By Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Granma International, June 18, 2026
Speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President
of the Republic, at the closing of the Extraordinary Plenary Session of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party, at the Palace of the Revolution, on
June 17, 2026, "Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro
Ruz."
Comrades, members of the Party’s Central Committee;
Distinguished guests;
Compatriots:
This extraordinary plenary session is taking place at a
decisive moment for Cuba. As proud heirs to the legacy of the
Commander-in-Chief, we Cuban revolutionaries today face challenges of enormous
magnitude that demand unity, ideological steadfastness, courage, boldness, and
creative resilience.
We are guided by our leader, a prominent member of the
vanguard of the Centennial Generation and a zealous guardian of the continuity
of the socialist Revolution—which he played a decisive role in building from
its foundations to the present day—Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Hero of the
Republic of Cuba, who has taught us every day the sacred value of unity.
The context is extraordinarily complex and challenging due
to the relentless aggression of the intensified economic, commercial, and
financial blockade imposed by the United States government and the criminal
intent behind the hostile actions of the current administration: first, the
inclusion of Cuba on the infamous and spurious list of countries that allegedly
sponsor terrorism, and other equally false accusations that seek to discredit
the government’s authority and administration, while depriving the country of
any source of foreign exchange.
This blockade has been further intensified by the Executive
Orders of January 29 and May 1st, which reinforce the genocidal energy blockade
and, through secondary sanctions, internationalize the blockade, taking
financial, energy, and investment persecution to extremes of maximum pressure.
At the same time, political and ideological subversion is
intensifying through media disinformation on social media to undermine the
Revolution’s credibility—among both Cubans and foreigners—fostering social
disorientation in a national and international context marked by profound
transformations in the socioeconomic structure and global geopolitics, as a
consequence of the unlimited powers of a hegemonic imperialist policy that
seeks to shatter multilateralism, fuels neo-fascist movements, and exacerbates global
tensions, constantly threatening international peace and security and
attempting to break the indispensable unity of leftist forces.
The silent genocide being waged against Cuba is causing
immeasurable damage and terrible hardships in our daily lives as a people,
while its perpetrators brazenly lie to the world by denying the energy blockade
and claiming that we are blocking the entry of million-dollar
donations—donations they tout extensively but have delivered hardly anything of
what was promised.
Cuba is resisting heroically and creatively, but for far too
long it has suffered a barbaric, undeserved, and unbearable punishment, to
which is now added the threat of military aggression as a new weapon against
our collective resistance.
Cuba faces a cruel blockade and real, daily financial
persecution that drives up the cost of every drop of fuel, every medicine,
every food item, every part, and every piece of technology the country needs.
Reality demands urgent and necessary changes. And when life
for the people becomes so difficult, the primary duty of the Communist Party
and the revolutionary government is not to explain the crisis better, but to
change whatever needs to be changed to overcome it.
What is required is a comprehensive and agile economic
agenda, executable in the short term, that combines macroeconomic
stabilization, incentives to stimulate and promote productive openness, legal
certainty, the attraction of investment, intensive use of technology, and
targeted and effective social protection.
Let us recall that at the closing of the 11th Plenary
Session, we stated that the postponement of the Congress did not preclude the
possibility of making the necessary changes, modifications, and adjustments,
taking into account the powers of Party and government structures—such as the
Plenary Sessions of the Central Committee when it comes to resolutions adopted
by Party congresses.
To this end, intensive work has been carried out, based on
the informative report and debate from the ANEC Congress, the public
consultation on the Economic and Social Program for 2026, the opinions of
economists and experts, the debates and contributions made by the Economic
Commission of the Party’s Central Committee, the Economic and Social Policy
Guidelines approved and updated at the 6th, 7th, and 8th Party Congresses, the
proposals of the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee, and the work
carried out by the commissions that have been preparing the documents for the
postponed 9th Party Congress—for reasons that are well known—regarding the
update of the Conceptualization of the Economic and Social Model, the
Guidelines, and the National Plan for Economic and Social Development through
2030.
