Cuba

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Mon Feb 22, 2021 2:28 pm

Dialogue or the business of posturing and prattle?

"Dialogue" is the latest banner raised by the counterrevolution in Cuba, taking to the Internet to keep the business of defaming our institutions afloat

Author: Karima Oliva Bello | informacion@granmai.cu

february 19, 2021 16:02:08

It turns out that "dialogue" is the latest banner raised by the counterrevolution in Cuba which, under the name of a Plebeian Articulation, despite its lack of support on the streets, is moving to the Internet to maintain the business of discrediting Cuban institutions, under the guise of a "panel discussion." Time passes quickly, especially in the ephemeral world of digital social networks, and before this latest attempt joins the list of failures orchestrated from the North to change Cuba, perhaps it would be useful to leave some clarifications in print:

The Articulation arose within the context of an attempt to produce a soft coup in our country based on a fake hunger strike, allegedly protesting the imprisonment of a representative, a self-proclaimed Trump supporter, for contempt of police authority. Among its signatories are individuals with known records as U.S. employees promoting subversion in Cuba, among them, journalists for media financed by right-wing organizations that have historically served as cover for interference in countries of geopolitical interest to this country.

They do not seek dialogue; they seek to legitimize themselves as the "democratic" alternative promoting a change of system in Cuba, which is, politically speaking, another agenda altogether. In this sense, many of the signatories of the group’s statement speak of political plurality, not only in terms of recognizing that this exists, which is undeniable, but to advocate a multiparty system, which would provide access to the Cuban National Assembly and state administration bodies to economic and political interests of the center and the right, which, in effect, are nothing more than class interests associated with the United States, as happens in most of the region, and as occurred in Cuba before 1959. After gaining this foothold, the plan would be to push for the restoration of capitalism. This, above all, is an unconstitutional demand that is contrary to the consensus expressed by the majority of the Cuban people when we voted to approve our new Magna Carta.

The concept of democracy in the group’s narrative is void of meaning. There is no genuine concern for a deepening of democracy in Cuban society, given that the Articulation is clearing the way for the reactionary right, the main threat to democracy in the region and the world.

The building of a sovereign nation is not guaranteed, when playing a leading role are individuals who work for the media and organizations of a foreign government, and demand mediation for the resolution of our internal disagreements. It is no coincidence that one of the participants in the discussion in question prepared a letter addressed to the U.S. government requesting that conditions be placed on the lifting of the blockade of our country. This is not only an open act of surrender, but also sabotages the work of our diplomats, in genuine representation of our people, to end the blockade and move toward resuming normalized relations with this country.

They do not represent the voice of Cuban civil society, as they pretend. This presumptuous posture leaves out more than 86% of Cubans, including all who, while maintaining criticism of our reality and anxious for a more prosperous country, do not intend to abandon socialism or national sovereignty.

They declare themselves democratic socialists intending, in concrete terms, to avoid distinguishing themselves from the liberal narrative that has been used by the international right wing to implement neoliberalism around the world. Abstractions and nonsense such as "Democracy without surnames," or "The opposite of capitalism is not socialism but democracy" have been touted, clearly demonstrating the ideological foundation of the "dialogue" advocated by the Articulation.

I believe that dialogue and debate must continue to be essential components of our political system. And I say continue, because dialogue in Cuba is obviously not just beginning now that the Articulation has called for it. I think we can agree on that, although the mechanisms our institutions and organizations have to promote participation, and make discussion more effective in improving their work as public servants, must be perfected and adjusted to the dynamics of a society that has changed.

The unmasking of the farce proposed, disguised as dialogue by those earning millions of dollars allocated for subversion in Cuba, through sponsorships, events and publications on the Internet, which for the first time have managed to manufacture opinion leaders who have attracted minority sectors of the Cuban intelligentsia, not only requires denunciation, but also demands that we renovate our ways of communicating, mobilizing and doing politics, building consensus, promoting dialogue that is authentic and deeply connected to the people, and participation in resolving the fundamental problems of the country. This is the only way to eliminate any opening that could be exploited by the regime change operation, which, far from diminishing in the coming months and years, will increase.

Those of us who have lived in other societies have noticed that Cuba is perhaps the country in the region where the people most deliberate and discuss political issues whenever and wherever they may be, during the everyday course of their lives.

The Constitution was recently discussed as the Policy Guidelines were discussed previously, in an unprecedented exercise of popular participation, unseen in any contemporary liberal democracy, although this does not count as dialogue according to the promoters of imported politics. It would seem that dialogue is only that which is conducted through channels alien to Cuban institutionality and in open hostility to the Revolution, no matter how much they try to pass it off as something else.

Dialogue yes, but as Hero of the Republic of Cuba Fernando Gonzalez would say, no dialogue should mask an attempt to destroy the Revolution and socialism.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-02-19/dia ... nd-prattle

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Attempted robbery
Anti-Cuban mercenaries make the mistake of believing that Martí has become nothing more than a statue, an appropriate figure to include in their farces, but he has long since come down from pedestals and walks among his people

Author: Miguel Cruz | informacion@granmai.cu

february 19, 2021 14:02:01

Just as he is, in his authentic dimensions, José Martí is of no use to their cause. This would require suppressing a good many texts, no longer publishing them, condemning them to oblivion to such an extent that they become obscure, a topic of study for experts only. Anti-Cuban mercenaries were obliged to quote only certain phrases in their most recent farce, which taken out of context, could serve them very well.

They were looking for a decaffeinated hero, a ‘lite’ patriot, but they found it uncomfortable to actually come face to face with his words, especially with his last, dedicated to Manuel Mercado, with his devastating definition of a monster, a country that boasted of being an eagle. The clairvoyance of a man who portrayed them with his pen hurts them, but without him, without presenting him as their ally, they could do little to subjugate Cuba.

If he were alive, they would not even have tried; he was much too loyal and honest to switch sides. But now, believing he had become nothing more than a statue, a bust or poster, they perceived him as an appropriate figure to incorporate into their manipulative games. They calculated that there would be no repeat of what happened in 1953, when a generation of young rebels made sure that Martí did not die in the year of his centenary.

Again and again they have attempted to misrepresent him in radio and television appearances that are never seen or heard, stories about the improbable intrigues of Gomez and Maceo, slogans and photos on Calle 8, ridiculous events every May 20th, badly translated quotes from the mouths of imperialist Presidents, the unreal Martí who they pretend to honor acting like pigs, perhaps inspired by the disgraceful behavior of drunken Marines, in the Havana of the1950s.

But their pitiful attempts will be reduced to ashes; the people ignite their torches and keep Martí’s light alive. He has long since come down from pedestals and walks among his people, who care for him, because he continues to be the Teacher who guides us.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-02-19/attempted-robbery

Jose Marti is the paramount hero of Cuba, ask anybody there...

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blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:58 pm

Cuba has assisted almost one third of the world's population in health care
CUBANEW/ACN
23 FEBRUARY 2021

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 23 (ACN) In the six decades of Cuban medical collaboration abroad, its health personnel have assisted 1.988 billion people in the world, almost a third of mankind, said Dr. Jorge Delgado Bustillo, director of the Central Unit for Medical Cooperation (UCCM).

Delgado Bustillo also assured that Cuban doctors have performed more than 14,500,000 surgical operations, 4,470,000 deliveries and have saved 8,700,000 lives, results that increase the prestige of Cuban medicine in the international arena.

Currently, when the COVID-19 pandemic causes the death of thousands of people every day, more than 30,407 Cuban health professionals are in 66 nations, distributed in permanent medical brigades and the Henry Reeve Contingent.

He pointed out that at the request of governments, this force arrived for the first time in Europe, in the Italian region of Lombardy and the city of Turin; it was also in the Principality of Andorra and in dozens of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
He also mentioned that out of the 56 brigades that were created to fight SARS-CoV-2, 25 are active, with around 2,500 collaborators.

The UCCM director affirmed that this is not the first time Cuba has taken the lead in this health emergency, and recalled its presence after the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, and in 2010 during another earthquake in Haiti and the cholera epidemic, when Cuban doctors were the first to attend to the victims and identify the disease in that country.

There were also 265 of our professionals in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea Conakry, during the Ebola epidemic in 2014, while from Cuba another 12,000 volunteers were ready to fulfill that mission, the official stressed.
Delgado Bustillo remarked that the island has thousands of health professionals who voluntarily go to the most distant nations and under the most difficult conditions, without any pressure, since it is a spontaneous decision of each one of them.

The fraternal history with other nations dates back to 1960, when an emergency brigade went to Chile to help the victims of an earthquake of 9.5 on the Richter scale in the southern city of Valdivia, the largest earthquake ever registered in history.

Three years later, Cuban medical collaboration officially began with the sending of permanent brigades to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, a nation that had achieved its independence after the end of an anti-colonial war with France.
Since then, Cuba has been present in more than 150 countries with more than 420,000 health professionals.

http://www.cubanews.acn.cu/science/1264 ... ealth-care

Those who would despise our species for it's 'human nature' must purposefully ignore Cuba.

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Sat Feb 27, 2021 2:38 pm

Clinical trials and production of Cuban COVID vaccines advance simultaneously

Once expected approval by the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices is granted, in the first days of March phase III clinical trials will begin of Cuba’s Abdala (CIGB-66) and Soberana 02 candidates vaccine against COVID-19, which have proven to be safe and effective in producing a powerful immune response to the virus

Author: Gladys Leydis Ramos López | internet@granma.cu

february 26, 2021 10:02:11

Photo: José Manuel Correa

Once expected approval by the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (Cecmed) is granted, in the first days of March phase III clinical trials will begin of Cuba’s Abdala (CIGB-66) and Soberana 02 candidate vaccines against COVID-19, which have proven to be safe and effective in producing a powerful immune response to the virus.

