As a prevailing need in the first years of the Cuban Revolution, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) emerged, with the essential mission of defending and preserving revolutionary ideals.
Their task has never been easy, because Cuba, in the almost 65 years of the organization, which will complete in 2025, has gone through moments of crisis and siege, of which it would be difficult to speak in terms of “victory” without mentioning the push of the CDR. in each neighborhood.
However, at the height of these days, the Hero of the Republic of Cuba Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, national coordinator of the organization, does not hesitate to tell Granma that “carrying out this defense in the year 2024 differs noticeably from the one raised in 1960.
«The evolution of society and changes in the political and social environment require adaptation and finding new strategies to preserve the achievements achieved; However, the fundamental mission of the CDR remains the same: the defense of the Revolution against any threat that threatens our society,” he says.
Hernández Nordelo, head of a network of Cubans infiltrated in the US. uuu to help dismantle terrorist actions against Cuba, he is not known for fearing trouble, nor for shying away from questions about the hottest topics in Cuban neighborhoods…
–What is the strategy of the CDR in the national battle against corruption and illegalities?
–There is a leader of the Revolution, whom I admire a lot, who always tells me that where the CDR are, on the block, everything is there: the good, the bad and the regular; And, just as we have very valuable people, there are also criminals and the corrupt.
«Many times in the neighborhood they know who they are or suspect it; Therefore, the CDRs have a responsibility in this battle for all.
«Who is affected by the illegalities? When someone steals, they don’t just steal from the State…, they are stealing from me, they are stealing from the neighbor, they are stealing from the mother who has three children and depends on state aid, they are stealing from the old man who receives his pension. . It’s affecting everyone.
«The CDRs have to do with everything that affects a community, and illegalities are part of that whole, so it is also up to us to keep an eye on them.
«I’ll give you, for example, the issue of drugs. There are people with some concern, because we are beginning to see a phenomenon that we were oblivious to for a long time or that was practically insignificant in our country, compared to other regions of the world, but their concern is very right, because drugs are a phenomenon that It affects everyone.
«You cannot conceive of a person who is profiting from a vice like that, at the expense of the safety, tranquility or health of our own family members.
«And, where does the phenomenon of a person who sells drugs occur? It’s in a neighborhood, a block, a community. Therefore, we are not immune to these problems.”
–How do state and non-state companies influence the development of communities, from the perspective of the CDR?
–Non-state economic actors, such as MSMEs, self-employed workers or other forms of production are a relatively new phenomenon and, as with almost every new phenomenon, there have always been their prejudices, their misunderstandings, their mistrust…, but I can say that we have developed many initiatives with non-state forms of management.
«When we began to take the first steps in this direction, there were people who approached us to ask how the CDR, which is an emblematic institution of the Revolution, was going to ally with a private MSME to bring donations to a place, or with a religious entity, and I say: “look, the important thing is that the donations reach the person who needs them at a certain time.”
«If the CDRs collect donations and the truck that has the possibility of going to that place is theirs, we have no problem with working together. What is important is action and, therefore, we have a whole range of open initiatives with non-state forms.
–Do you have concrete examples of that collaboration?
–Recently, the Juanki’s Pan MSME donated 40,000 pairs of surgical gloves to us for hospitals; and another MSME, m&l Soluciones, from Pinar del Río, has donated Crocs shoes for intensive care rooms several times, and sets of gowns for medical personnel, as well as green cloths, among other medical supplies.
«In addition, with the Salsa Río restaurant, on the Almendares River, we have a project to offer, from time to time, a free table for community leaders, for grassroots leaders of the CDR who in many cases are older people, with 20 or 30 years working for the organization.
«We work very closely with the A Cuba must be loved project, with whom we have brought donations to children’s homes without family protection, as well as with the societies of Cubans residing in Mexico and the Canary Islands, and the Cubacán project, from Canada, which send donations through us, which makes us proud, because there are many people who are afraid and are careful to associate with us, because the CDR is an organization openly in defense of the Revolution, and we have been the target of attacks and enemy propaganda.
«However, these entities that I mention have not had any prejudice or fear, because they know that by making a donation through the CDR, it reaches directly where it is intended.
«From the Cubacán project, some 2,400 folding canes for the blind will be delivered to the National Association of the Blind of Cuba (ANCI); and before they had sent braille typewriters.
«So we consider that you cannot have any type of complex when working with non-state forms. They are in the community, and if they are people who want to contribute
in a selfless way, because through the CDR, which is the organization of the Cuban family, they can do it without any type of problem.
«It is about opening holes in the blockade; because when you add up all the things that have entered the country, what we have done is considerable help.
–What does it depend on whether or not the function of the CDRs is fulfilled?
–The first task is to complete our structures in those places where they do not exist. If in a block you don’t convince anyone to be part of the CDR leadership, then you’re already off to a bad start; because good work in the municipality depends on the work done in the area, since the block is where everything happens.
«The work in the neighborhoods has shown us how important it is that the structures are complete; because it is not the same as the municipality deciding to do something, which could be a park in a neighborhood, and they get there, put in the resources, build the park and, in the end, discover that what the community needed was a little bridge to cross over it. up to the stream in which everyone gets muddy to cross a street.
«Isn’t that what the CDR is for? Yes, it is there to say: “look, we don’t need a park here, what we need is this or that”; but for that the structures must be complete.
«We try to make people understand that the CDR is there to address the problems of the community, and to be defenders of the neighborhood and the block. There are those who are stars in their universities and workplaces, but when they arrive in the community they say: “no, I can’t compete with the old man who has been the leader of the block for 40 years.” And it is quite the opposite, because those people, of whom we are very proud, need their replacement.
«There are many people who tell you that CDRs do not work, and that generalization hurts us, because there are many CDRs in the country that work very well. There are also those who tell you that plans are no longer made on the street or raw materials are not collected; but there are places where mini-festivals of raw materials are held on Saturdays,
and on Sundays there are very fun street plans, with massive community participation.
«In those places there are people who do not sit and wait idly for someone from the national leadership of the CDR to come and organize anything for them. Creativity cannot be dependent on a higher orientation; You have to deploy it where you live.
«Therefore, we do not agree with this generalization that CDRs do not work. We always tell the person: “well, your CDR doesn’t work; Now, do you want to put it to work? Do you want to be president? We are willing to work with you.”