In addition, a study has been conducted on the experiences
of socialist construction in other countries, such as China and Vietnam, and
artificial intelligence has also been utilized to further the search for
references and evaluate the proposals in relation to our current laws and
regulations.
We are facing the enormous challenge of continuing to
advance the process of socialist construction, defending the Revolution and its
achievements, and perfecting our society, under the conditions of a country
subjected to the cruelest, most genocidal, and longest-lasting economic,
financial, energy, and commercial blockade imposed by the world’s most powerful
nation. And to overcome this, the legacy we have is that of our
Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz (Applause).
No one in the history of humanity has ever faced the
challenge of socialism under the conditions that this country, this nation, and
this people are currently facing! We will undoubtedly overcome this challenge
through unity, courage, popular participation, and full conviction in our
ability to achieve victory.
The transformations we are proposing are intended to advance
the defense of socialism, to support and expand social justice, and to create
economic wealth and distribute it equitably. Without wealth, there is nothing
to distribute; we would be speaking of social justice in the abstract. Social
justice as conceived by the Revolution—with its humanistic mission to help the
most disadvantaged, generally through free welfare programs and projects—does
not cost the people anything, but it does cost the State. And to carry it out,
to deepen it, to sustain it, and to maintain it, the State needs wealth—and we
must produce that wealth ourselves. If there is no wealth, there is no social
justice, and everything else is a fairy tale—everything else is a fairy tale! Either
we produce under these conditions, create wealth, and then distribute it with
social justice and equity—not egalitarianism. That is the challenge!
We need to unleash the productive forces, to have more
production rather than more restrictions, because it has been proven that
control without supply merely drives operations into the informal market.
Equality and integration among economic actors are necessary
in accordance with the National Plan for Economic and Social Development
through 2030 and the territorial and local development strategies involving
state-owned enterprises, MSMEs, cooperatives, agricultural producers, foreign
and Cuban investors, residents and non-residents alike: all must act and
contribute to the country’s socioeconomic development under clear rules.
We must export and produce to attract and bring in foreign
currency and make productive use of it. Every unit of foreign currency that
enters the country must be channeled to finance production, imports,
investment, wages, and infrastructure.
Legal certainty must be guaranteed: contracts, usufruct
rights, leases, concessions, surface rights, and licenses must offer temporal
stability and protection against arbitrary changes. Without legal certainty, no
one will invest, and no one will take risks.
We must promote digitalization with traceability: electronic
invoicing, digital payments, public registries, and interoperable data as a
foundation for reducing tax evasion and corruption.
Social protection must be prioritized: replacing inefficient
blanket subsidies with direct support for vulnerable people. We must always
ensure that each action does not increase social inequalities; on the contrary,
they should be gradually reduced until they disappear.
We must act with selective and intelligent openness:
attracting technology, financing, markets, and external knowledge, while
protecting strategic sectors through regulation, not through stagnation.
A gradual and experimental approach is necessary: reform
should be implemented in phases and through verifiable pilot programs,
maintaining government leadership and adjusting course based on evidence to
address and minimize potential economic and social costs.
Also essential are political unity to ensure the consistency
and credibility of the measures; clear and precise communication of the
decisions to be implemented, to gain support for the transformations; and the
adoption of compensatory mechanisms to mitigate economic and social impacts.
We must work with agility, consistency, and quality—and
above all, with control. What has been approved must be implemented properly.
In this scenario, it is necessary to make progress on at
least five fronts simultaneously:
Macroeconomic stabilization and the recovery of foreign
revenue.
The transformation of the Economic and Social Model.
The stimulation and recovery of the agricultural sector.
The strengthening of accounting and cost management.
Anticipating and mitigating the social costs associated with
the necessary transformations of the Economic and Social Model.
And these five aspects are very well developed in the report
presented by ANEC at its last congress.
