The Head of State explained that the objective of visiting the territories is to be able to “touch with your hands the problems that exist; see how we transmit ideas, how we enhance things; and how we also transfer (those ideas) to the Central State Administration Agencies, so that they can support the issue in the territories.
Díaz-Canel included, among the motivations for such tours, knowing “how the territories perform”, being aware of “what works well”, what “is inspiring”; Because, he said, those who have achieved achievements have done so in the midst of adversity, and have still managed to move forward.
ON HOW NOT TO STOP
“The central was normally used to harvesting crops,” Díaz-Canel reminded the residents of San Luis; and he reflected on the fact that if nothing had been done due to sugarcane or fuel problems, that workplace would go into losses, with the consequent payment of low salaries to the workers.
«Now they are preparing to make honeydew: with the honeydew we make alcohol; With alcohols we make rums and export; and alcohol is also useful for other things.
The Head of State commented that with these alternative paths, ingenuity is being tested. «The center will be better prepared for the coming harvest; But, in addition, the old cane that the producers have is cut; “If not, we continue dragging it from one year to the next, and it continues to get worse, and then they are plantations that cannot be cultivated.”
“Count on us,” said a woman, to which the Cuban owner responded: “I know I’m counting on you. All of this requires a tremendous effort, because the repairs have been made in the midst of situations with many deficiencies, but there is a lot of talent in those workers that we have in the mill. So, let’s grind, let’s make syrup. Maybe they even make some sugar and support the distribution of the basket, and we try the central one, and next year we do what is needed for the country.
«The other thing – Díaz-Canel emphasized – is to produce food, because there is a lot of land.
“And we are convinced – stated the dignitary – that there is land here to produce the food that we need in the municipality, and in other municipalities.” At this, a Cuban voice stated: “And the hands are there, they have the desire and the courage.”
«And the other thing we have to control – the President stressed – is that those who sell the food do not raise prices indiscriminately. To the extent that we have more food, prices have to go down,” the President reflected.
Before starting the conclusive meeting, which took place at the municipal headquarters of the Communist Party, the country’s leadership was at the Lidia Doce Sánchez maternity home, an important center founded on December 15, 2023, in greeting to the 65th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
There, 50 available beds have achieved the human wonder, so far this year, of figures such as zero infant mortality and zero maternal mortality.
227 patients have already been treated in that place created to care for pregnant women in risk situations, and to protect those who live in rural areas or in the Turquino Plan.
Of the entire day in San Luis, an idea shared by President Díaz-Canel during the concluding meeting sheds light on the state of mind that will make Cuba’s advance possible: «Yes, there are ways out; and the exits are in smart work.
MEETING WITH CHILDREN OF A ROBUST PEOPLE
Knowing stories of producers who succeed and expand, and knowing that the mountain climate gives a lot in terms of crops, Díaz-Canel and Morales Ojeda arrived this Thursday morning, to the municipality of Yateras, in Guantánamo.
The first point on the tour was the Mártires de la Jaiba farm, belonging to the Guantánamo Poultry Company. Inaugurated in August 1992, by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, the place raises semi-rustic chickens for the Turquino Plan, and is part of the Yateras municipal self-sufficiency program.
Various topics were discussed there, and all had as their common theme the well-being of workers and inhabitants of the area; and also the idea that Cuba cannot wait for the ship to resolve its food issue.
The farm visited, including a hatchery, has around thirty workers distributed in various areas, and today faces the challenge of producing the food that birds demand for the incubation processes. One of the hosts of the visit, Eider Álvarez Ramírez, had explained early to reporters that the place has spaces for laying hens, an incubation plant, a farm for various crops, and a site for breeding. of dark-coated pigs.
The journalists were able to learn that the productive center aspires to increasingly venture into beekeeping, and has among its essential purposes that of exploiting the land to obtain the food that is lacking. Eider also addressed the issue of the social projection of the group, whose fruits are intended to serve pregnant women, the Family Care System (saf), and highly sensitive spaces such as the maternal home.
“The mountains have to be capable of producing their food,” said the First Secretary in this fifth visit to a municipality in Guantánamo. He recalled that an increased productive capacity will mean well-being for workers and their families.
That was the same tone that marked the reflections in the base business unit (ueb) Industria Molino Palenque, a coffee drying plant that is now on hiatus, and that also has the challenge of diversifying productions.
There, the dignitary asked about the possibility of planting rice in the mountains, praised the sovereignty they have when it comes to grains, and addressed the issue of starting to grow potatoes if you have the right seeds. “We have to continue diversifying productions,” he insisted, “so that people earn more and can live better.”
He said it because the area is producing bananas, cassava, malanga, sweet potato; because a climate like that of the mountains is pregnant with potential, and that must be taken advantage of.
Through narrow roads came the visit to the Fausto Favier Favier polyclinic, which includes almost twenty medical offices, and which has been immersed in constructive investment for 20 years, an endeavor that has not reached its goal. And before touring the spaces of the Health Center, the president exchanged with a crowd that was waiting for him, with children from Yateras who heard an explanation about the objectives of the tour, and what they saw along the way.
Before entering the polyclinic, the Cuban President asked what is missing there to complete the construction work. They then explained to him that now there is no cement or steel. The dignitary recalled that the contract through which the Health center will be restored – thanks to a MSME – must be designed with rigor and reviewed letter by letter, to avoid incorrect execution.
Challenges, as in all of Cuba, are not lacking in Yateras. But the potential and steps forward are weighing encouragingly in the balance. For this reason, when President Díaz-Canel left the polyclinic and met the people again, he commented to everyone: “With what we have seen, with what we have been able to appreciate in today’s visit to Yateras, in contact with a people like yours – so generous, so kind, so polite – I can tell you that you are as robust as that ceiba tree,” he concluded, referring to the tree near the polyclinic.
