212. Cuba: More than 6 Million Participate in PCC Pre-Congress Discussion, Selection of Delegates Begins

Raul Castro Speaks on
Economic Reform

By Radio Rebelde, February 4, 2011

More than six million Cubans have participated in the analysis of the Project of Economic and Social Policies Guidelines of the Cuban Party and the Revolution, to be presented at the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), scheduled for April 2011.

According to Granma newspaper, 70% of the meetings to discuss each chapter of the project have already been held.

It adds that every question, concern, or proposal to add, change or remove something, has been registered, analyzed and classified, according to the topic, by 5,000 specialists in all municipalities and provinces.

These specialists pass on the questions, concerns and proposals to twelve working groups led by top leaders of the PCC, the State and the Government, who later on assess the information gathered and make the necessary changes to present a definitive document during the Congress.

The chapters more debated have been Chapter IV (Social Policy), Chapter II (Macroeconomic Policies), Chapter I (Economic Management Model), Chapter XI (Construction, Housing and Water Resources), and Chapter X (Transportation).

The guidelines on the ration card, the policies of prices, the quality of education, and the implementation of a single currency, are some of the topics that have originated more questions and recommendations.

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Latin American Herald Tribune, February 22, 2011

Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, were elected delegates to the 6th Congress of the governing Cuban Communist Party, or PCC, which will be held April 16-19 and which will be the first such gathering since 1997, state media reported Sunday.

Former President Fidel Castro, 84, who handed over power in 2006 due to a serious illness, retains the post of first secretary of the Communist Party, while his brother, 79, is the second secretary of that organization.

Both men were designated delegates to the communist congress during a meeting of PCC general secretaries held on Saturday in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba and presided over by Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, the official daily Juventud Rebelde reported on Sunday.

The 6th Congress of the PCC will focus on the ratification of the economic adjustment plan pushed by the government of Raul Castro to attempt to overcome the serious economic crisis that has beset the island for decades.

Thus, it will be an "atypical congress," according to what Machado Ventura said on Saturday, adding that "everything that's being done is to guarantee the continuity of the revolution and socialism."

At the end of 2011, the PCC will also hold a National Conference where it is anticipated that the renewal or continuity of top officials within the party leadership entities will be dealt with.

That conference "will be the time to analyze the life of the organization in the interests of consolidating the guiding role of the party in society," Machado Ventura said.

A thousand delegates will participate in the 6th PCC Congress.

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By Radio Rebelde, January 10, 2011


First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura announced on Sunday that the election of pre-delegates to the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) —scheduled for April 16-19— will begin this month.

He noted that the delegates to the Congress will be elected from this group in February in meetings of General Secretaries of base PCC organizations in each of the country’s municipalities.

Machado added that the provincial and municipal assemblies will meet after the sessions of the PCC Congress, in which 1,000 delegates will participate —the lowest number since the first meeting of this kind took place in Havana in December 1975.

The high-ranking official commented that they are promoting the election of delegates with knowledge of economy as discussions will focus mainly on this issue.

“In previous congresses a larger number of comrades have participated because we have discussed topics of general interest, but now we will analyze the Draft Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution and the upgrading of its economic model,” Machado explained.

“That’s why comrades with the abovementioned characteristics should be in the five discussion commissions, so that they can help with their experience,” he added.

The First Vice President announced that the National Conference of the PCC will also take place this year, although the exact date has not been determined yet.

The Sixth PCC Congress will take place coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Cuban victory against the mercenary invasion in Bay of Pigs and also the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution.