Miguel Díaz Canel defended this Wednesday Cuban socialist democracy as the ideal form of government against “liberal democracy” in his speech at the closing of the Eighth Period of Sessions of the IX Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power.
The Cuban president dedicated the entire initial block of his speech to confronting the model that prevails on the island with the “neoliberal” that, in his opinion, “promotes inequality, selfishness, poverty, hatred, insecurity, discrimination , violence, arbitrariness, injustice and the unlimited power of economic elites. “
Faced with this, he vindicated Cuban socialism – which some present “as a dictatorial, arbitrary, tyrannical and despotic regime,” he said – that “progresses in the improvement of its legal system” and “advances in effective judicial protection, which guarantees from access to the courts of justice to the execution of judicial decisions, “he added generically.
For a government of the “left” of the 21st century it was difficult and uncomfortable to continue without approving homosexual marriage in the face of its international partners, but no one has forgotten the openly homophobic past of Castroism
Since the latter is in doubt from all kinds of international bodies ranging from the United Nations (UN) or the European Union (EU) to independent NGOs such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, Díaz-Canel tried to convince The first and for this, he could not think of a better example than the next referendum for the approval of the Family Code, the only legislation in Cuba that will be submitted to popular consultation precisely because it contains a controversial precept: opening the door to marriage between people of the same sex.
The Cuban authorities have seen how this difficult-to-resolve issue was choking on him. On the one hand, for a government of the “left” of the 21st century it was difficult and uncomfortable to continue without approving homosexual marriage in the face of its international partners. On the other, no one has forgotten the openly homophobic past of Castroism and the internments of homosexuals in the camps of the Umap (Military Units for Production Aid) in order to re-educate them, which has contributed to the spread of this sentiment throughout society. Cuban.
Faced with this dilemma, the Government has delegated the decision to the citizens for once, a serious error according to the LGTBI collective that is based on the consideration of the majority of political scientists, who believe that the rights of minorities cannot be submitted to the majority precisely because they are of special protection.
Díaz-Canel’s intervention was also marked by the strong defense of the vaccination model against covid-19. Havana’s plan has been to supply itself with vaccines that are not yet recognized by the World Health Organization and rejecting donations from other countries or the Covax cooperation mechanism.
“In Cuba, the right to life, as a right that allows the exercise of other rights, is a priority, and public health is not a commodity”
“In Cuba the right to life, as a right that allows the exercise of the rest of the rights, is a priority, and public health is not a commodity, it is a right of all and the responsibility of the State,” said the highest official of a Government whose main source of financing is the sale of medical services abroad, while national hospitals are neglected.
The president gave a general review of the themes of the year: the hard months passed by the peak of the pandemic, the elections that have changed governments in different countries – in some cases to his liking and in others to his frustration, such as EE. UU, from which they expected what has not come – the fight against climate change or the approval of several laws in Cuba. In this sense, during the day of this Wednesday the legislative schedule for next year was also known, in which the approval of up to 27 regulations is expected; a very tight program if one takes into account that 15 of them corresponded to this 2021 and have been delayed, presumably due to the pandemic.
Among these are some long-awaited ones such as those of companies, mercantile societies, associative forms, livestock, housing, internal migration, consumer rights or forced expropriation, in addition to a whole compendium of criminal norms and one on transparency that will be worthy of total attention. In addition, there will be other decree-laws that develop constitutional precepts or guidelines.
Part of Díaz-Canel’s speech was again directed at the economy, an issue that neither the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, nor the Economy Minister, Alejandro Gil, have avoided in recent days, admitting that high inflation and the mistakes of The Ordinance Task are further complicating the survival of Cubans.
Among these are some long-awaited ones such as companies, mercantile societies, associative forms, livestock, housing, internal migration, consumer rights or compulsory expropriation.
Faced with Marrero’s speech, who in previous days and in his accountability has asked that internal failures not be forgotten – “you cannot continue to make excuses such as the blockade for not achieving the planned productive levels,” he said last Sunday – , his boss came back yesterday to throw the ball out. “The inflation that we suffer is a consequence of an existing imbalance between production and demand, which we have reached for various reasons, the pandemic combined with the effects of the intensification of the blockade and its consequences for the economy are some of them,” Diaz insisted -Canel.
“But we do not observe idly the imponderable circumstances or the blows of the adversary, the more hostile the more we resist the siege. This has also been a year of profound transformations,” he assured and praised the series of changes whose effects, if any, are still expected.
The final part of the argument became the customary praise for continuity, for the past, for historical leaders and how it is their obligation not to wait for every sprout from that supposedly glorious past, but to give “daring solutions and heroic creation.”
There was Raúl Castro, the man who elected him, without the mask allowing to see the face he made listening to a successor who, unexpectedly, is proving to beat him in numbers of political prisoners, economic crisis and even obsolescence in speech.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our journal. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