During a press tour of the facilities where the antigens of these vaccines are produced, Doctor in Sciences Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of Cuba’s Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Enterprise Group (BioCubaFarma), reported that industrial-scale production of these injectables continues, alongside the studies.

Regarding the Abdala candidate, specifically, President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, commented on Twitter, "Large scale production is already underway at the prestigious AICA Laboratory. Batches ready for phase III clinical trials, in Santiago and Guantanamo, starting in March. Encouraging news, but no cause for carelessness."

Dr. Vicente Vérez Bencomo, general director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, indicated that some 44,000 volunteers will participate in phase III trails of the Soberana 02 candidate, while a community intervention trial will be conducted including more than 1,000,000 subjects.

In both cases, he added, the goal is to determine the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing infection, an issue which, to date, has not beeen analyzed with any of the candidates, plus this second trial will allow for the immunization of more people.

Master of Science Eduardo Ojito Magaz, director of the Molecular Immunology Center (CIM), institution responsible for manufacturing the antigen that serves as raw material for the Soberana vaccines, stated that the more than 300,000 doses of Soberana 02 needed for the trial are ready; while work is currently focused on producing those required for the second study.

Marta Ayala Avila, Party Political Bureau member and general director of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), noted that this institution, which is now producing antigens for the Abdala and Mambisa candidates (CIGB-669), has more than 30 years of experience in productions of this nature, specifically with the use of the yeast pichia pastoris, which is used in the manufacture of protein subunit vaccines.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-02-26/cli ... ltaneously

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Implementation of new international sanitary measures advances in Cuba

Given the epidemiological situation around the world and the need to contain a new wave of COVID-19 cases in Cuba, new measures have been adopted, including the testing and isolation of all travelers arriving from abroad

Author: Liz Conde Sánchez | internet@granma.cu

february 16, 2021 11:02:07

All travelers arriving in the country are administered a PCR test before leaving the airport. Photo: Endrys Correa Vaillant

Since February 6, when new international sanitary control measures came into effect, along with the decision to isolate all travelers from abroad upon arrival in the country; both provisions were established based on the national and international epidemiological situation, and the need to contain a new wave of COVID-19 cases in the nation.

In this regard, new reductions in the frequency of flights from the United States, Mexico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Colombia were implemented. Flights to and from Nicaragua, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname remained suspended. Trips to Haiti were suspended and the arrival of flights without passengers was authorized only to evacuate persons stranded in the country, be they foreign citizens or Cubans residing abroad.

In view of the currently difficult epidemiological situation in Cuba, which was triggered by violations of home quarantine protocols established for international travelers arriving in the country after the reopening of the José Martí International Airport in the capital on November 15, it was decided to implement institutional isolation for all persons in this category.

Prior to making the move, the government prepared capacities in isolation centers in all provinces, to guarantee appropriate conditions for international travelers. It was determined that for residents, the isolation would be in centers set up for this purpose, with lodging, food and transportation to the center, as well as to their residence when released from quarantine, all provided free of charge.

International visitors and non-resident Cubans are to be isolated in hotel facilities designated in each territory, with travelers assuming the cost of their stay and transportation. Those residents who have the necessary resources may take advantage of this option and pay for a tourist package.

Two days before the beginning of the application of these measures, Granma visited José Martí International Airport’s Terminal III to verify how the new provisions are being implemented, and spoke with Aeronautics, Transportation and Public Health authorities about progress being made in the process.

Alcibiades Jesús Alarcón Mota, head of Ground Operations at the terminal, explained that since the new regulations were issued general access to any part of the facility, both inside and out, is prohibited. Only passengers and employees of the facility are authorized.

Flight arrival schedules were also adapted. "We have spaced flights, since the progression of arriving passengers is more complicated than that of departing travelers. By allowing a minimum of one and a half hours between one flight and another, we can ensure that there will be no congestion within the terminal," he reported.

Likewise, the unaccompanied baggage option has been eliminated. Regarding this rule change, Alarcón clarified that now all passenger belongings must come on the aircraft with the ticket holder. "At times, there was not enough room on the aircraft for all luggage and passengers could send it on another flight, as unaccompanied baggage. At the moment, to avoid the influx of persons coming to retrieve suitcases, the airline cannot allow unaccompanied baggage."

Regarding hygienic-sanitary measures within the facility, Alarcón stated that efforts continue to maintain physical distancing, the use of protective wear by workers and passengers, as well as the disinfection of hands and surfaces. To guarantee that standards are met, greeters were placed at the terminal's entrance, to control entry, take passengers’ temperature, provide hand sanitizer and separate one traveler from another. In addition, only one entrance door is open, through which all travelers and employees access the area.

Alarcón reported that Terminal III is now operating only about 25 flights a week, and serving around 4,000 fewer passengers.

The sanitary protocols with which all travelers must comply upon arrival to the island, established November 15 when the Havana airport was reopened, remain unchanged. Upon arrival, passengers are required to present evidence of a negative PCR test, issued by an internationally certified laboratory in their country of origin, administered no more than 72 hours before their flight.

The passenger is then administered another PCR before being transported to an isolation center, where he or she remains in quarantine until results are available from of a second test administered on the fifth day after arrival.

Body temperature is taken again in the customs area and upon exiting the terminal, as passengers are waiting to be transferred, where a medical assistance post is available should any emergency arise.

Milidza Ayllon Castañera, head of Havana's International Sanitary Control Department, noted that, since February 6, supervision to ensure adherence to preventative measures has been reinforced, including the area between the terminal exit and where passengers board buses to be transferred to an isolation center.

She emphasized the presence of the state sanitary inspection personnel in all areas, to observe passengers and enforce compliance with epidemiological measures: physical distancing, the use of facemasks and proper food handling in areas where refreshments and meals are served.

Ayllon reported that in the event that a passenger exhibits symptoms indicative of a possible illness, an isolation room is available, prepared in accordance with international sanitary regulations. In such a situation, the passenger is isolated from others and all arrangements are made for his or her transfer to an appropriate health institution, which would be in Havana, regardless of the affected person’s destination or province of residence.

Regarding the isolation protocol, the head of the Ground Operations at the airport explained that, once passengers arrive in the country, resident citizens, foreigners and non-resident Cubans are grouped separately, to determine who will go to free-of-cost isolation centers, and who will go to pre-paid hotels, as well as the transportation each traveler requires.

Cuban and resident passengers’ provinces of origin are also taken into consideration, in order to organize transportation to their homes, when the required isolation period is completed.

Once the flight arrives and all sanitary protocols inside the terminal have been completed, passengers proceed to the transfer area. Transportation must be as well organized as possible to avoid crowding and delays.

Regarding this issue, Luis Ladrón de Guevara Marzal, director of this work at the Ministry of Transportation (Mitrans), reported to the press that the transfer of all travelers arriving in the country from airports to isolation centers, in their provinces of residence, or to hotels, is proceeding as planned and no major problems have emerged.

Toward this end, he explained, a national coordination center, located at José Martí Airport itself, has been established, staffed by members of the Youth Transportation Detachment, as well as provincial coordination centers, with which information is shared to ensure that all arriving passengers reach their destinations.

"We have transferred travelers on all arriving flights, since Saturday (February 6), without incident. Drivers, necessary protective equipment, disinfection of vehicles, and adherence to sanitary protocol measures have all been ensured," he stated.

The effort involves the participation of the transportation companies Ómnibus Nacionales, Cubataxi, TaxisCuba, Transtur and Transgaviota, among other entities.

Buses travel in caravans, escorted by the National Revolutionary Police, from the moment they leave Havana to provincial borders, where local authorities assume the responsibility of providing security to their final destinations.

Ladrón de Guevara indicated that, for longer journeys, logistics were coordinated with the Ministry of Domestic Commerce, to arrange stops at different points along the way, for passengers to purchase food and use restrooms. For this purpose, sites with adequate hygienic conditions were identified in Cienfuegos, Camagüey, Granma and Santiago de Cuba, and have been prepared to meet travelers’ needs during a short stop along the road.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-02-16/imp ... es-in-cuba

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:09 pm

Trigger Words and the Duty of Revolutionaries in the Internet era

By Iroel Sánchez – Mar 9, 2021

Anti-communist propaganda based on manipulating terms like “democracy,” “human rights” and “freedom” has expanded its repertory with certain expressions about Cuba based on a fabricated image, which are strewn across on the Internet as common knowledge

In Biology class, I don’t remember if it was in middle or high school, we learned about conditioned reflexes based on the work of the Russian scientist and Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Ivan Pavlov. I think his experiment is quite well known: He would start a metronome before feeding his dog, and observed that, when the dog had not been fed for a while and heard the sound, it began to salivate. Later the legend grew that Pavlov used a bell and not a metronome, but the principle is the same: the induced association between certain stimuli and a subsequent response. Based on this, behavioral psychology was applied in education, advertising and many other arenas in the United States.

In his famous interview with Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel refers to the use of this technique in anti-communist propaganda: “And being uninformed is not the same as having lost the ability to think, because your mind is dominated by reflexes: socialism is bad, socialism is bad, they take away your parental rights, they take away your house, they take away your wife.” And the ignorant, the illiterate, the poor, the exploited are repeating: Socialism is bad, socialism is bad. This is how parrots are taught to speak, bears to dance and lions to bow down respectfully.”

Noam Chomsky includes the effect of anti-communist propaganda among the five filters that determine contents in the media. Both he and Fidel were referring to the situation reigning before the advent of Internet social networks, which, although it has certainly democratized access to communication, has also strengthened pre-existing hegemonies.

