Havana, Jan. 2.- Surviving 13 US governments, all with insatiable appetites and a desire to eat the little alligator for lunch, is one of the greatest exploits of any human on earth.
It is impossible to speak of progress, of development, without mentioning the blockade, this suffocating fence around Cuba, as one of the most shameless forms of intervention. Blockers have known this for 64 years.
After several generations of governments devoted to US interests, the 1. In January 1959, the Unredeemed Isle was born, led by a group of young revolutionaries who refused to believe in the duty of obedience.
And the same happiness of staying and daring for more than six decades!, turns into decisive energy, the same one that made it possible to transform the colony into a homeland with the last war of liberation.
Although they have tried to label it a forbidden country, Cuba stands as a nation with political dignity and as an independent island where dreamy people travel, building their own futures with multiple clairvoyance and moral authority.
Led by historical leader Fidel Castro and his followers, his brother Raúl and Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, they have been with their people for a long time
The surrender proposals were rolled back and they again relied on the resilience of the Cubans to stay afloat. “Creative resistance” was called by President Díaz-Canel.
When the historic enemy of the revolution refused any kind of help during the most difficult phase of COVID-19 and even prevented the arrival of lung ventilators just over two years ago, Cuba responded by producing its own and high-dose vaccines. A European newspaper had to admit it and made headlines: Cuba achieves the first Latin American vaccine with efficacy data at the level of Pfizer and Moderna.
But Cuba and its achievements continue to violate the usual. This is illustrated by the words of Secretary of State Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla: “Rather, obstacles have been placed in the way of the efforts of solidarity groups, Cubans and American civil society organizations that have actually provided humanitarian aid, whose moral value is immense, to our city”.
2022 was also a year plagued by difficult situations, but despite this, Cuba remained determined not only to resist but also to move forward.
A CODE, NEW LAWS AND ELECTIONS
In the vote for the new family code, 6.25 million Cubans (74.01% of the census) participated and 3.93 million (66.87%) voted in favour, a reality that gave life to a contemporary code.
In addition, new laws are strengthening the Cuban legal system: the Criminal Code, the Law on the Enforcement of Criminal Proceedings and the Law on the Protection of Constitutional Rights, as well as the Laws on Business, Public Health and Protection of Consumer Rights, State Property and Transparency and Access to Information, the Attorney General of the Republic, the General Comptroller of the Republic, the Central State Administration and the Law on Associative Forms, Food Security and Food Sovereignty, Personal Data Protection, Natural Resources and Environment System, Housing Law, Expropriation for the Purpose of Charity or Social Interest, Promotion and Development livestock farming, etc
Some could make a difference in the short and medium term: the Food Sovereignty and Food Security Act; that of personal data, which responds to the need to protect citizens’ personal data; and the new law of the Criminal Code, which, within the new aspects, includes the violations and illegal acts affecting the radio spectrum, the environment and natural heritage, as well as tightening the penalties for acts related to corruption or administrative
Just before saying goodbye to 2022, Cuba had been immersed in hectic months, perhaps like no other year (other than those of the pandemic).
Last November’s elections were born on the right foot, when 12,422 Cubans were elected delegates to municipal assemblies of popular power; the heroes of our neighborhoods, as said Esteban Lazo Hernández, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the National Assembly of People’s Power.
The turnout of 5,728,220 Cubans eligible to vote – 68.58% of those registered in the updated electoral rolls: 5,478 of those supported by the vote are 5,478 women, 44.10%; 1,579 are young people between 16 and 35 years old, 12.71%, and almost half of those elected by popular will (6,082 people, 48.96%) were re-elected to office – it was a sign of calm, organization, discipline and obedience the law.
INVESTMENTS: COUNTRY STRATEGY
Skilled in the art of not being overcome by difficulties, in 2022 Cuba continued to develop investments in important areas such as the use of renewable energy sources: the existing wind farms in Holguín, Ciego de Ávila and Isla de la Juventud, and the bioelectric power plant next to the Ciro Redondo plant in the start-up phase; in addition to the repair and modernization of thermoelectric plants and the arrival of floating plants from Turkey.
To achieve energy sovereignty, the country should achieve 100% generation from renewable energy sources, while today it only covers 5% of the matrix. We are far from that, but at least 11,000 MW will be installed in photovoltaic solar parks, around 2,000 MW in wind energy and a potential close to
800 MW in sugar cane biomass; and all this does not exclude what could be possible in homes by installing small solar panels and wind turbines.
The bio power plant resumes electricity production (approx. 60 MW at full capacity) with the commissioning of the neighboring power plant, which has undergone an investment process in its modernization.
The floating plants commissioned by Cuba for Turkey are a quick alternative to generating electricity, as it can take up to five years to assemble a thermoelectric plant.
“For this reason, for the last two years mobile power generation plants have been used as an alternative, a deal where we rent the Patana and have the generation immediately. It’s not an investment that takes time,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said last June.
The struggle for survival today bears the marks of the gradual updating of the Cuban economic and social model in the continuation of many other works, including three major transfer systems: East-West (water supply to the city of Holguín, the tourist center of the north-eastern zone, irrigation and mitigating the effects of flooding during heavy rains), center-east (Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila) and north-south (Guantanamo), which serves thousands of hectares for food production.
The country’s colossal effort to persevere is compounded by the need to increase – and accelerate – foreign direct investment flows and increase foreign capital’s participation in gross domestic product.
For all this, the formation of human capital was essential, a people that has also made it possible to strengthen tourism infrastructure, the development of the biotechnological industry, the export of services and creative resistance, powerful weapons and dignity to anyone who intends to join the having lunch with a small alligator that – for some crossbred – has settled in the middle of the Caribbean. (Acquired from Digital)
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