SANTA CLARA: To continue standing, to keep alive the good conquests; and even to re-emerge. These are essential tactics of the Cuban resistance, about which we heard about this Thursday morning, with particular emphasis, in several places of the municipality.
There have been -week after week and since they began last February 6- meetings of the people with the eight candidates to the 10th Legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power for the municipality of Santa Clara, among whom is the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
It was not by chance that Thursday's agenda began with the "Desembarco del Granma" Textile Company. In that universe founded by Fidel in 1979, and which has had the merit of reinventing itself to remain standing all these years, the Head of State talked with workers in whose faces, looks and hands it was easy to guess the fibers of a quiet but very firm heroism, from day to day, of that who loves and defends a place with everything.
After touring the premises where there were samples of products born from the textile universe, the president said to the architects of an admirable resistance: "This has been one of the industries, within the textile branch of Cuba, of vanguard". He emphasized that the factory is a "reference", and that as such, it is one of "the few textile factories that remain alive in the country, in the midst of all the resizing processes that have had to be carried out".
The textile sector - Díaz-Canel Bermúdez reflected - has been one of the hardest hit by the blockade. He then spoke of the last three years experienced by the Island, and how, due to the inhumane blockade of the United States, "we have not had financing to acquire raw materials, much less for the technological upgrades that this industry needs".
In spite of all the setbacks, and the readjustments that have had to be made in the only factory in Cuba that contains all the processes of the textile industry, the Cuban President stated that there is "a whole program of textile development in the country". And he added: "We are seeking to rescue the founding principles of what at that time was called the light industry -where the textile industry was part of it-, conceived by the Commander in Chief so that we would have to import less and less finished products, and that the country could produce more".
The prelude to these ideas, and to the exchange with managers and workers, was the presentation of the eight candidates for deputies for the municipality of Santa Clara: Osnay Miguel Colina, first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Villa Clara; Osmani García López, president of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power of Santa Clara; Leonel del Valle Monteagudo, director of the "Olga Alonso" elementary school; and Alberto López Díaz, Governor of the province.
Also presented were Clara Nubia Aleaga Castillo, director of human resources of the Construction Materials Company of Villa Clara; President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; Asiel Aguada Barceló, president of the Sakenaf-Caracatey Popular Council; and Luis Morlote Rivas, president of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac).
That was the starting point so that, from the workers' collective, the voices of a place that is now in urgent need of financing, raw materials, and saving sources of electricity and water - basic resources for the start-up of the textile factory - could be heard.
"Thank you on behalf of all the workers," said Victor Alejandro Perez, Director of the Textile Company, to the visitors, and emphasized that the great challenge, the most difficult one, is to start up the industry every day. The executive emphasized that 44 percent of the workforce are women, which is a great merit, because it is hard work, with long hours on your feet.
During the exchange, the valuable links with the university were discussed; of turning engineers into true experts in the art of textile production; of training young people with special care - because the textile industry requires a great deal of specialization in its technological processes -; and of offering agile responses to all the problems that arise.
A word about the textile factory, and about Cuba
President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez reminded the workers of the "Desembarco del Granma" Textile Company that from there -one of the places that became one of the most technologically advanced in the country- came out "wonderful fabrics that later went to the clothing company".
In the light of the present, the Head of State expressed: "Today we are analyzing things in a moment of crisis that we are living, as part of the world crisis that exists, because we are not in a bubble". He spoke of having hope, because "this is a sector that the country has to prioritize as soon as there is a possibility of financing, because of what it may imply: it is not the same to be importing fabrics, or to be importing fabrics; here we were doing the complete cycle".
There is potential -he affirmed-, for when there is an economic respite and progress can be made; for when investments can be made to allow higher production levels. You have defended the factory," he acknowledged as he identified familiar faces of those who have given their whole lives among the production machines, "you have not been intimidated.
In response to the concerns raised by the labor community about the importance of elaborating with rigor and richness every rule that governs life in society, the President explained that the temporary working groups that are elaborating public policies and laws have been joined by jurists, economists, engineers, experts, academics, "so that these legal rules are becoming more and more robust, with a holistic, integral approach. This is how we achieved it in the Family Code; this is how we are now working on the Social Communication Law, and above all with broad popular consultation processes".
On March 26 -when Cubans go to the polls to exercise their right to vote and thus elect the Supreme Organ of State power- the Head of State spoke about the importance of "being aware that on March 26 we will not vote only for the people who make up the candidacy: it is much more than that, because it could be those who are there, and it could be others; among them, many of you who have all the conditions".