In a scenario in which processes advance at great speed, the emotional tends to prevail over the rational, and so-called egomation – the promotion and predominance of the individual, along with information linked to what is pertinent or relevant to that person – is imposed over interest in dialogue, going deeper and getting to know others. Without taking into account politically motivated use of Internet social networks, networks like Facebook have consolidated a business model based on profiting from egomania and selling influence over individuals and groups. In the case of Cuba, added to this universal reality is the impact of an annual budget of half a hundred million dollars provided by the U.S. government to influence our society.

Anti-communist propaganda, historically promoted worldwide by the dominant discourse and the manipulated use of terms like “democracy,” “human rights” and “freedom,” has expanded its repertory with the construction of certain expressions about the Cuban reality which, based on an image developed in that isolated hamlet of intolerance that is Miami, are transferred to the Internet as common knowledge about the island. Situations that occurred more than four decades ago, rarely analyzed in depth among ourselves – UMAP, “the five grey years,” repudiation of those who emigrated from Mariel – are taken out of context and presented as permanent, systemic, current characteristics of Cuban socialism, while everything that capitalism around us does on a daily basis in terms of repression, censorship, violence, torture and exclusion against majorities and minorities remains unheard.

Using, with no evidence whatsoever, the words censorship or repression, or the expression “act of repudiation,” is enough to override the necessity of providing data and arguments, or analyzing the events cited, before a series of publications is immediately unleashed in which three indignant sentences written by someone on a Facebook profile turn the world upside down. And when arguments and data refuting hastily drawn conclusions appear, two things happen. The outraged person continues to cling to their “truth” like someone who insists that the earth is flat, and the machinery that multiplies this indignation attacks those who contribute a more analytical vision. This is how freedom of expression about Cuba works on the Internet.

Over just a few months’ time, we have seen this procedure used to justify throwing pig’s blood on busts of José Martí, various desecrations of the Cuban flag, attempts to recast the significance historical dates like November 27, manipulate the meaning of “Homeland or Death” and change the name of the Plaza de la Revolución on Google maps. But if you say that a cultural war against Cuba is being waged on digital social networks, then – according to the machinery triggering reflexes conditioned by propaganda of thousands of people on Facebook – you are an extremist, a tropical Stalinist who does not tolerate “thinking differently,” because, of course, their assertions are “thinking,” not propaganda. And don’t be surprised if you sadly find individuals among the subscribers to these statements who you considered critically minded, intelligent and well-informed. The ability to think has been replaced by emotional reaction and anything can happen. Trigger words have done their job and the intellectual task of establishing the truth is no longer important, in the age of egomania what is relevant is to get “likes,” even if many of them are from trolls with fake profiles; your ego is stroked and your brain will be content not having to make an effort.

For our part, in addition to continuing to promote comprehensive, profound education to train critical citizens, who cannot be manipulated by the professionals managing this hybrid war, it is important to understand that the scenario has changed radically. The endless stream of provocations that seek to create a situation of ungovernability, taking advantage of the technological and media superiority that imperialism puts at the disposal of its handful of servants in Cuba – even attempting to unleash violence and death – can only be exposed by a response based on intelligence, political consciousness and analysis, to avoid falling into the traps they are setting, and, while continuing to firmly defend our principles, be prepared, across the entire country, to foresee the course of every possible action, to document and disseminate the true version and cause of events, and to always insist that ethics, reason, and our people, are on the side of the Revolution. Let us act this way in this “chess game of a thousand pieces,” as Fidel liked to call the ideological struggle, which now moves, in part, to the Internet, where the Cuban people will once again triumph.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-03-09/tri ... ternet-era

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:30 pm

Fidel, Father and Inspiration Behind Cuba’s Scientific System
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 5, 2021

Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein

Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean that is successfully developing its own vaccines against covid. Those who do not know the island of Martí and Fidel cannot understand how a small nation, attacked, vilified, attacked and blockaded by the most powerful empire in the history of mankind, has been capable of such a feat. They should know that the roots of this feat go back to the very origins of the revolution when, in the trial of Fidel and his comrades after the assault on the Moncada Barracks in July 1953, the young lawyer, in his defense argument before the court -which later became known as “History will absolve me”- clearly pointed out the right of Cubans to the endogenous development of industry and technology.

After the triumph of the revolution, Fidel turned to making the “Moncada Program” a reality. As early as January 1960, he pointed out that the future of Cuba had to be necessarily a future of men of science and thought because that is what the revolution would sow: “opportunities for intelligence”. Likewise, thinking of the future, he assured that now scientists and researchers would have every opportunity to serve their people and their homeland, because in the coming years scientific institutions would grow and he hoped that many Cubans would join them, not only to increase their knowledge but, most importantly, that this knowledge should be put at the service of justice and the homeland.

In this way, with an outstanding vision, he proposed a strategic task for young people, urging them to research, thought and knowledge, since Cuba was living in times “in which the role of thought is exceptional, because only thought can guide the people in times of great transformations and in times when great enterprises such as this one are undertaken”.

As in all the actions crystallized by Fidel, the speech was always accompanied by deeds. Thus, in 1962 the Cuban Academy of Sciences was created, research centers were organized in different institutions linked to the economy and services and in July 1965, with his decisive guidance, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNIC) was inaugurated, formally initiating the creation of institutions that would constitute the backbone of the Cuban scientific system.

Years later, on March 13, 1969, during a speech at the University of Havana, he established the need to link universities and research. In this regard, he said:

“The university should be linked to research, and universities should be research centers of all kinds (…) we mean that professors should participate in research and research centers should participate in the training of future technicians”, thus proposing a leap in the process by formulating the need to massify research efforts even more. Likewise, he established a practice that from then on should be assumed by Cuban leaders, when he stated that it was “the obligation of any man of public responsibility to try to have the minimum of knowledge to be able to evaluate what scientists, technicians, specialists, may state in one way or another”.

Along with this, he projected for scientists, the sentiment and the imperative of the Cuban revolution to serve society and internationalism:

“In order to have access to modern production and master advanced technologies, it is essential to instruct the men and women who will handle them, train them for the greatest knowledge of their specialties and endow them with a social, patriotic and internationalist conscience that will allow them to carry out both their own economic and social projects and contribute to the development of that part of humanity that is most urgent and suffers to the worst degree the consequences of the colonial past.”

Under his wise guidance, Cuba, a small country of scarce resources, incessantly attacked by the United States, developed a scientific community of the 1st world. Thus, in 1976 the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the State Committee of Science and Technology were created. In 1981, the so-called “Biological Front” was founded, in which the work of all scientists and institutions related to the subject was combined on the basis of cooperation, integration and generalization of processes.

In 1982, the Center for Biological Studies (CIB) began to operate and four years later the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) was born, a first level institution and emblematic center of biotechnology in Cuba with the objective of becoming an institution that would link research and production, characterized by the continuity of all the activities and specialized scientific topics that had begun in the CIB. Likewise, new research centers emerged and a special impulse was given to biotechnology. Examples of all this were the National Center of Biopreparations; the Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK); the National Library of Science and Technology; the “Carlos J. Finlay” Institute for the development of vaccines; the Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM) specialized in obtaining monoclonal antibodies; the Center of Molecular Chemistry (CQM), dedicated to the development of synthetic antigens; and the Center of Immunoassays (CIE) among other research institutions of which there are branches in several provinces. In each of these centers, the personal imprint imposed by the Commander in Chief was present.

In 1984, the CNIC conceived the MEDICID-03, the first automated electroencephalograph with continuity in the NEUROCID-M, to record electrical activity in skeletal muscles. This was followed in 1990 by the AUDIX, an electro audiometer (first in the world) and the SUMA, Ultramicro-analytical system.

Years later, at the rostrum of the 1st Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Fidel made a premonitory call in order to avoid the disaster he saw coming: “Let all the necessary science be used for a sustained development without contamination”, he said in a message that still resounds in the ears of humanity.

“…only thought can guide peoples in moments of great transformation.”

The disappearance of the socialist camp in 1990 meant a hard blow for Cuba and its economy. Scientific development was no stranger to the difficult imprint imposed by the radical change in the political structure of the planet. In order to adapt to the new situation, the “West Havana Scientific Pole” was created in 1992 with the intention of producing a leap forward from the structural point of view that would allow a positive response to the difficult working conditions that had arisen.

Since then, the development of Cuban science and technology has had to adapt to the dizzying changes that have been unleashed in the last thirty years. It must be said, however, that work never stopped, not even during the thorny moments of the Special Period that Cuba suffered during the last decade of the last century when the fundamental basis of its international sustenance crumbled, at the same time that imperialist aggressiveness increased, assuming that the island would not resist the onslaught of this cataclysm. Thus, finally, more recently, Cuba has adopted the inclusive concept of Science and Technological Innovation System (SCIT).

In particular, the Science and Technological Innovation System for Health (SCITS) organized in 37 science and innovation entities: 16 research centers, 3 scientific-technological services and 18 development and innovation units became the new structure that has modernly assumed the now powerful Cuban science and technology system.

In 2012, BioCubaFarma was created as a top business management organization, which integrated the research, development and production centers of biotechnology, the pharmaceutical industry and high-tech medical equipment. BioCubaFarma, with its 32 companies, 70 production facilities, 10 research centers, 11 research and development units and a scientific technological services center, is also part of SCITS. BioCubaFarma’s products and technologies are part of the Basic List of Medicines and other applications of the Ministry of Health.

Today, it can be said that over the course of 50 years, more than 30 thousand specialists have passed through the CNIC alone, who have excelled in its departments and laboratories, 389 of them obtained their Doctor of Science degree, many became scientific leaders and it is common to find in the remaining centers, managers trained in this emblematic institution, mother of Cuban scientific development.