The Commander-in-Chief taught us that in times of crisis we
could not give up on either development or critical thinking, that no obstacle
is insurmountable, and that there is always an opportunity to grow. And along
that path, the Army General showed us that it is possible, that it was
possible, and that it will always be possible.
The people understand the causes of many of the difficulties
we face, but they also need concrete answers, timely decisions, and results
that are felt in their daily lives.
There are obstacles that do not come from outside or from
blockades. There is sluggishness, bureaucracy, regulations that hold back those
who want to produce, and decisions we have put off. What depends on us, we must
change ourselves—and we must change it now.
We owe our homeland to the resistance, but today resistance
alone is not enough. This time demands that we transform, produce more, remove
more barriers, listen more, make better decisions, and be accountable.
What we intend to set in motion is an emergency economic and
social agenda, comprising measures that are part of our Government Program and
policies approved by the Party, along with decisions that can no longer wait.
Some will not enjoy unanimous consensus, but they cannot be postponed. And each
will have a specific person in charge, a defined deadline, a metric to measure
its implementation, and public accountability to the nation.
What works will be expanded. What does not work will be
corrected without delay. Anyone with a responsibility will have to be held
accountable for it, and when someone cannot meet the demands of this moment,
they must responsibly make way for someone who can do it better.
We will face this process as the challenge of the
generations that today share the defense of the Homeland, the Revolution, and
Socialism.
Regarding the Economic Management System, I want to
emphasize that the most important point is that, if we adopt these
transformations, central planning would not serve to manage the economy, but
rather to create an appropriate institutional and regulatory environment so
that enterprises and workers are encouraged to produce goods and provide
quality services efficiently, as well as to introduce innovations into their
management for these purposes.
And we must definitely ensure that the Plan is built from
the ground up with the participation of workers.
We will continue restructuring the government apparatus, the
state, the Party, and our institutions. We will integrate structures where
necessary, review duplicated functions, reduce unnecessary steps, and
continuously optimize the way the country is governed and served. These
structures must be more dynamic, more proactive, and less bureaucratic.
One of the most important and urgent tasks is to boost the
country’s development from the ground up, starting with the municipalities.
We cannot delay any further in empowering municipal
governments and ensuring they have and exercise all possible authority to
develop.
No economic change will be sufficient if socialist
state-owned enterprises—which will remain the fundamental pillar of the
economy—do not have the genuine capacity to manage, innovate, and be
accountable for their results.
It is necessary to reform the management of state-owned
enterprises based on real autonomy, economic and financial evaluation, the
separation of state and business functions, and the application of the
"comply or explain" principle to prevent regulations from becoming an
obstacle when a more beneficial and demonstrable solution exists.
To that end, we will move forward in two directions: greater
real autonomy for enterprises and more professional management of state assets
through the National Institute of Business Assets, which is tasked with
representing the owner of the means of production, evaluating results,
demanding efficiency, and better separating the business function from the
regulatory function of the ministries.
Autonomy does not mean a lack of control; it implies a
framework of accountability. It means being able to make timely decisions, form
better partnerships, invest more effectively, pay better wages, and be
accountable for results to the people and to the State.
We need to strengthen state-owned enterprises, not replace
them with administrative mechanisms that paralyze them. To this end, we must
complete the separation between state and business functions, evaluate
performance using economic and financial tools, and grant real autonomy to
manage material, financial, and human resources—with subsequent oversight,
transparency, and accountability.
There is no sovereignty with empty plates. The Cuban
people’s food will be treated for what it is: a matter of national security.
And idle land in Cuba must be eliminated. Every piece of
land that is currently overgrown with marabou—when it should be producing
food—will require a clear solution: either it is put to productive use or it is
handed over to those willing to do so.
We will expand the granting of land in usufruct to those who
are willing and able to produce: producers, cooperatives, micro, small, and
medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and other forms of association—without ever
renouncing national sovereignty or regressing to the dependent country we left
behind with the Revolution.
