CLOSING
REMARKS BY THE FIRST SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF
RAUL
CASTRO RUZ, AT THE 6TH PARTY CONGRESS
Dear Fidel,
Comrades,
We have come to the end of this Congress after
intensive working sessions where the Cuban communists have discussed and
adopted the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the
Revolution, the Central Report and various resolutions on the main issues
examined.
I think that the best and most productive way to
commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Victory over the Playa Girón
(
On behalf of the nearly 800 thousand Party members, the
one thousand delegates to the Congress, the new leadership of our organization
and, particularly of comrade Fidel Castro Ruz, I wish to congratulate every
Cuban for their decisive participation in the discussions and their unquestionable
display of support for the Revolution. This is to us a source of great
satisfaction, but most importantly it entails a greater responsibility and
commitment to achieve, with everyone’s cooperation, the updating of the
Economic Model in order to make Socialism in
We said in the Central Report that we are not under the
illusion that the Guidelines and the related measures can by themselves solve
all of our problems. Our success in this strategic issue and every other will
certainly require that we focus on the execution of the agreements reached at
this Congress. To that end, our conduct must be guided by one common
denominator: ORDER, DISCIPLINE and EXIGENCE.
The updating of the economic model is not a miracle
that can happen overnight like some people believe. Its full development will
only be attained gradually in the course of five years for it requires a
conscientious work of planning and coordination both in legal terms and in the
thorough training of all those involved in its implementation.
It will also be necessary to work intensively providing
the people with adequate information on every measure adopted while, at the
same time, keeping our feet and ears firmly on and attentively to the ground,
to be able to overcome the obstacles we encounter, and to quickly rectify the
mistakes we make in implementation.
We are convinced that the main enemy we are confronting
and shall confront will be our own inefficiencies and that an endeavor of such
a great significance to the future of our country cannot be tackled recklessly
or hastily. We will make every change required, as Fidel indicated in his Reflections published yesterday, but we
will do it at the adequate pace mindful of our objective conditions and always
with our people’s support and understanding. We will never risk our most
powerful weapon: the unity of our nation in support of the Revolution and its
programs.
Chauvinism aside, I think that
We shall advance resolutely despite the
Barely a few months into the year 2011 and the data
already show that the additional cost of imports for this year amounts to over
800 millions USD. This is just on account of price increases and only to buy
the same quantities planned; therefore, we will be forced to make adjustments
to the plan adopted last December, as soon as this Congress is over.
At the moment, saving all kinds of resources is one of
the main things that our country can do to preserve our income since there is
still irrational spending and huge reserves of efficiency remain untapped. We
should work on this with much common sense and political sensitivity.
Despite the existing acceptable situation to this date
concerning the delivery of fallow lands in usufruct, in compliance with
Legislative Decree No. 259 of 2008, there are still thousands and thousands of
hectares of arable land waiting for those willing to produce what our people
and the national economy keep demanding and that can be grown in our farmland
to replace the increasingly expensive imports of a number of products that are
today benefiting foreign suppliers instead of our farmers.
The first thing that we should do is to implement what
we have just approved in this Congress. It is no accident that we have decided
that the Central Committee should examine at its plenary meetings --at least
twice a year—the execution of the agreements reached at the Congress,
particularly, the updating of the economic model and the enforcement of the Economy
Plan.
In this sense, I should emphasize the transcendence of
the mission assigned to the Government Standing Commission for Implementation
and Development, which will harmoniously lead the efforts and actions of the national
organs and entities in charge of updating the economic model with the special
support of the Ministry of Economics and Planning as the government’s General
Staff for this activity.
On the other hand, our deputies have an arduous work to
carry out since the Guidelines approved by this Congress will be submitted to
analysis at the National Assembly of People’s Power for legislative
ratification in the successive sessions as the elaboration of the corresponding
legal regulations is completed.
As you heard, the Congress agreed to convene the
National Conference for next January 28, the day we shall commemorate the 159th
Anniversary of José Martí’s birth. That meeting, actually a continuation of the
6th Party Congress, will essentially assess the Party’s work with
realism and with a critical spirit. Also, it will make the necessary
adjustments to the transformations required for playing the role of senior
leading force of the society and the State as provided in Article 5 of the
Constitution of the Republic. We have also agreed to empower that Conference to
bring up to date the Party’s work methods and style, its structure and cadre
policy, and even the renovation and expansion of its Central Committee.