Every process has its times. There were times when the Cuban revolution was led by combatants, guerrillas and social fighters who stood up to opprobrium. The leaders went to the Moncada, to jail, to exile, they returned to the homeland to climb the mountains and achieve the end of the dictatorship. Fidel and Raul for 60 years faced and defeated the colossus of the north, but the struggle continues with new challenges. Today, resistance also manifests itself in other areas and Miguel Díaz-Canel has assumed it with the same responsibility that Cuban leaders have always had. That is why today his Moncada, his Sierra Maestra and his Playa Girón take place in other trenches.

As a continuator of Fidel’s work and thinking and in order to follow up in the most effective way the Commander-in-Chief’s deeds, the Cuban president successfully defended his thesis “Government Management System based on Science and Innovation for sustainable development in Cuba” in order to qualify for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Central University of Las Villas. Díaz-Canel was born three months after that January 1960 when Fidel, referring to the revolution that was beginning, pointed out with his extraordinary vision of the future that: “…only thought can guide the people in the moments of great transformations and in the moments when great enterprises such as this one are undertaken”.

The Cuban vaccines are called “Soberana”, vindicating a disposition and a decision, “Abdala” so that the apostle never dies and his memory never dies out as Fidel said in the Moncada Trial, and “Mambísa” as a tribute to the man of the land, worker and patriot who conquered the first independence by the hand of Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo.

Because he himself wanted it to be so, none of the Cuban vaccines will bear Fidel’s name, but all of them will bear his humanitarian spirit and his vocation to make a revolution for the excluded of the earth, for those who have no right to anything, not even a vaccine against the pandemic.

When all Cubans and millions of men and women in different parts of the planet are immunized with Cuban vaccines, they should know that this has been possible because that maker of revolutions, that one who overcame death because “to die for the homeland is to live”, the one who made a small Caribbean island become a giant exporter of life and health, dreamed it, thought it and did it.

NOTE: I am grateful for the invaluable contribution of my dear friend Luis Rojas Núñez without whose help it would have been impossible to carry out this work.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/04/ ... ic-system/

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:59 am

Our Communist Party is unique
Our Party is unique because it guarantees the unity of all Cubans intent on building a more democratic, inclusive and just society

Author: Karima Oliva Bello | informacion@granmai.cu

april 13, 2021 09:04:07

Our Party is unique because it guarantees the unity of all Cubans intent on building a more democratic, inclusive and just society. It guarantees, strategically, our unity, in a world in which political fragmentation of progressive forces prevails in the face of advancing neoliberalism. The centers of capitalist power understand that, in order to win, they need to divide, defeat or co-opt Cuba’s collective forms of organization, resistance and struggle which constitute a real, effective threat to their system. Hence the pretension that we assume a multiparty system, which would only impede any possibility of a more democratic society.

Our Party is unique because it empowers the Cuban people, and serves as our principal resource in the defense of our rights against subversive agendas promoted from abroad, which for over 60 years have incessantly pressured us to impose a system that would sweep away these rights.

It empowers us in a world of extreme vulnerability and social alienation in which everyone is forced to seek individual solutions to systemic crises. "Every man for himself" prevails in high-risk societies. Anyone who doubts this should remember that more than 55% of the world's population, 4 billion people, have had no type of social protection whatsoever during the period of humanitarian crisis we are now experiencing; 1.3 billion are multidimensionally poor, that is, poor not only because of a low income, but also because they are excluded from health and education systems, from access to drinking water, among other rights. Half of them, 662 million, are children.

Our party is unique because of its tradition of struggle and the moral authority on which it is based, in a region where, in general, political parties routinely feature no more than media shows, scandals and corruption. It is heir to the spirit in which the Cuban Revolutionary Party was created: a party to organize the struggle for our independence, anti-imperialist, defender of the noblest anti-racist and social justice ideals.

Our Party is unique because it is communist, in a world in which capitalism is in crisis. The right wing virulently attacks human rights in defense of its class interests, and there is no “center” that constitutes a real alternative to confronting the capitalist structures of domination and plunder of our peoples.

Our Party is unique because it is the party of the people and for the people; the party of the grassroots, in every workplace, in every neighborhood; the party of the intellectual and the worker; the party that submits to public debate the concepts on which our national project is based, the party that has overcome incredible challenges and faced contradictions, without abandoning the path of our sovereignty; the party that has shown its iron will to advance a blockaded nation, the party of the unwavering struggle against the blockade, the first to step forward every time the country needs it.

Our Party is unique because it resists, never weakening, all types of symbolic violence attacking its legitimacy, slandering its leaders, ridiculing or stigmatizing its foundations and manipulating its history.

Our Party is unique because it is ours, it is not a club of millionaires with no popular roots, disregarding the fate of the humble, it is not a cover for the interests of a foreign power, it is not an instrument to win elections based on patronage, buying votes and media manipulation.

Our Party is unique because it is not perfect, nor should it be idealized. It has assumed its own mistakes with a self-critical attitude whenever necessary. Forged in the heat of a complex social process, which has not been free of mistakes, our Party is confronting the challenges of our time, which cannot be underestimated.

The balance of political and economic power in the world today is especially hostile to a socialist alternative, even more so in the case of a small, economically poor country like ours. The domination of consumer culture, the idealization of liberalism, the advance of cultural colonialism and the demonization of communism, create a very difficult context in terms of political and ideological development.

The counterrevolution’s use of social networks, financed by the United States, to fabricate and manage Cuban public opinion regarding sensitive issues, has created a panorama in which the response capacity of our organizations is severely tested. But our tradition of struggle is solid and the strengths we have to develop our own strategies and agendas will prevail.

Our Party is unique because it rises to the occasion, to confront challenges, it looks to the future, conscious of its commitment to our people, our martyrs, our heroes and history; it promotes change, despite accusations of being dogmatic; it is based on clear ideological principles and on a commendable body of scientific knowledge to support every effort, to which our nation awakes everyday to give our best.

Our Party is unique because it is the guarantee we have to dream and work for a better country for all.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-04-13/our ... -is-unique

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:15 pm

Cuba: Party Congress To Give Way To New Communist Generations

Logo of the eighth congress of the Cuban Communist Party, April 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @SalazarGuardado

Published 16 April 2021 (1 hours 42 minutes ago)

During the 8th Party Congress, communists will set an age limit on membership in its Central Committee (60) and leadership positions (70).

From April 16 to 19, Cuba will hold the eighth congress of the Communist Party (PCC), which will be the first one to be conducted without Fidel Castro.

"In this new Congress, the leaders of the historic generation, led by Raul Castro today, will pass on to the new communists the torch of the Revolution and Socialism," Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel explained.

As of this Friday, the communists will set an age limit on membership in the PCC Central Committee (60) and leadership positions within the Party (70).

“The passing of the leadership to a new generation of Party members will stimulate the systematic rejuvenation of its entire militancy,” Raul Castro said during the 7th Congress, held in April 2016.

“Minute by minute, time is inexorably ticking away and shortening our lives. With these changes, we are repairing our Revolution’s great leader of today, tomorrow, and always: our Communist Party,” Castro assured.

This will be an exceptional Congress because it will take place amid an unprecedented global health crisis.

“We will attend the 8th Party Congress amid the pandemic, with very favorable results compared to other much more developed countries, and with five domestic vaccines in clinical trials,” Diaz-Canel recalled.

The important event will happen exactly 60 years after The Bay of Pigs invasion, the historic failure of the U.S. government's military efforts to take over the island. It will also coincide with the 60th anniversary of Fidel Castro's proclamation of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cub ... -0001.html

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Cuba Will Produce 100 Million Doses of Its COVID-19 Vaccine

Four phrases of Fidel in the proclamation of the socialist character

Fidel Castro proclaims the socialist character of the Revolution in the burial of the victims of the bombing of the airports on April 15 on 23 and 12, Militiaman's Day. | Photo: Granma

Published 16 April 2021

Cuba remembers the 58th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution.

Fidel: we are willing to give our lives for this Revolution

"We chose socialism because it is a just system, a much more humane system ...", expressed Fidel in 1991.

That is what they cannot forgive us, that we are right there under their noses and that we have made a Socialist Revolution right under the very noses of the United States!

And that we defend this socialist Revolution with those rifles !; And that we defend that socialist Revolution with the courage with which yesterday our anti-aircraft gunners riddled the attacking planes with bullets!

And that Revolution, that Revolution, that Revolution we do not defend with mercenaries; We defend that Revolution with the men and women of the people.

This is the socialist and democratic Revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the humble. And for this Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble, we are ready to give our lives.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/frases-f ... -0024.html

Google Translator

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Sun Apr 18, 2021 1:54 pm

A Mambí “ready, with a foot in the stirrup, to defend the homeland”

"Let no one doubt that as long as I live, I will be ready, with a foot in the stirrup to defend the homeland, the Revolution and socialism," stated Army General Raul Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, who, like another Mambi or guerrilla, always ready with his horse saddled and a rifle under his pillow, reported that his task leading the political organization had reached its conclusion

Author: Yudy Castro Morales | internet@granma.cu

april 17, 2021 08:04:49

Photo: Juvenal Balán

"Let no one doubt that as long as I live, I will be ready, with a foot in the stirrup to defend the homeland, the Revolution and socialism," stated Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, who, like another Mambi or guerrilla, always ready with his horse saddled and a rifle under his pillow, reported that his task leading the political organization had reached its conclusion.

Ending his presentation of the 8th Party Congress Central Report, on the gathering’s opening day, Raúl expressed the satisfaction of having fulfilled his duty, and conveyed his confidence in the future of the homeland, but emphasized his unchanging commitment to participate as a member of the party ranks: "I will continue serving as one more revolutionary fighter, ready to make my modest contribution until the end of my life," he insisted.

The moving historic moment sealed the reading of a Central Report which, in a clear and objective manner, reviewed what had been done over the last five years, with respect to each of the country’s strategic issues.