We will recognize the right of those who work the land to
invest in what they need to make it productive, and we will allow those who
commit to real results to import seeds, fertilizer, parts, and equipment
directly. But one principle must be clear: that land will continue to belong to
the people; and if it does not produce, if it does not serve the country, if it
does not fulfill its social function, it will have to pass into the hands of
those who can indeed make it productive.
We cannot continue to demand that Cuban farmers produce more
food with fewer tools and at prices below their costs; they must have effective
mechanisms for direct access to foreign currency, such as selling to
exporters—as is the case with tourism—or on the foreign exchange market.
We must make the land an opportunity rather than a burden;
ensure that those who sow see the fruits of their labor; enable those who
produce to live better lives; and provide those who invest in the countryside
with security, support, and a future.
Cuba needs its farmers, their work, and their trust. When
the Cuban countryside becomes a path to prosperity for those who work it, the
country will be stronger, more just, and more sovereign.
With regard to foreign trade, exports, logistics, and value
chains, we must authorize direct imports and exports for state-owned and
non-state-owned enterprises—whether they are productive, export-oriented, or
import-substituting—while maintaining technical and fiscal requirements but
eliminating mandatory intermediation.
Regarding debt renegotiation, we must carry out a
debt-for-assets swap process, focused primarily on exchanging national assets
for debt, without permanently relinquishing ownership of those assets. Through
this mechanism, we can secure financing and other benefits without losing
ownership rights over the assets.
We must also explore other mechanisms, such as
"debt-for-nature" or "debt-for-social-development" swaps,
the issuance of bonds tied to the Sustainable Development Goals, and others.
We will comprehensively review the list of activities
prohibited to the private sector, guided by a clear principle: to replace,
whenever possible, prohibitions with responsible regulation. The country needs
to establish legal pathways for these activities, with clear rules and
appropriate controls.
We will also make the scope of the corporate purpose of
MSMEs and other economic actors more flexible and significantly alleviate the
bureaucratic burden currently faced by many entrepreneurs; furthermore, we must
streamline the creation of economic partnerships between state and non-state
management models.
Foreign investment is also trapped in a web of obstacles
that hinder its necessary growth. We must not only tell foreign investors where
to invest, but also allow them to take the initiative to invest in the economic
sector of their choice, as well as to directly hire their workers without state
intermediaries at all times.
We must authorize foreign direct investment in the national
private sector, including MSMEs, with clear rules on ownership, repatriation,
reinvestment, and dispute resolution.
We must facilitate investment models with different
modalities and involving all stakeholders on the part of Cubans living in Cuba.
And to Cubans living abroad who wish to invest, donate, import technology, open
a market, or launch a project in their homeland, we will offer a clear, stable,
and respectful framework, without them being viewed with suspicion for wanting
to help their own people or contribute to the development of the land where
they were born. To anyone who wants to build a future with Cuba, without
seeking to impose anything on it, we say with our hearts on our sleeves: this
is your home, and our door is open to you, because at this moment, this
homeland cannot afford to lose a single good Cuban (Applause).
A power outage isn’t just a matter of megawatts or a
generation shortfall. A power outage is the child who couldn’t study for a
test, the food that went bad in the refrigerator, the elderly person who spends
the night awake, restless, and sweltering. It’s the hospital operating at full
capacity, the doctor’s office that can’t store medication, the worker who loses
a day’s pay, and the business that has to close. That is why energy is not a
technical issue; it is a human, economic, and national issue.
We will accelerate the integration of solar energy into the
national economy, as we have been doing. To achieve this, we will facilitate
the direct entry of foreign companies that supply panels, batteries, inverters,
and related solutions, reducing the number of intermediaries that drive up
costs for the population and for the country.
Import tariffs on solar technologies, storage systems, and
energy-saving equipment have already been eliminated. Now we will also move
forward with eliminating taxes on their sale and on services related to their
installation and maintenance.