As reflected in its announcement, the National
Conference will be guided by the determination “to change everything that must be changed” contained in the
brilliant definition of the concept of Revolution offered by comrade Fidel.
In order to succeed, the first thing we need to change
in the life of the Party is its mentality, which as a psychological barrier
will, in my opinion, be more difficult to overcome for it is tied to many years
of repeated dogmas and obsolete criteria. It will also be indispensible to correct
mistakes and to shape, with rationality and firm principles, a comprehensive
vision of the future that will guarantee the preservation and development of
Socialism under the present circumstances.
In terms of the cadre policy, the election of the new
Central Committee, its Secretariat and Political Bureau, and their presentation
this morning, constitute a first step towards compliance with the agreements
reached at this Congress, particularly with respect to the beginning of a
gradual process of renovation and rejuvenation of the cadre in different
governmental and political positions. At the same time, the gender and racial
composition of these organs has been considerably improved.
The Central Committee is now made up by 115 members; 48
of them are women, for a 41.7%. This is more than three times the 13.3%
proportion obtained in the previous Congress. The number of black and mixed
blood people is 36, which accounts for 31.3% of the total, and 10% higher than
before.
This outcome, which I insist is only a first step, is
not the result of improvisation. The Party has been working for months toward
this end with the objective of submitting a list of candidates that takes into
account the necessity to have a fair representation of gender and race in the
Central Committee membership.
These were chosen from the huge number of university
graduates and certified specialists that the Revolution did not waste time to
train. These are the children of the working class; they belong to the most
humble segments of the population and have had a politically active life in
students’ organizations, the Young Communist League and the Party. Most of
these youths accumulate 10, 15 or 20 years of experience working at the
grassroots level without abandoning their jobs in the professions they studied,
and the majority were proposed by their respective Party cells during the
process leading up to the Congress.
It is our duty now to monitor and assist their training
to enable the progressive improvement of their work and future access to higher
responsibilities.
In the makeup of the senior Party organs, --despite the
exit of 59 comrades from the Central Committee, half its full members, most of
them with a positive record of services to the Revolution— some veterans of the
historic generation remain, and it is only natural, for it is one of the
consequences of the mistakes made in this area and criticized in the Central
Report, the same that prevent us today from having a reserve of mature and
sufficiently experienced replacements to take over the main positions in the
country.
Therefore, we shall continue working along these lines
during the forthcoming National Conference and in our daily Party, Government
and State responsibilities.
Comrade Fidel Castro Ruz, founder and Commander in
Chief of the Cuban Revolution, set the first example of a consistent behavior
in this matter, when he expressly asked not to be included in the Central
Committee list of candidates.
Fidel is Fidel, and he does not need to hold any
position to forever occupy a topmost place in the present and future of the
Cuban nation. While he is strong enough
to do it, and fortunately he is at the peak of his political thoughts, in his
modest capacity as Party member and soldier of ideas, he will continue making
contributions to the revolutionary struggle and the noblest purposes of
Mankind.
As for me, I assume this last assignment with firm
conviction and I pledge my honor that the chief mission of the First Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba that gives meaning to
his life is to defend, preserve and continue to improve Socialism, and to never
allow the return of the capitalist regime.
As you can see, we have in the Political Bureau a
proper representation of leading chiefs of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. This
is only logical and to explain it I will quote some lines included by comrade
Fidel in his Central Report to the First Party Congress: “The Ejercito Rebelde was the soul of the Revolution. The new homeland
emerged free, beautiful, strong and invincible from its victorious weapons…When
the Party was founded…our Army, the heir to the bravery and patriotic purity of
the Ejército Libertador whose struggles it had carried on victoriously, placed
in its hands the banners of the Revolution and became from then on and forever
its most loyal, disciplined, humble and staunch follower.”
I have plenty of reasons to assert that the
Revolutionary Armed Forces, which I am
proud to have served as a minister for nearly 49 years, will never renounce
that role and will carry on defending the people, the Party, the Revolution and
Socialism.