The first session of the Congress, which will continue through April 19, was also attended by Political Bureau members Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Republic; José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary; and Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly and Council of State; as well as other Party and government leaders.

In his opening remarks, Machado Ventura asserted that the Party constitutes "a guarantee of national unity and a synthesis of the ideals of dignity, social justice and independence of generations of patriots who preceded us and those who have made these ideas their own, over all these years of struggle and victory."

In the afternoon, participants gathered in three working commissions, to discuss economic-social results achieved since the 7th Congress; the Party’s cadre policy - the backbone of the organization’s work of the Party, its ideological work and the organization’s internal functioning.

Headed by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Commission no.3 met to analyze, among other issues, the selection, preparation and rejuvenation of cadres in leading positions, their constant evaluation and accountability and the need to recruit and train future leaders in a timely fashion; as well as the ethical values and principles that must distinguish the Revolution’s cadres.

Commission no.2, chaired by Machado Ventura, focused on the quality that must characterize the process of growth in the party ranks, and achieve the harmonious transition from membership in the UJC (Young Communists League) to the Party; while encouraging the participation of youth and workers in important tasks of the day.

Meanwhile, Commission no.1, led by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, examined documents regarding the economy’s performance during the period 2016-2020, and implementation of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-04-17/a-m ... e-homeland

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Continuity takes root in Party cadres

At this time, almost all leaders of the Party at the municipal and provincial levels were born after the triumph of the Revolution, evident in the average age of the organization’s professional staff of 42.5 years

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu

april 5, 2021 10:04:25

Photo: Franklin Reyes

The emancipatory work of the Cuban Revolution, in its many stages, has always been able to count on youth to sustain and continue the effort, attuned to each historical period, but never departing one iota from the essence, our genuine, unwavering principles.

It was young people, to cite just one example, those of the Centennial Generation, who lit the flame of the triumphant Revolution of 1959. They were the initiators of what has been accomplished over these 62 years, with Fidel in the lead.

Thus, responsibly identifying the forces of continuity, giving them a face and a name, or what is the same, carrying out a process of gradual and orderly renewal of cadres, especially within the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), has received permanent attention throughout the revolutionary process, attention which has been increased since the First National Conference of the organization in 2012.

Among the objectives approved at that gathering, and ratified at the 7th Party Congress, was precisely bringing new cadres into key positions, a transcendent and at the same time, natural task.

Consistent with this goal, and as a clear expression of the sensitive and strategic nature of the process, in central reports presented to the 6th and 7th Congresses, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Party Central Committee, warned of the potentially negative impact of improvisation, as well as any lack of foresight or an unsystematic approach. He also insisted on the need to prepare comrades capable of continuing the work of the Revolution and assuming the nation’s principal leadership positions.

Undoubtedly, the existence of a pool of women and men, including youth, with prospects for development and the commitment to take on a variety of tasks, has allowed progress to be made in this endeavor, the results of which have been decisive in the Party's ability to confront and overcome challenges.

But building continuity remains a daily exercise, assumed, despite its complexities, with confidence in the future, since, as Comandante en jefe Fidel Castro Ruz said, in his capacity as first secretary of the PCC Central Committee, during the 5th Congress closing ceremony, "The Party cannot afford the luxury of having its leadership fail one day, because the price would be unpayable."

The process begins at the grassroots level

The evolution of the Cuban Revolution, and the complex conditions in which it is developing, allow us to foresee, as has already been said on other occasions, an even more complex and challenging scenario over the coming years.

Although having counted on the active presence, leadership and example of loyalty and consecration of the historic generation during this stage of transition has paved the way.

The approval, during the 7th Congress, of term and age limits for Party positions, and the establishment of previous work experience, of no less than five years, as a requirement to be considered for promotion to a fulltime professional cadre responsibility, laid the foundation to guarantee the essential rejuvenation of Party staff in decisive positions.

Priority has also been given to the personal values of those considered for promotion, including modesty, simplicity, humility, commitment, and loyalty to the Revolution, with no traces of elitism, ambition, arrogance or vanity.

On the basis of these premises, the leadership of the Party has conducted a systematic evaluation of the renovation process, including visits to all the country’s provinces, discussions with first secretaries, analyses of transfers projected in the short and medium term, as well as the identification of comrades who, given their characteristics and performance records, could occupy higher order responsibilities.

The work plan also includes the holding of meetings with national leaderships of the Young Communist League (UJC) and mass organizations, which will be afforded ongoing attention.

The use of these and other systematic supervisory mechanisms, as well as the implementation of the approved rejuvenation measures, have made it possible to advance in this important area, as the statistics corroborate.

At this time, almost all fulltime leaders of the Party at the municipal and provincial levels were born after the triumph of the Revolution. Thus, the average age of the organization’s professional staff is 42.5 years, indicating a trend toward a younger age. There are 1,501 cadres under the age of 40.

Another line of work has been the selective rotation of these cadres through different party, administrative and governmental responsibilities, as a complement to their comprehensive training. In addition, 76.5% of these individuals have less than five years experience in their positions, and only 6.9% have more than 10, concentrated at the national level.

Also prioritized is the search for an appropriate composition in terms of skin color, gender and age, in line with the characteristics of Cuban society today. In this regard, 54.2% of the Party's cadres are women and 47.7% are black and mixed race. Additionally, 75 first secretaries of municipal and district committees are female, representing 42% of the total.

Likewise, it was established that all comrades coming from the UJC will engage in continuing education, along with those moving to positions of greater responsibility within the organization.

Thus, those who have the potential to assume the principal positions will have taken post graduate and/or specialty courses, as part of their training.

Currently, 81% of Party cadres have university degrees, while others take advantage of existing opportunities in provincial schools offering degrees in the Social Sciences.

Another aspect of interest has been the growing contribution of the UJC to the professional work in the Party, with 470 of these comrades assuming Party responsibilities over the last five years. In general terms, 23.5% of professional cadres come from the youth organization and several have moved to positions of greater responsibility.

The fact that 47.6% of officials who have left Party positions over the last five years have gone on to leadership positions in the state, government or mass organizations, at different levels, is also an encouraging result.

The transition from the historical generation to another, capable of leading the country into the future, is a significant responsibility, and is advancing confidently, because continuity has taken root in all that has been accomplished since 1868, and we know it will be in good hands.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-04-05/con ... rty-cadres

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Tue May 04, 2021 11:44 am

The Revolution’s cadres must be the best
The Cadre Policy is managed, directed, it has components, procedures that are closely related, and when they are not followed, the conduction of the process is disrupted

Author: Leticia Martínez | informacion@granma.cu

Author: Yaima Puig Meneses | informacion@granmai.cu

april 17, 2021 11:04:55

Diaz-Canel emphasized, Photo: Juvenal Balán

“We do not need good people to become cadres, we need the best, the best comrades, those who have the most revolutionary qualifications, the most ideological qualifications and the most professional qualifications, the charisma, work and experience to handle the principle processes."

With this orientation, President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez began his participation in the analysis that took place in the third session of Commission No. 3, during the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba this Friday, in which the Cadre Policy was discussed, an issue that is critical to the Party's work.

All the issues to be addressed here, he said, are the country’s issues, those that are on the people’s agenda, adding, "Having the cadres (we need) is the greatest challenge to fulfilling the purposes and projections of this Congress."

The profound, open, critical debate among delegates, conducted by Party Central Committee Secretariat member Abelardo Álvarez Gil, head of its Department of Organization and Cadre Policy, focused on key aspects associated with attention provided cadres and supervision of their work, their discipline and ethics, as well as the Party School system and the battle against corruption, crime, illegalities and indiscipline.

The Cadre Policy, Diaz-Canel emphasized, is a management system, the Cadre Policy is managed, directed, it has components, procedures that are closely related, and when they are not followed, conduction of the process is disrupted.

In this sense, he offered as an example what happens when you turn to someone you do not know, to give them a responsibility. What is this? Improvisation. And when you turn to a cadre that you do not know to assume a responsibility, it is because you have not proceeded in accordance with the Cadre Policy, because it is supposed that work within the organization has been done to make the selection, identifying the qualified people and preparing them for the promotion.

As part of what is established in Cadre Policy procedures, he added, if someone is going to be promoted, appointed or elected, the first thing to do is to investigate his or her background, where they come from, what their conduct has been, what they have contributed, where they have worked.

When the policy fails, the President said, it is because we have not worked strategically and there are aspects we need to be polishing, to take to a different level of implementation, as more awareness is developed of this issue’s strategic importance to the Revolution.

Hence the emphasis placed by the President on the significance of analyzing why these things happen, "Conduct all the analyses in places where these errors have occurred, continue working, continue identifying the way in which we handle this as a truly strategic process, as the Cadres Policy’s work system.

"If we plan well all the staff transfers there should be no breakdowns, there can be no improvisation in the Cadre Policy," he stated.

"Precisely as we learn to work with this as a system, we will undoubtedly be resolving these problems."

At another point during the debate, the President, also a member of the Party Political Bureau, emphasized the need for our cadres "to know not only how to lead, but be able to confront prolonged, difficult situations - like the one we are now experiencing - with courage, passion, decision and resolve."

Along these lines, he recalled that when assessing the positive and negative impacts of the Reordering Task during its initial stages, sometimes it has been forgotten how complex the situation in the country was before this decision was made, a reality that does not have anything to do with COVID-19, since the application of a group of sanctions by the Trump administration began more than a year and a half ago.

"The problem here is not about surrendering, we can never surrender here," he said. We must remain confident that we can overcome prolonged situations of adversity, and, furthermore, that we will always triumph, when we face those conditions of adversity, he insisted.

The challenge we must assume, he stressed, is that we have this capacity, that we can get through these situations, that we can overcome them, contributing victories for the homeland. This is one of the elements to be taken into consideration in the preparation of cadres.