In addition, we will create credit and financing mechanisms
so that these solutions are not accessible only to a few, but can gradually
reach households, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), medical
clinics, educational centers, nursing homes, and other essential services for
the population. And in this effort, our Cuban companies and technicians—both
state-owned and private—will be at the center, installing, maintaining,
repairing, integrating, and creating jobs. Cuban companies can specialize in
the installation, integration, operation, and support of these technologies.
We will promote electric transportation powered by renewable
energy sources. Any electric vehicle intended for public, private, or
light-duty freight transport that demonstrates it operates entirely or
primarily on solar energy will be eligible for special incentives, tariff
exemptions, elimination of sales taxes, and facilitation of imports of
chargers, batteries, parts, and related solutions.
We will also promote the installation of solar panels
throughout the country with foreign, private, cooperative, and state
investment, prioritizing urban routes, tourist hubs, productive zones, and
essential services. Along with this, we will establish an expedited process for
granting licenses for transportation operators, electric taxis, or associated
mobility services, under clear rules, technical oversight, road safety
standards, and transparent pricing.
The top priority, above all else, is the people who cannot
wait for the economy to improve, because there are hardships that know no
deadlines. True social justice is not built on artificial prices that
eventually lead to shortages, long lines, low wages, and an illegal market.
Social justice is built on real foundations: incomes with
purchasing power, direct protection for those who need it most, and a national
economy capable of producing more. There are no shortcuts; these are not new
ideas, but decisions that the country discussed and approved years ago. The
mistake was not in proposing them, but in postponing them—and that period of
delay must come to an end.
The basic food basket will be guaranteed to retirees,
families with chronically ill children, and vulnerable populations. Targeted
programs will be developed to promote social transformation in the poorest
neighborhoods. The state-owned and private business sectors must be given a
greater role and incentives to get involved in solving prioritized local
problems, such as soup kitchens, sanitation, and shelters for children without
family support, among others. These decisions will entail new, concrete tasks:
delivering pension payments to retirees near their homes so they do not have to
wait in line for hours under the sun; sponsoring soup kitchens, nursing homes,
senior centers, and children’s centers; creating solidarity quotas and
cost-based pricing for those who truly need it; and digitizing everything so
that it is clear who contributes, who receives, and what results are achieved.
For years, we operated under a system of wage controls,
price regulations, and a government that subsidized a huge portion of the
country’s economic life. That formula had its rationale, its context, its
results, and its time; but it no longer addresses the complex reality we face
today. The prices families face have become far too disconnected from the
income of workers and retirees, and we cannot continue to act as if that gap
did not exist.
We will also open new avenues for secure access to
medications.
Regarding fiscal, tax, monetary, and financial restructuring
policies, we propose that the primary objective for reducing the fiscal deficit
lies in increasing production—which is the basis for tax revenue—and cutting
unnecessary budget expenditures. That is why we will also correct a policy that
failed to deliver the expected results.
Price caps, in practice, failed to curb inflation. They
often led to product shortages, a shift toward the black market, higher prices,
lower tax revenue, and an impossible race between actual prices and
administrative decisions that were always late or remained rigid in the face of
changing economic realities, thereby limiting all those who wish to conduct
their economic activities legally and transparently. For this reason, we will
not continue to impose blanket price caps, as the Prime Minister explained. We
must correct distortions in the tax system that currently drive up the costs of
production chains and ultimately get passed on to the final price.
We will move toward a creditable value-added tax (VAT)
progressively supported by electronic invoicing to avoid cascading taxation.
But these decisions can only be implemented alongside more direct and effective
social protection, with a shift from subsidizing products to subsidizing
people, and with efforts to restore the purchasing power of wages and pensions.
It is not a matter of leaving anyone to fend for themselves in the market; it
is a matter of providing better protection, increasing production, regulating
intelligently, and managing with realism.
We need a financial system that supports the economy, serves
the needs of the various economic actors, reduces lines, facilitates payments,
ensures transparency in transactions, and turns savings, credit, and investment
into concrete tools for development.
