Marrero Cruz: “These transformations do not constitute a deviation from the socialist project; on the contrary, they respond to the inherent logic of its development”
Statement by Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba, at the Third Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly of People’s Power in its 10th Legislature
(Shorthand Versions – Republic of Cuba)
Photo: José Manuel Correa
Comrade Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;
Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic;
Comrade Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and of the Council of State;
Commander of the Rebel Army, José Ramón Machado Ventura;
Dear Deputies;
Fellow Cubans:
As we all know, our country is facing one of its most complex moments since the Special Period. A combination of unprecedented U.S. coercive measures against Cuba has been implemented, even leading to the interruption of fuel supplies and all sources of foreign currency revenue. This has logically had a significant impact on the deterioration and instability of the energy infrastructure and, consequently, on the quality of life of millions of Cubans.
We have never denied our own errors and shortcomings; however, this set of factors has consistently influenced the effective implementation of the transformations to our Economic and Social Model, approved at the 6th Party Congress in 2011. These transformations yielded positive results until mid-2019, when the U.S. government substantially intensified its sanctions policy, which was further reinforced in early January 2025.
In this context, the Party and the Government, in the legitimate exercise of their sovereign power, have been promoting measures to reactivate the economy and correct distortions, a process that has been strengthened by the approval of the Government’s Economic and Social Program, validated by our people through popular consultation.
The serious economic limitations have not stopped all investments
Despite the marked economic limitations faced by the country, whose impact is reflected daily in the development strategies of all social and economic sectors, priority objectives have been determined in the Economy Plan 2025, which are, in turn, an expression of the Government Program to correct distortions and re-drive the economy
Important investments were dedicated to the hydraulic sector in the first half of the year. Photo: José Manuel Correa
Despite the marked economic limitations faced by the country, whose impact is reflected daily in the development strategies of all social and economic sectors, priority objectives have been determined in the Economy Plan 2025, which are, in turn, an expression of the Government Program to correct distortions and boost the economy.
Aimed in this period at meeting the prioritized payments (food, fuels, support, recovery and creation of new senate capacities, medicines, defense and national security), their operational management continues to be extremely complex in a context of crisis management.
This was described by Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, Minister of Economy and Planning, in the recently concluded 5th Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of People’s Power in its 10th Legislature, when he explained that, in spite of these circumstances, results were achieved in some programs and investments of the first order.
Regarding food production, he detailed that the assembly of 12 irrigation systems was concluded to benefit the grain, miscellaneous crops and coffee programs, and a rice dryer with a capacity of 9,620 tons began to operate.
In addition, 17 hectares of aquaculture ponds were put into operation; 20 cattle ranches were rehabilitated, five of them for the recovery of 2,000 head of cattle, and the rest in actions aimed at infrastructure and livestock genetics.
In the area of tourism, Alonso Vázquez commented that work was done on the recovery of out-of-order rooms, to conclude the semester with 225 in better conditions.
In compliance with the Capital Repair Program for fuel tanks, 2,475 cubic meters of fuel were recovered from six of the reservoirs.
Regarding the water program, the Minister of Economy and Planning informed that 100 kilometers of water supply networks and pipes and 12.3 kilometers of sewage pipes were completed, benefiting more than 700,000 people.
In addition, 63 pumping units were installed, as a continuation of the program to change the energy matrix in this activity, which allows improving the water service to 68,698 inhabitants, without the need for backup from the National Electric System. In addition, 7.9 kilometers of hydraulic networks were rehabilitated.
Also, 104 pieces of railway equipment were repaired, including 93 rail cars and one locomotive.
Of the Housing Program, he said, 2,847 were completed, which represents 53% of the half-year plan. However, except for Holguín, he pointed out that no province fulfills the plan.
Medicines, dairy industry, assembly of tractors… and other niches of possible cooperation
The Cuban-Belarusian intergovernmental commission concluded with the signing of several agreements
Photo:Luis Jiménez Echevarría
The signing of several interbank, business and institutional agreements resulted from the 12th session of the Cuban-Belarusian Intergovernmental Commission for economic-commercial collaboration, held yesterday.
The meeting highlighted “the projects for the joint production of medicines, the development of the Cuban Dairy Complex, with Belarusian raw material and technology; and the second phase of tractor assembly, as initiatives with the highest level of progress for the period 2025-2026,” said the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment (Mincex), Carlos Luis Jorge Méndez.
He stressed that the formal dialogue has been surpassed, giving priority to the exchange between the business delegations of both sides to agree on future contracts and projects that make effective the participation of Belarusian companies in the National Plan for Economic and Social Development of Cuba until 2030, especially in sectors of mutual interest, such as agri-food, industrial, transportation, health, biopharmaceuticals, among others, in which real potential for economic complementation is observed”.