The President also reflected on how we must act when a cadre makes a mistake. Any of us can make a mistake, he said, but if the person demonstrates the ability to resolve such a situation, this is also a sign that he or she can be trusted.

Directly related to the Party’s work, he stressed the importance of more purposefully including secretaries of cells when visiting workplaces. "If we want them to play a leading role, we must take them into account when visiting sites," he pointed out.

Likewise, he called for the involvement of zone cell and local secretaries, something he considers part of a work system that must guide daily action.

Diaz-Canel also referred to Cuban youth and the need to involve them in all tasks. He spoke of showing them the confidence they have earned, and mentioned the uplifting stories of their work in COVID-19 red zones. They summoned themselves, on their own, he said, giving us all a great lesson.

Finally, he noted that science must also be applied to the Cadres Policy, turning to experts who can lead us with innovations in this arena.

Cadres who are always with the people

Friday's debates in the commission were based on the document "Assessment of the Cadre Policy of the Party, the UJC, mass organizations, the state and government: The Party’s role in achieving superior results,” which was recognized by delegates as a profoundly renovating text, with a critical spirit and novel approach, which is the result of a broad discussion conducted across the country.

For the first secretary of the Party in the municipality of Cienfuegos, Maridé Fernández López, it is essential to ensure quality in the selection of comrades who are part of the reserve pool. Likewise, she described as critical the replacement of cadres when necessary, and systematic, thorough evaluation of performance as a frequent exercise that contributes to the improvement of Party work.

We must promote people with a high moral commitment and ethical conduct, she continued, saying we need cadres who do not improvise and maintain direct ties with their people.

Likewise, the first secretary of the Las Tunas Municipal Committee, Karen González Velázquez, focused on the role of general secretaries with respect to cells, where, in her opinion, the biggest cracks in the Cadres Policy lie. Much has been written on these issues, she stated, but changes approved have not been assumed as a work system.

The first secretary of the Young Communists League, Diosvany Acosta, also participated in the sobering debate, referring to the support and follow-up that young people need. Party leaders must know and understand them, as they assume different responsibilities as part of their preparation.

Delegate from Holguín and governor of the province, Julio César Estupiñán Rodríguez, also spoke about youth. He emphasized the need to pay attention to them after they graduate from university and enter worksites. He commented that their entire trajectories should be evaluated so they can continue to assume greater responsibility.

For Adela Ruíz, delegate for the province of Cienfuegos, these times of pandemic, U.S. blockade and shortages have allowed many young cadres to develop in the fire of difficulties and have brought to the forefront the strength of Cuban youth and their willingness to take on all kinds of tasks. We have excellent young people, she said, on the front lines of the fiercest battles, alongside our people.

For her part, delegate Marcia Cobas Ruiz, a Council of Ministers functionary, highlighted the cadre accountability report method, which is widely used in the country’s central administrative offices, but not iat the intermediate or local levels. She mentioned as noteworthy the appearances of ministers and other top leaders in the media, which have brought them much closer to the people. But there are directors, she said, who do not respond to the population, give poor answers, have no contact with their workers, and are not accountable to their subordinates.

We need cadres, she stated, who are always with the people and are aware of the most humble, those who have the most problems.

In this sense, Alvarez Gil noted that being a political cadre is not just a job. One needs to be a patriot, first and foremost, and willing to face any situation. One must have love for the people. Those who only fulfill tasks, he added, will not be good cadres. The principle attribute needed is to be a patriot and this cannot be measured on any performance balance sheet.

Susely Morfa Gonzalez, member of the Matanzas Provincial Party Bureau, noted that the report presented to serve as a basis for this commission’s work intrinsically includes the thinking of Fidel and Raul, as well as the dialectical, innovative perspective of younger generations on changing the way these issues are addressed.

"This is not renewal for the sake of renewal; this is not a problem of age," it is a matter that involves positive action to guarantee the proper transitioning of individuals through different responsibilities, she stated.

From Pinar del Río, the first secretary of its capital municipality, Yudalys Rodríguez Castro, stated that for everything to go well, the issue of the Cadre Policy is essential, and that it should be implemented carefully, adding that wherever there is a cadre, he or she should be an example.

The Cadre Policy, she clarified, is the responsibility, in the first place, of the Party secretary, who must ensure that the entire team of cadres assumes the task with the priority it merits, because it is everyone's task.

Niurka Bell Calzado, first secretary of the Party in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, described as fundamental supervision of cadres’ performance, with whom a constant link must be maintained. Permanent attention, she said, not only implies being aware of their professional issues, but also their personal problems, to accompany them in the most difficult moments, know their families and make sure they feel supported.

Federico Hernández Hernández, Party first secretary in the province of Granma, also shared his experience with the delegates to the 8th Congress. For him, work with cadres is not done one day and that's it, this is a permanent task, which must be sustained over time, he said. Teaching cadres, he said, implies reprimanding them when necessary, in addition to offering recognition when things are done well, because this is also a way of developing the country’s future leaders.

Roberto López Hernández, delegate from the province of Villa Clara, with years of experience in the Party’s ranks, commented, "One of the main problems we have had over the course of time has been that of implementation," hence his insistence on putting into practice the ideas included in the document that was meant to guide the Commission’s work. "Success lies in how we manage and execute it."

The experience of the Revolutionary Armed Forces with the Party Cadre Policy was also addressed in Commission No.3. Major General Raul Acosta Gregorich, commanding officer of the Western Army, spoke about the rigor with which the policy is implemented: the evaluation and follow-up system, the preparation of officers to assume positions, the strictly established timelines for this purpose and the accountability of officers responsible for the preparation of their subordinates.

In the more than twenty remarks and opinions shared, reflecting experiences in many provinces and organizations around the country, issues emerged related to the following: acts of corruption involving cadres at different levels; the flagrant violation committed when a cadre is involved in such an event is subsequently placed in another leadership position; superficial evaluations of cadres; the movements of cadres from one position to another, without verification of their previous work; the need to be combative in the face poor performances; and the ongoing ideological development of cadres.

Commission No.3, chaired by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, is composed of 94 delegates, including President Díaz-Canel; Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces; and Miriam Nicado García, Rector of the University of Havana, all members of the Political Bureau.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-04-17/the ... e-the-best

blindpig · Post by **blindpig** » Tue May 11, 2021 12:53 pm

THE COUP SCENE BEHIND THE SAN ISIDRO MOVEMENT
May 10 , 2021 , 2:23 pm .

Social networks and media magnify protests by the San Isidro Movement (Photo: AFP)

For many years now, the United States has sought a way to end the Cuban Revolution, unsuccessfully, and there are sufficient historical and geographical reasons to maintain that effort; on the one hand, its very existence as it was for many years a reference of anti-imperialist struggle and, on the other, that said process occurs in a nearby territory.

These events, the resistance of the Cuban people and other real and symbolic defeats constituted a stumbling block for the expansion of US influence on the island. Therefore, since the birth of the revolution, every opportunity has been seized to impose an agenda of regime change.

Since then, internal and external means have attempted to undermine the basis of the historical process that began more than 60 years ago.

A special report from the Samuel Robinson Institute for Original Thought (ISR) details the coup agenda behind the protests to reject the application of Decree 349 in mid-2018, "which sought to order nascent private cultural activity" in Cuba, and derived in current reactions that go beyond opposition to a legal instrument.

He points out that the current situation combines elements of old date that went "on the offensive within the framework of a regime change operation," as well as others that aim to psychologically dent the population.

MSI APPEARANCE AND THE PRELUDE TO THE CULTURE WAR

The artistic revolts of 2018 were the breeding ground for a collective that was supposed to capture the general social discontent to be formed. Since then, the San Isidro Movement (MSI), with methods similar to the color revolutions, has undermined social peace on the island and, from the artistic point of view, they turned to political activism as part of the Cuban dissidence against the Communist Party of Cuba.

According to the ISR report, since last year elements that are part of the germination process of a soft blow have been added. And it is that the arrest and subsequent sentence to eight months in prison of rapper Denis Solís for contempt quickly became a fact of public interest that the opposition tried to capitalize on to generate social pressure.

The report details that, after the rapper's arrest, “six of the 14 'artivistas' (artist-activists) of the MSI began a hunger strike as a form of protest while other members of the group gathered in a nearby park to hold vigils. , 'civic protest' campaigns through 'poetic whispers' (poetry readings) ”, alleged peaceful acts with which they initiate“ direct ”provocations (live broadcasts) through social networks and interpellations to the police officers who were guarding the spaces .

The coup agenda began to be exposed when the United States Charge d'Affaires in Cuba, Timothy Zuniga-Brown, began to directly support the revolt saying "the world is watching, the international community recognizes your peaceful protest," a message with which It sought to project an "urgency" that had to be covered by international media with a wide audience.

The provocations transmitted live on social networks and the massive diffusion by the American chargé d'affaires confirm a typical formula within the repertoire of soft blows: in the absence of its own projection, Zuniga-Brown fulfilled the function of attracting attention and achieve the swarm effect later managed from social networks and media. In this case "the international news brokerage acted as a multiplier effect of the ideas of the" movement.

Once the world was “aware of the situation”, it was enough that any detail, no matter how insignificant, became an update of the facts.

“On November 26, 2020, the necessary excuse to add followers was detonated when the police removed Carlos Manuel Álvarez, director of the newspaper El Estornudo , financed by the NED, from Otero's house. The authorities explained that there was a violation of sanitary rules: Carlos Manuel Álvarez had not followed the rules against covid-19 after arriving from abroad. Next, the group gathered around the “civic protest” campaign was presented on November 27 at the offices of the Ministry of Culture in an activity that was highly reviewed in local and international media, ”says the report that was written by Mission Truth.