Membership in the Central Committee, which until now
had been partly a recognition to the life of struggle of those elected, --and
fairly so—will from now on be based on the concept of the great responsibility
of these comrades to the Party and the people, since the Central Committee
acts, between Congresses, as the top leading Party organ and, according to the
Statutes, it is empowered to check the implementation of the adopted policies,
the economic and social development of the country, and the cadre policy and
ideological work, among other tasks.
In keeping with this, it is necessary to constantly raise
the preparation and knowledge of its members as we intend to actively employ
the Central Committee in the implementation of the Congress’ agreements, in the
way of a forum where collectively, and devoid of formalities, we can analyze
the main issues concerning life in the Party and the nation.
At the Political Bureau, we shall do likewise, as it
befits this organ, which is the highest leading body between Central Committee
plenary sessions.
The Political Bureau consists of fifteen members. This
is a reduction with respect to the previous 24 members, which proved an excessive
number. Three new comrades are now members: Mercedes López Acea, First
Secretary of the Party Provincial Committee in
These promotions are no accident. In the first case, it
is due to the priority attached by the Party to its work in the capital, with a
population of over two million. Regarding the other comrades, the promotion
responds to the strategic significance of updating the economic model and
developing the national economy.
We shall keep the useful practice of holding joint weekly
meetings of the Political Bureau Commission and the Executive Committee of the
Council of Ministers to evaluate the fundamental issues pertaining to national
life. At the same time, we shall continue promoting the participation in the
monthly meetings of the Council of Ministers --depending on the issues under
discussion and as guests-- of members of the Political Bureau and the
Secretariat of the Central Committee; the Council of State and the Speaker of
the National Assembly; the leading cadres of the Workers Central Trade Union
(CTC), the Young Communist League and other mass organizations; alongside the First
Party Secretaries at the provinces and the chairpersons of the Provincial
Management Councils.
This method has proved its efficiency to directly
convey to the main leaders throughout the country the indispensible information
and orientations to carry out their work.
Finally, none of us ignores the historical significance
that the crushing defeat of the Playa Girón mercenary invasion had for the
destiny of the Revolution. This was achieved thanks to the firm, constant and
determined action of our combatants under direct orders from Commander in Chief
Fidel Castro, who stayed all the time in the theater of operations where the
battles were fought. In less than 72 hours, they shattered the US Government’s attempt
to set up a beachhead in a distant corner of our homeland to which they planned
to bring, from a military base in Florida, a puppet government that would
appeal to the Organization of American States, the notorious OAS, for a
military intervention by the US forces already deployed very close to Cuba, as
they had accompanied the mercenary troops since their departure from Central
America, the same way they had done in Guatemala seven years before, in 1954, when
the progressive government of Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown.
Let’s use the occasion to repeat Fidel’s remarks in the
5th Anniversary of the Victory, on
It was in Girón that we used for the first time in
defense of Socialism in
On a day like this, our gratitude goes to the current socialist
countries for their continuous cooperation and support during these years of
hard battles and sacrifices.
Our brothers and sister in the Third World, especially
those from Latin America and the Caribbean, who are making great efforts to
transform the legacy of centuries of colonial domination, should know that they
can always count on our solidarity and support.
Our fraternal greetings also go to the communist
parties and other progressive forces all over the planet fighting restlessly
with the deep conviction that a better world is possible.
I also wish to express the recognition of the Cuban
people to all those governments that every year claim, with their voices and
votes at the United Nations, for the removal of the economic, commercial and
financial blockade imposed on
Finally, let us express our appreciation to all the
comrades who took part in the successful organization of and support to this
Congress.
I think there can be no better way to celebrate the 50th
Anniversary of the Victory of Playa Girón than closing this historic Party
Congress, with the presence of Fidel
here and the symbolism contained in the “Elegía de los Zapaticos Blancos” by
Indio Naborí, vividly recited by actor Jorge Ryan, and the touching words of
Nemesia, the daughter of a charcoal burner who looked on helplessly as her
mother was killed and her grandmother and two brothers injured by the murdering
action of planes disguised with the Cuban insignia; the same girl whose white
shoes in holes from the enemy’s shrapnel are exhibited at the Playa Girón
Museum as material evidence that 50 years later the Revolution remains
victorious and paying respects to the fallen.
Thank you, very much.