"The vote is for the Revolution, the vote is for unity, and the vote is to continue defending as alternatives for the country -which are the only ones possible in times like these- the Revolution and the socialist construction, which they have tried to suffocate with all the tightening of the blockade, with all the measures and sanctions imposed on us, which have slowed down all the processes that had been developing in the country to move forward".
"We definitely have to realize that the blockade will not stop tightening and that we, with our own talent, with our own effort, with that concept of creative resistance, we have to go beyond that (what the blockade imposes); We have to find alternatives, we have to produce, we have to offer more goods and services to the population so that prices will go down, so that the salary will have more capacity, more purchasing power and we can achieve in the shortest possible time the prosperity that the Cuban people deserve, who with tremendous dignity, and in a daily heroism, have endured all these onslaughts".
In another moment, during an exchange that later took place with residents of the "Universidad" People's Council, very close to the textile factory buildings, the dignitary reflected that when asked "what am I going to vote for on March 26?", one must certainly think that "I am going to vote for the candidates -that is one of the reasons why we are going: to elect the deputies who should represent the people in the National Assembly-, but I will vote for many more things: I will vote for a whole history, for the defense of the Revolution".
The President pointed out that "we have been living through three years of an intensified and brutal blockade, with a tremendous cruelty towards the Cuban population, and I will never forget the difficult moments we had". He said this in allusion to how the imperial enemy denied us medical oxygen, "they denied us pulmonary ventilators, they denied us vaccines, they denied us the supplies to enter the country to produce medicines, they denied us the necessary funds to finance fundamental things".
Díaz-Canel Bermúdez denounced that "there is a brutal financial and energy persecution against Cuba", and that in spite of this Cuba has resisted: "We did it with the heroism of the people; we achieved it with that creative resistance of which we are all part; and now, returning to the new normality, we have to productively enhance all our capacities, to overcome this stage of economic crisis that has a great impact on society and that is also associated to a great extent with the crisis that the world is going through".
In another part of his speech, the President highlighted concepts expressed by the residents of the "Universidad" People's Council, which refer to Cuban democracy: "You have spoken about the sense of responsibility that we must have with the people, and how this exchange must be systematic, to feed back on the situation of the population and that the National Assembly really discusses the problems of our people; and how in all the popular wisdom that is providing solutions, we can also reach effective measures, laws that represent the interests of all".
Two values: rebirth and beauty.
The third item on the morning's agenda was a tour of the Unidad Empresarial de Base (UEB) "Osvaldo Herrera" (asphalt plant). Everything there was stopped for nine years, until it just started up thanks to the intelligence and will of a group of women and men; and to the fact that one percent of the profits that the territory has had from its endogenous strengths could be used for this manufacturing world.
Some 500 proposals of the population have been able to have concrete answers from the operation of the plant that in 2023 has among its purposes to produce 20,000 tons of asphalt. There, where the basic ingredients that a house needs are also being made -which are destined for the territory's trade networks and social works-, the candidates for deputies were able to appreciate aluminum windows, tiles, blocks, and plumbing parts (made in the territory's plastics factory, with a quality that is already very well spoken of by consumers).
They resurfaced. It was said with admiration and apropos of the architects of the plant. And President Díaz-Canel added this certainty that has to do with the importance in Cuba, as never before, of the tenacious will to create goods and services: "They will always be able to do something".
The last stop of the morning was the "Presa Minerva" Community, and specifically a visit to the recreational complex that boasts a real beauty for the impeccable state of its facilities, and for the landscape of a reservoir that guarantees 45 percent of Santa Clara's water.
As it usually happens, men and women of the people spoke of resistance, of doing things with their hands and with intelligence, of gratitude, and of confidence in the work of the Revolution.
Towards the end of the meeting, the candidate for Deputy and Governor of the province, Alberto López Díaz, valued that in 2022 "we did not achieve" the goal to which we aspired, "but we stopped the regression of the economy of Villa Clara, and we have already started to make a leap; and I believe that with all this we are doing, with the dedication and effort, with that optimism, with that commitment, we will be able to make a better year, (...) and to continue contributing to that aspiration of the Revolution. ) and continue contributing to that aspiration of the Cuban people, and especially of the people of Villa Clara, which is the responsibility and the mission that as public servants we have on behalf of the people".