Subsequently, members of the Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism (INSTAR) were added to the San Isidro Movement, with which the protest already acquired a hue of heterogeneity that symbolized the union of all sectors of Cuban society. This sort of constituted panel met with the government, which was seeking a solution through dialogue.

Seven plastic artists, five artists linked to the cinema, three writers, two members of the world of theater, a musician, five members of the MSI, four of INSTAR and three of opposition media made up the so-called G30 that met with representatives of the Cuban Revolution to discuss the previously agreed agenda. The points would be the following:

1) Review and transparency of the judicial process against rapper Denis Solís.
2) Freedom for the plastic artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara
3) Right to have rights, freedom of expression, free creation and dissent.
4) Cessation of defamation and discredit by the official media.
5) Recognition and respect for independent positioning.
6) No more police violence, no more political hatred.

"In addition, an agreement was established to maintain a channel for dialogue, but these were broken the following week and led to events associated with a larger effort where the link between the 'youth dissidents' is combined with conventional anti-Castroism and the usual the financing and promotion channels, which could be understood as an accumulation of force within the framework of a battlefield that is carried out fundamentally from 'the cultural' ”.

Now they were not just young people who were fighting for "culture", they also joined the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), made up of political agitators directly linked to the traditional Mayan counterrevolution, to accumulate strength.

THE STRATEGY

As mentioned above, one of the strategies in the framework of the color revolutions is the overexposure of a subject until it becomes a trend. In the case of the aforementioned movements, both have been promoted by the US press, "whose operation consists of saturating their web pages and social networks with facts derived from the provocations of their operators to the security forces and government officials."

The hunger strike of some activists in Santiago de Cuba was an event that was widely followed by these media. José Daniel Ferrer García, José Daniel Ferrer Cantillo (Ferrer García's son) and Liusban John Utra were the most controversial UNPACU strikers who attracted attention by claiming to be victims of a police siege by the local authorities.

Although they identify themselves as “non-violent dissidence”, some of their participants have medical records that question this self-perception. Such is the case of Ferrer García, who provoked the threat of the European Union to break relations with the island after attacking himself in the middle of a statement to the Cuban security forces with the intention of denouncing ill-treatment and torture.

But this show by Ferrer García is not accidental: “the Cuban government accused him of receiving up to $ 50,000 from the powerful Cuban-American National Foundation based in Miami, he created the Patriotic Union of Cuba in August 2011 after being released in March of that year. They claim to have more than 10,000 affiliated activists and 122 cells ”.

They reiterate that activism "is based on resistance and non-violent disobedience", but remember that this is one of the principles of the color revolutions according to the Gene Sharp manual.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Another common feature of the manual revolutions found in the Cuban protests is the recognition of human rights NGOs that operate globally. For example, Amnesty International (AI) has recognized UNPACU since its inception. That is why it is not by chance that they are internationally awarded and recognized as examples of struggle. That Ferrer García denounces harassment and intimidation after the arrests that its members have suffered by the Cuban authorities is a way of indicating that this recognition and what it represents is being undermined.

"The Ferrer García product has enjoyed the publicity that awards and distinctions such as the Truman-Reagan Freedom Prize by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation 2020 can confer on it (it should be remembered that Adrian Zenz, the main expert with whom the West relies to denounce the Uyghur genocide belongs to this organization), XIII International Human Rights Prize of the Hispano-Cuban Foundation, based in Madrid, and the NED Democracy Prize ", details the ISR.

However, the acknowledgments are not enough to be exempt from the criminal record that this activist has accumulated since 1993, which includes, in 2019, a kidnapping of a Cuban citizen for which he was arrested.

All the times that Ferrer García has denounced torture and lack of medical attention, the government has shown that it is a show "to amplify the media impact of his actions." And it is that this staging has the objective of moving the axis of the soft coup from the "cultural" to the political-diplomatic sphere:

"Last February he was detained for 10 hours and both the newly launched Biden administration and the vice president of the European Parliament, Dita Charanzová, called for his release, marking a much more direct involvement," the report says.

For this character the important thing is to stay under the focus of the media and he will do anything to keep the attention. Before his arrest, he was involved in a violent event during a propaganda activity in which a distribution of food to the population hit by the "economic crisis on the island" was used as an excuse, obviously without mentioning the cause: the criminal bloc of USA.

The image that has been built around this activist has served to make him an example of struggle and others join the hunger strike, of which “ADN Cuba and CiberCuba promoted an exaggerated account of the physical damage caused by the decompensation". On the other hand, this hunger strike is questioned because some of its participants, including Ferrer García, have been seen with food and supplies.

Another who has applied the formula is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who last Saturday, April 3, said that in Santiago de Cuba there were 50 people on hunger strike because they felt overwhelmed and abused by the island's authorities. This in connection with an activity that was organized to celebrate the anniversary of the San Isidro Movement with children that ended in insults to the authorities and the corresponding arrest of Otero again, facts that the press framed and magnified.

AGAINST DECREE 349?

Although the reason why several of these artistic movements were organized since 2018 was the rejection of Decree 349, which they tried to project as a form of State control over art and other expressions of creativity, today the motivations are different because said decree was never implemented.

The MSI, ―which has its original nucleus in the so-called 27N group, made up of artists and intellectuals who organized the day after the police raided Otero's house in San Isidro on November 26, 2020― calls itself “a avant-garde movement with incidence in the protection, promotion and defense of civil and cultural rights in present and future Cuba ”.

“They met in front of the offices of the Ministry of Culture and, amid calls for dialogue by the government, took advantage of the event to create a showcase effect for the benefit of the movement, since they frustrated the viability of dialogue and did not know the mediator governmental ”, says the ISR.

This shows that the demand for the regulation of cultural activities and a possible dialogue with the government to get out of the crisis went to a lesser level. The not-so-hidden agenda is the long-awaited change of government, expected for more than half a century.

FINANCING SOURCES

As is well known, there is no funding for US offices without interests behind those motivations that include scholarships, grants, and other training. According to Martha Lidia Ferreira ―the report collects― the economic support and stimulation of the protests in Cuba comes from enclaves such as the Cadal Foundation (Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America), whose resources come “from the hands of the branches of the CIA for the region; the Atlas Foundation (linked to the Koch brothers), the Fupad (Pan American Development Foundation), USAID and the NED ”.

Other organizations that serve as a hinge between gringo institutions and their operators in Cuba are the Institute of Peace and War Journalism, Factual, Distintas Latitudes, Swedish Human Rights Foundation, Hypermedia Editorial, Diario de Cuba, Cubanet, Sergio Arboleda University , as well as other NGOs abroad, generally in the US, that finance media that call themselves "independent or alternative." These include CiberCuba, DNA Cuba, Cubans around the World, Cubita Now, Cubanet, Periodismo de Barrio, El Toque, El Estornudo and YucaByte.

ADVERTISING SPOT AND CONTEMPT FOR AUTHORITY

Since everything that revolves around MSI is advertising, it was to be expected that it would have its own jingle that would act as an anthem for the justified and “spontaneous” “struggle” that they carry out in Cuba. The song “Patria y vida”, performed by several Cuban musicians living in Miami together with members of the movement who live on the island, is promoted by the media bent on the regime change agenda.

That same advertising logic was applied on April 4 when an attempt was made to arrest rapper Maykel Osorbo, one of the jingle's performers, and he escaped from the authorities under the gaze of many phone cameras. An attempt was made to promote that the rapper had escaped with the help of alleged neighbors and that they were actually agitators trained for those situations.

As always, the situation turned into a show that ended in insults against the president of Cuba and with the projection that the MSI is supported by the people and the unrest is widespread, in addition to that with their "help" they can outwit The authorities.

And the curious thing about all this is that the agitation of these movements was magnified at the end of March just when the annual human rights report was published, which denounced "torture of political dissidents, extrajudicial executions and other abuses", as well as "restrictions" by the Cuban government to freedom of expression.

CUBA AS AN EXPOTARDOR OF "REPRESSION"

It is not by chance that countries that do not bow to the designs of imperialism always appear as evil factors. In this case, Cuba is portrayed as an actor in the region that exports "techniques of repression" to Venezuela and Nicaragua.

With certain synchronicity ―referring to the report― Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International representative in Latin America, denounced the “latest repressive acts against opponents” that occurred in Cuban territory and directly attacked Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

In that same "coincidence" a videoconference was held in which "the repression" was condemned and they showed "concern about the situation of the strikers." In this interactive meeting, personalities from US and European politics who defend Unpacu participated, including Cuban-American congresswoman María Elvira Salazar and the vice president of the European Parliament, Dita Charanzová. "Europe is with you," said the MEP.

“Also present were leaders of“ anti-Castroism ”(USAID payroll) such as the secretary of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, who has expressed his support for an armed invasion of Cuba to overthrow the socialist government if Cuban soldiers use lethal force. against Cubans who oppose the government, ”says the ISR.

OLD AND NEW ACTORS AGAINST THE CUBAN REVOLUTION

Although the objective is the same, this time elements of old and new data converge that are combined with the positions of the politicians mentioned above. In this triangulation, the novelty of social networks as a speaker is justified. That is why the performance projected by the artistic movements of Cuba have a lot of resonance, even more so if it is combined with the old and worn-out Mayan opposition.

It is quite plausible that from this point of view they want to oppose the Cuban Revolution, seen from now on as an element of the past and whose symbolic value has become blurred in recent generations because they did not experience it, in the face of the novelty of the new technologies. of information and its air of modernity.

That is why it is not by chance that the attempt to change the regime is marked by a "renovating" air that is committed to a "better future".

And it is not possible to deny that there are events on the island that contribute to the consolidation of these ideas. "The historical change in political leadership, the experimentation of an emerging private sector and the arrival of the massification of telecommunication technology has had a significant and broad impact on the population, the report says.

