5 and others developed to make reality the aspirations of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Martí, Maceo.

"Since before the Conspiracy of Suns and Rays of Bolivar our people fight for their dignity, for their sovereignty; but he did not have the opportunity, because there was an empire that always prevented him. Why did not the Revolution succeed in 1933, after Machado fell? They never let Cubans be free.

"Free we are with the Revolution today and free will continue to be, because I have great faith in our people. That is why I reaffirm that September 5 was a success. We must have lamented the loss of many companions, but we were glad that many more were incorporated as a result of that historical action. The Cienfuegos can live happy and satisfied with their behavior on that glorious day. "

- What teaching transmits to the new generations of Cubans an action of heroic resistance like that of September 5?

-I think that on September 5, like any event of struggle in search of a noble goal of redemption and freedom, it is a source of inspiration for all ages and for all time. The story does not conclude, we are living today an extraordinary historical moment and before we have lived extraordinary passages of resistance before the aggressions, blockades and impositions of a great power that has not been able nor can bend the sovereign will of Cuba.

I believe that our youth should continue to be what it already is and be able to continue aspiring to new and higher goals, but always starting from a base. And that base is history, it is the past, it is the sacrifice of a whole people for the sake of the present that we enjoy: present that allows us to have new dreams, new aspirations.

I am sure that our youth will materialize them, because I harbor all my hopes in it.

"And on September 5, part of our heroic past of resistance, he speaks to them with clear eloquence of essential notions and values ​​such as patriotism, dignity, courage, altruism."

-Finally, what judgment do you deserve the entire program of rescue, rehabilitation and inauguration of works developed in Cienfuegos for the 60th anniversary of the anniversary?

"It is very positive, because it is a recognition of the great sacrifice of the deed and this people deserve at the moment to have news, beautiful things. All this development effort being undertaken by Cienfuegos is commendable. I see a lot of beauty here. It follows the proverbial love of its citizens for its city and the interest of keeping it clean.

I believe that our youth should continue to be what it already is and be able to
continue aspiring to new and higher goals, but always starting
from a base. And that base is history, it is the past, it is the sacrifice
of a whole people

"The cleaning is not in the territory, nor can be, the responsibility of a group of people dedicated to it; but concern of all who love their people. As clean we have our houses, so our large house must remain that is the city. And also harmonious, organized.

"I believe that the present Cienfuegos responds and taxes with honor to that sacrifice so great that the town did here on September 5. Its inhabitants are doing today all that was necessary: ​​to beautify and maintain their city, to develop the economy in order to reach new goals and to continue observing the inescapable commitment to the homeland defense, to preserve what was achieved in the libertarian deed of 1957 ».

http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2017-09-02/el ... 7-00-09-49

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

Post Reply