We must thoroughly modernize the country’s banking and
financial system. To do so, Cuba needs banks that are more agile, more digital,
closer to the people, and more useful to those who produce, export, import,
invest, or start businesses.
We will open up opportunities—under strict regulation—for
private and foreign financial institutions; new mechanisms for credit,
productive financing, the development of financial markets, and payment
services, in which state, cooperative, and private actors can participate. The
goal is to ensure that collecting a pension, receiving a remittance from
abroad, paying for a service, applying for a loan, financing a harvest,
purchasing equipment, or moving money to support production is not an obstacle
course.
We will allow offshore accounts, foreign-currency payments
between companies, and auditable international transactions for entities that
import, export, or provide global services.
This is not about weakening the role of the state, but
rather about expanding and modernizing the country’s capacity to finance
production, support those who generate goods and services, regulate the flow of
money, and provide better service to our people.
We will turn digital transformation, software, and
artificial intelligence into cross-cutting tools to develop agriculture, the
energy sector, healthcare, education, foreign trade, banking, e-commerce,
logistics, tourism, and tax enforcement.
Specific proposals related to software, artificial
intelligence, the knowledge economy, and the digital economy must be presented
as cross-cutting infrastructure to boost national productivity. This is not
merely about exporting software, but about digitizing payments, taxes, foreign
trade, agriculture, healthcare, energy, logistics, government, and statistics.
With regard to tourism and the real estate sector, new
business models must be implemented, with the participation of all economic
actors. We must develop a productive, regulated real estate market that
includes: leasing of idle state-owned properties; rental of buildings,
commercial spaces, warehouses, offices, tourist facilities, workshops, and
industrial spaces; concessions; rights of use for real estate; and transparent
bidding processes open to state, private, cooperative, or mixed-ownership
entities.
We have discussed fuel imports and all the opportunities
that have been opened up to the private sector, but now the goal is to achieve
this with reasonable, transparent, and non-exploitative profit margins.
As for vehicle imports, we must eliminate all import
barriers, prioritize the import of electric vehicles, and, of course, develop
solar panel manufacturing facilities.
I know there is concern—and rightly so—about the partial
dollarization of the economy, inflation, and the lack of many products priced
in local currency. We are not going to ignore this problem. The business models
we are authorizing in foreign currency must directly and verifiably contribute
to an increase in foreign exchange revenue that allows for the sustainability
of offerings in local currency.
We must impose stricter requirements on the use of digital
payment platforms. We must expand approvals for wholesale and retail trade,
eliminating intermediaries, and, without a doubt, we must implement electronic
invoicing.
We must eliminate wage barriers that prevent the retention
of talent and a highly skilled workforce in the productive, export, technology,
energy, and agro-industrial sectors, and allow for variable compensation in CUP
and foreign currency linked to verifiable results in exports, import savings,
increased productivity, innovation, energy availability, or foreign sales.
With regard to digital government, public data, and smart
monitoring, we must implement mandatory and phased electronic invoicing for
medium and large taxpayers; then move on to micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprises (MSMEs) and self-employed workers, using simple tools adapted to
actual connectivity.
We must modernize the National Statistical System and the
ONEI through digital data collection from companies and entities, publication
via public service applications using artificial intelligence, and the
protection of sensitive data.
We must use artificial intelligence to simplify procedures,
process scanned documents, detect errors, validate files, authenticate
documents, and reduce administrative burdens.
We must improve the quality of services provided to the
public by designing new approaches to each issue.
And we must seriously address a problem that affects the
daily lives of millions of Cubans: solid waste collection. We will launch local
projects to improve the collection, treatment, and disposal of solid waste, in
which—responsibly—those who place the greatest burden on the system must also
contribute more to sustaining it.
But this solution will not be solely state-led; it will
incorporate foreign investment into the non-state sector, the business system,
communities, and creative initiatives that help restore cleanliness, order, and
health to our cities and communities.