It is inevitable that in view of these scenarios, the regime change manuals adapted to the new circumstances will be activated and conflicts will be exploited according to the weaknesses that arise.

“We are witnessing an update in the mechanisms, methods and modes of intervention. Any harmonization [from the United States to Cuba] at this time is totally illusory. With what is already being placed as the label 'normalization' in the Cuban socio-political environment, the minimum operating conditions that could facilitate the idea of a 'Cuban spring', a test tube revolution, will be inoculated ”, was a hypothesis of this platform in 2014 regarding the Obama administration's rapprochement with Havana, the ISR reviews.

Since then, and according to the panorama that was presented, there was time for the attempt to promote a color revolution on the island to be perfected. The common aspirations of the new generations have been channeled and instrumentalized in a diffuse global scenario marked by sudden and accelerated changes.

The claim of this artistic sector through the classic genres of social denunciation - rap, for example - remains out of context if the economic and financial blockade by those who finance, ironically, these movements is not taken into account. the island.

With this internal panorama, the old positions against the island are radicalized. Especially if Cuba belongs to the so-called axis of evil, made up of China, Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, among others, which represents the necessary enemy that the US uses to justify its intervention policy.

"Be it Obama, Trump or Biden, the sign that best unifies them is that of the mechanical repetition of the aggression patterns and the points of interest where they are exercised," says the Robinson Institute, while noting the increase in the dangerousness of the MSI's actions based on the regime change agenda and the turns it can take according to other experiences at a global level.

Imperialism will seek a way to break the affective bond between the population and the Cuban Revolution, the same one that gives heroism and resistance to a people that does not allow itself to be bent despite pressure and vicissitudes. As the Robinson Institute for original Thought says, "the MSI is the chronicle in present time of how (new) devices of social disintegration and conflict are articulated" taking advantage of the global context, that is why it cannot be lost sight of.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/el ... san-isidro

Google Translator

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The prodigal son, the godmother... and the latest farce against Cuba
Fake hunger striker Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara sought attention at Calixto García University Hospital, where he was examined and no signs of malnutrition were found

Author: José LLamos Camejo | informacion@granmai.cu

may 7, 2021 14:05:26

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was received at Calixto García University Hospital’s Emergency Center, after arriving in public health transport, conscious and walking without difficulty. Photo: Screenshot

The innocent glance turned to one of surprise, just like the tone of the response: "Elementary school classes at this time of day! The comment, however, is not attributable to the ten years of age of the person speaking.

The reaction of any adult not carefully watching the TV would be similar to Maria Carla's, when he or she heard the amplified voice offering the “elementary” explanation: "Look, here’s something important, when you count one, two, three, with your fingers, you start."

This is the level of detail of the instructions that salaried puppets in Cuba receive from abroad, on how to create or simulate disorder and chaos in our country, and thus give credence to the unsubstantiated slanders, with which they attempt to justify all variety of aggressions.

The "teacher" who María Carla heard on Cuban television’s Nightly News was none other than Karla Velázquez, a Venezuelan resident in Mexico, expert in projects and head of the Cuba Program for the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

The NDI is a non-governmental agency in the United States that finances groups of individuals to carry out subversive, destabilization plans in progressive countries, which has lately been focusing its attention, in particular, on Cuba and Nicaragua.

The voice of the aforementioned person was broadcast on television as (another) piece of evidence regarding what and who are behind the San Isidro comedians disguised as political dissidents.

It turns out that in the broadcast "class," Ms. Karla Velázquez had on the Cuban end of the phone line a crony of the "artist" Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, her "godson," expert in mounting farces, and she was giving him detailed directions which he was to convey to Otero, in the name of "La madrina, because that’s what he calls me, too, and the police don’t know it."

Before giving the orders, she offered a brief conceptual brushstroke, taken from the U.S. Army manual on unconventional warfare, outlining how and why a hunger strike is conducted, plus how to film it with cell phones, and reminded her puppet - I mean, her godson, subordinate – of an important detail: "I direct you."

Her exact words were: "The first thing is that a hunger strike has demands, it’s a method that can be successful if one does it well. To do it well you need to have some demands; the first one should be the easiest to meet, so that you don't die of hunger, because you don't want to die. So the three demands I’ll send in writing to Afrik (Africa Reina on social media, the counterrevolutionary named Yenicelis Borroto Vega), so you can tell him."

The material and arguments presented to Cuban television viewers by journalist Humberto López include other images and audio recordings, which leave no doubt, if anyone has any, about the anti-Cuban scheme, which is not unknown or new, but continues, from one failure to the next.

Otero Alcantara is far from being the artist he pretends to be. Art, regardless of ideology, is respectful and authentic, and it is art; elements that this character's work lacks.

He starred in one of his most offensive, grotesque "performances," shamelessly desecrating our flag. This is not the only obscenity in public places of which, in the name of art, he has been the author.

At the end of November, in the company of others of his stripe, he simulated a first "hunger strike," which was almost immediately exposed, since his food bills came to light through the online shopping app TuEnvío.

In his latest "strike," which began at the end of April, following instructions from "The Godmother," Otero Alcántara has enjoyed the backing of the always-ready private media, at the service of the Cuban Revolution’s enemies.

With respect to the most recent chapter in the farce, Cuban television reported that on April 30, a small group of ten delinquent provocateurs, disguised as dissidents, put on another show, this time on Obispo Street in Havana.

The report indicated that the thugs, with a view toward gaining media visibility, chose a crowded site, a line outside a store. They planned to march to Otero Alcantara's home, although this was not their real interest, which was to please their mentors and receive a miserly monetary reward. Step by step, they are following in detail the U.S. Army’s 2019 unconventional warfare manual, as outlined as Action 29 in that document, referring to symbolic acts, and number 166 which proposes blending in with the public to create confusion.

The ringleader of this last provocation, Esteban Rodriguez Lopez, who is unemployed and lives in Old Havana, has a "brilliant career" as a criminal. His relationship with antisocial elements is well known; he has been convicted of illicit economic activity, reception of stolen property, theft, misappropriation, robbery with violence, assault, disturbing the public order, and resisting arrest, among other crimes.

Also presented on Cuban television was the audio of an individual of Cuban origin resident in the U.S. state of Texas, reporting that he was collecting money to send it to his people in Cuba, explaining that Esteban had already received dollars, and that people over there were collaborating with him, here.

Nonetheless, how different is the Cuba they attempt to sell, floating endless slanders and falsehoods, staged in theater performances, and the Cuba which, displaying the supreme humanity of its health system, does not discriminate against anyone who requires medical attention, as was the case at Havana’s Calixto Garcia hospital, on the morning of May 2, when one of the leaders of the so-called San Isidro Movement arrived: Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, himself

The information issued by health authorities speaks for itself.

The first report indicated that, in the dawn hours of May 2, 2021, the citizen Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was received at General Calixto García University Hospital’s Emergency Center, after arriving in public health transport, conscious and walking without difficulty, where he cited voluntary starvation as the cause of his concern.

"Upon physical examination, no signs of malnutrition were found, with the presence of normal clinical and biochemical parameters,” the report stated, while noting “ As established by the medical care protocol for COVID-19, an antigen test was administered, with negative results, and a PCR test sample was taken, with results pending."

This first note concluded that, following his arrival at the institution, and during the entire process, he remained cooperative with the health personnel attending him; that his condition was stable, and established medical measures were being taken by a group of specialists. The message clarified that the patient was kept under observation due to the reasons that brought him to the institution.

A subsequent, more detailed communiqué was released after clinical laboratory tests had been completed, with citizen Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara exhibiting entirely normal parameters; clear evidence that the patient's condition was not indicative of starvation, revealing, on the contrary, that he was well nourished and hydrated:

-Hemoglobin 16.8

-Glycemia 5.6

-Uric acid 9.71

-Blood Ph 7.15

-Hematocrit 0.51

-Platelets 300

-Leukocytes 7.8, with normal range differential

-Erythro 5, with normal sedimentation and creatinine.

Do we need better arguments? The foundation of this counterrevolutionary set-up is declared false, given what can be seen with the naked eye and under the microscope. There is no credible argument to support the veracity of these plots, invented one after another. The godchild, the godmother and her godparents, have exposed themselves, once again, to ridicule.

These stagings, with good reason, generate strong comments - on the side of the sensible, of revolutionaries who do not believe the stories of these poor devils who sell their country at the price of any handout in dollars - like the punch delivered by communicator Omar Rafael García Lazo:

"There is no serious mercenary who has a different basic premise than the one prioritizing his own life. As a worker, of cynicism in this case, the mercenary’s salary is most important, not the cause, much less the ideas. Yesterday the ‘artist’ was dying on us. Today he walked into the hospital with no sign of malnutrition. This is why no one believes them... But the show must go on. The truth is not even secondary. Surely they will say that the "artist" was forced to go. Surely he is continuing his "strike" in the hospital, like that wasted character who no one remembers anymore, champion of the assisted hunger strike in hospitals, at the expense of the public treasury. What a contradiction.

"The most pathetic part of the sequence is not the "striker" in good health, or his cheerleaders on Obispo Street, the out-of-focus press, or the Yankees clamoring for their puppet. No. They are already just part of the landscape.

"The most pathetic thing is to see a few thinking Cubans wagering their intellect on the political outcome of a foretold farce. Spuriously raising: what about the dialogue, what about the causes of the phenomenon, the underlying racism, a collection of arguments and ideas to consider, what about the future and democracy... Everything now stuck in an old pot that can’t take the pressure no matter how many advisors add their two cents. Nothing that resembles our authentic ajiaco, will come out of it, simply because, money has never been, in the case of Cuba, a catalyst for change. Never in our history."

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2021-05-07/the ... ainst-cuba

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