That was, as the Commander in Chief himself defined it, a meeting to discuss the problems of the Isle of Pines and propose different solutions. It began in the morning, at the beginning of the tour that would end in Nueva Gerona, with the old Town Hall as the stage, in front of Lacret Park. It was their first massive meeting with the Pinero people, and it ended at the stroke of noon.
“I came to study – Fidel said there – the specific situation of the Isle of Pines, to see, observe and come to speak to the people.”
A little later, he said that “…Isla de Pinos has four great possibilities. The first of all is tourist. The second is livestock. Third crops. And lastly, another need is the industrialization of the Isle of Pines.”
His strategy did not include denying what was done before the revolutionary triumph but rather making the foundations already created bear fruit for the benefit of the nation.
Tourism was the most promising legacy and that is why he placed it at the forefront, heading the new development plan, but adjusting prices: “one for winter and another for summer. A national tourism that people can pay for. Greater in winter, for foreigners.” And it also reduces air and sea tickets, with rates that will encourage nationals to enter by car or public transport.
Livestock farming, which enjoyed the animal import facilities created by the Free Trade Zone, would now occupy that same position, the second, without such perk, but employing more than a thousand workers. “We are going to create on the Isle of Pines a Great National Center for Fatty Cattle Breeding, for beef cattle, a Great National Center.” And then he indicated to start planting 4,000 caballerias of pangola. Preparing them required about 100 tractors and 50 bulldozers, which would enter the territory in a matter of a month. Meanwhile, it was necessary to select and train the personnel who would operate them.
Regarding agriculture, he explained that here it would not be convenient to distribute land to farmers, it would not bring them economic advantages “…in a land that is not very fertile and where you have to produce with a lot of fertilizer.”
The industrialization of the Isle of Pines, which was not conceived in the previous plans, would now occupy fourth position. Not as an immediate option, but to the extent that the development achieved in the previous three would allow investments in a new sector.
Then, the Commander in Chief referred to other problems, among which he highlighted: the immediate need to generate jobs, eliminate Presidio Modelo and the work of inmates competing with Pinero employees, hospital problems and water supply by aqueduct. , the maritime highway, the need to preserve the environment and take advantage of it to promote the film industry.
Finally, and focusing the attention of his audience on the two main options, tourism and livestock, Fidel highlighted that these could “be developed without a Free Zone” as much as agriculture or the industrialization of the Isle of Pines. And he set a tone, any plan that is made “has to be about the revolutionary policy of the Government, protection of the country’s producers and economic independence.”
The Pineros, thus integrated into the rest of the country, would no longer be servants of any foreign interest. They had a very recent bad memory, from just about 30 years ago, when they were not allowed to enter any residence of North American settlers. Then they were disowned, and felt like foreigners in their own land.
For this reason, and for the perspectives of that other life that Fidel now brought them, when he asked: “…I want all those who agree that the Free Zone be abolished, to raise their hands…”, not a single one failed to get up.
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