The signatures, also presided over by the Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evgeni Shestakov, contributed to establishing work priorities to be developed in the short, medium and long term, which confirms the important role of the business sector of both countries in the implementation of the agreements reached.
The Belarusian Vice-Chancellor, at the closing of the event, emphasized that the work by sector will allow “to achieve all those plans and objectives that have been set in search of new collaboration niches”.
In Matanzas, work is being done with creativity and self-awareness
Díaz-Canel and Morales Ojeda visited the municipalities of Martí and Matanzas this Wednesday as part of their tour of the country
There is a lot of heroism in the Cuban people -Díaz-Canel stressed-; that is why I am convinced that we can get out of this situation. Photo: Estudios Revolución
In Matanzas they are working with creativity and with their own awareness; there is here a peculiar way in the work of the Party and the Government, highlighted the First Secretary of the Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, at the end of his visit to the municipalities of Martí and Matanzas on Wednesday.
With the two of this day, nine municipalities have been visited in the province of Matanzas, and only four remain (the Zapata Swamp, Limonar, Los Arabos and Perico) to experience this style of work that goes to the core to learn about good and bad experiences, talk to workers’ collectives and the people, seek solutions and help the territories.
The president spoke about these concepts to the inhabitants of Martí, who were waiting for him after one o’clock in the afternoon, on the main street of the town, under the strong Cuban midday sun. There, microphone in hand and in the middle of the crowd, he explained that by April the Party leadership should have visited all the municipalities of the Island, and when that happens, the visits will begin again “that allow us to help, to know experiences, and to socialize them”.
Díaz-Canel highlighted how, in the midst of great difficulties, there are groups of workers and people who find solutions and are an inspiration for others. There is a lot of heroism in the Cuban people -he stressed-; that is why I am convinced that we can get out of this situation, there is a lot of potential that we must help to channel.
The Head of State referred to hard dissatisfactions with the very long blackouts, the high prices of products, transportation, water supply, the deterioration of roads, among others; mostly as a result of the unprecedented tightening of the blockade.
But we are not standing idle, he said to the residents of Martí, to whom he explained in detail the millionaire investment underway throughout the country for the installation of solar parks that will generate more than one thousand megawatts this year. Seven of them will be ready this month.
At the same time, he assured, social programs have not been stopped. And an example of this, he said, is this maternity home that we have come to visit, inaugurated last January.
Díaz-Canel toured the beautiful institution, where eight pregnant women from the district are cared for. He talked with the girls, and learned details of the medical care, and how cooperatives and other entities of the territory are in charge of feeding the pregnant women.
Infant and maternal mortality in Martí remains at zero.
Accompanied by the member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, Roberto Morales Ojeda, and by the highest authorities of the Party and the Government in the province and in the municipality, the Head of State then visited the Frank País grassroots business unit, dedicated to raising pigs and other small livestock.
After a process of recovery, the entity has been improving economic indicators that have allowed it to obtain profits and improve the income of its workers.
From some 300 breeders last year, they aspire to close this year with some 500. The President praised the use of pig manure to generate biogas.
TO GENERATE CLEAN ENERGY
A few meters from there, it is being built one of the four photovoltaic solar parks that will come into operation this year in Matanzas, and that will contribute, as a whole, a little more than 80 megawatts.
Díaz-Canel talked with its directors about the characteristics of this site in Martí, which began its civil construction in December and is about 40 days behind schedule.
According to them, this should be corrected and the delivery date (May) should be met, since all the resources are already in place, and some 15 brigades are working on the assembly of the tables. The critical route is in “trenching about 15 kilometers of cable”, they said.
IN THE CAPITAL CITY
Already in Matanzas, and the afternoon was falling over its beautiful bay, the Cuban President visited the 78th circumscription of the Peñas Altas popular council, which under the leadership of the delegate Randy Perdomo, has become a model of community work in the country.
Sharing his impressions about this place, in the final meeting of the day, the president said that “the concepts of popular power proposed by Fidel are demonstrated there”. There is another type of synergy, he said, people feel committed, with self-esteem for the place where they live, they make proposals, participate, and that generates unity.
With words of praise he also referred to the Faustino Pérez Hospital, directed by the young doctor Taymí Martínez. The Head of State was also there, and highlighted the order, the beauty, the good attention to the patients and the workers. He considered that there are few hospitals like this one in the country.
These two places, he commented in the concluding meeting of the day, are national referents in the field of health and community work. This does not mean, he clarified, that they do not have problems, but the level of response is different.
“These are the paths that need to be multiplied,” he said.