Comrades:
Cuba does not need further delays; it needs solutions. It is
not a matter of creating more offices or holding more meetings, but of
achieving concrete results.
To govern is to solve problems, remove obstacles, provide
support, and ensure that decisions translate into real improvements; because
creating in Cuba, investing in Cuba, working in Cuba, and staying in Cuba also
depend on the country’s ability to blaze new trails, organize intelligently,
and support those who want to contribute.
Alongside economic opportunities, we will also promote
concrete spaces where young people can take action within their communities.
The Community Youth Network must be a pathway for young
people to find places to receive training, find employment, serve their
community, and turn an idea into a real project. This network must coordinate
useful initiatives in neighborhoods: revitalizing public spaces, supporting
vulnerable people, cultural and sports activities, training in trades and
technologies, community communication, productive projects, local employment,
and support for at-risk youth.
This is not about creating yet another structure or bringing
young people together merely to receive guidance; it is about giving them
skills, tools, knowledge, responsibilities, and real opportunities to transform
the places where they live—because staying in Cuba must also mean having a
place where they can be useful, grow, learn, lead, and build a future starting
from their neighborhood, school, workplace, and municipality.
We know our country; we know where the obstacles lie, where
corruption lurks, where there is excessive red tape, and where a sense of shame
and dignity is lacking.
Every measure we announce will have designated leaders,
deadlines, and performance indicators. We will report on what is progressing,
what is not being met, and what needs to be corrected.
There will be matters that, to protect them from those who
wish to sabotage them, we will have to handle with discretion. Martí has
already taught us that some things must remain hidden in order to be achieved;
but discretion will never be an excuse to hide anything from the people.
As a people, we are not going to come together merely to
resist; we are going to come together to create, to produce, to decide, to hold
others accountable, to prosper, and to transform, because what we are starting
today is not something a government does— this is something we all do
together—or it won’t be done at all: with the farmer who returns to the fields
to plant, with the small and medium-sized business that dares to take risks,
with the technician who installs the first solar panel, with the teacher, with
the doctor, with the young person who decides to stay and invest in their
homeland, with the Cuban living abroad who reaches out, with you, with me, with
everyone.
We will not deny the problems; we will not defend
bureaucracy; we will not close the door on talent; we will not abandon the
vulnerable; and we will never allow the suffering of this people—caused by the
perverse imperialist blockade—to be used against the sovereignty of our
homeland (Applause).
Nothing will be impossible if we embrace the challenge as an
opportunity and history as inspiration!
Céspedes, Agramonte, Maceo, Gómez, Martí, Mella, Villena,
Guiteras, Che, Camilo, Almeida, Fidel, and Raúl—all our heroes—faced moments
that were just as difficult, or even more so, for their time, than those faced
today by the new revolutionary generation, and all emerged from those
challenges with honor and glory—even those who fell in combat without living to
see victory—because they bequeathed to us lessons in courage that endure to
this day, as was demonstrated on January 3 of this year when 32 Cuban combatants
fell while confronting elite troops vastly superior in numbers and resources.
No revolution has had it easy, and ours has had the audacity
to survive six decades of a blockade, genocidal laws, hybrid warfare, and a
series of unilateral coercive measures that no other nation has endured—nor
could it endure—for so long.
On the centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro’s birth
and the 95th birthday of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, the best tribute we can
pay to the admirable work of our two historic leaders is to defend it and
preserve its essence of social justice, amid the storm of predatory wars,
threats of invasion, and processes of neocolonization that, like the
Seven-League Giant, are sweeping across the sky, devouring worlds in these
times.
We are all called to action, and together we will prevail.
Long live Free Cuba! (Shouts of: "Long live!")
Long live the heroic Cuban people! (Shouts of: "Long
live!")
Long live the sovereignty of the Cuban nation! (Shouts of:
"Long live!")
Socialism or Death!
Fatherland or Death!
We will prevail! (Shouts of: "We will prevail!")
(Applause.)
