In the midst of the restlessness and discomfort that has settled in the streets of the Island, the Cuban Government has launched the communication machinery to recover political and social ground, both inside and outside of Cuba. The most ideologically forceful step was taken this Sunday with the dissemination of a declaration of the House of the Americas in which he accuses “media” and “voices” from the networks of taking advantage of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian “to install the opinion matrix that our ills and the difficulties to face them are a consequence of the inability of the Government of Cuba” .
They are what Miguel Díaz-Canel calls “haters”, those who “take advantage of these circumstances to make other types of expressions, which are counterrevolutionary; they try to commit acts of vandalism, such as closing roads, throwing stones at economic or social facilities; and That is already out of the law,” reports the official press. And those situations, the president threatened, will be dealt with with the rigor of the laws.
The text, titled Before the virtual Cuba, the real Cuba, tries to answer the rhetorical questions with which it starts. “Are ‘the people’ and ‘the government’ really facing each other? Is Cuba a ‘failed state’ incapable of solving a crisis?” The conclusion is “that the overwhelming majority of the people recognize themselves in their leaders, participate in the recovery of the country and defend the principle that is on the threshold of the new Constitution approved in April 2019: ‘Cuba is a socialist State of law and social justice, democratic, independent and sovereign'”, affirms Casa de las Américas.
“Are ‘the people’ and ‘the government’ really facing each other? Is Cuba a ‘failed state’ incapable of solving a crisis?”
The text refers, as proof of popular support for the regime, the yes in the referendum of the Family Code last Sunday 25, despite the fact that abstention was higher than 26%, the highest since 1959. Immediately after it came, continues , a category 3 hurricane. “It is painful and difficult for any country that suffers such a contingency to get back on its feet, alleviate the suffering of those affected, try to recover from the damage and move forward,” he adds, continuing to say that the embargo on The US makes the difficulties greater for Cuba.
The statement maintains that reporting, whether in the media or on social networks, of the protests of thousands of citizens who have been asking for electricity for a week is politicizing the unrest and inciting street violence while insisting that there be no flexibility with the lock.
“They want to capitalize on the logical discomfort of citizens deprived of basic services in the hope that nature will finally achieve what so many desperate attempts to destroy the Revolution have not been able to do,” says the text, which also mentions the missile crisis. , Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, whom he says “shone like few statesmen in history.”
The note reviews some of the issues on which the Government has sought to place its ideological defense in recent days. One of them is the “expressions of solidarity” that come from the world to Cuba, specifically from the United States. On Sunday, the newspaper New York Times public a statement in the form of a paid advertisement by the pro-Castro organization The People’s Forum in which the Government of Joe Biden is asked to ease the embargo so that the Island can “rebuild itself”,
The announcement highlighted that the damage after Ian’s passage is considerable and asks Washington to allow the Island access to its markets to buy construction materials for at least six months.
The announcement highlighted that the damage after the passage of Ian is considerable and asks Washington to allow the Island access to its markets to buy construction materials for at least six months.
“It is inconceivable to undertake collective punishment against an entire people (…) Do not allow the obsolete policies of the Cold War to prevent the world from helping the Cuban people,” the text insists.
In the declaration of the Casa de las Américas it is recalled that Ian has also affected the United States, an issue that links with a dedicated note in Granma to the damages of the cyclone in Florida and that titles Relative recovery times. The text emphasizes the magnitude of the destruction in the neighboring country to show that the Island is not the only one affected and suggests, in a false tone of solidarity, that mutual aid emerge on these occasions.
“The fact that more than 70 people have died in the state of Florida as a result of the strong ravages of Hurricane Ian, in addition to consternation and regret, warns us of how necessary it is to replace the climate of hatred and hostility on the part of the rulers of that country with respect to Cuba, and allow the contribution and collaboration, both in risk prevention and solidarity assistance after the disaster”, reads the text, which recalls the US rejection of the aid offered by the regime Cuban during Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans in 2005.
While Cuba continues to wait like rain in May for some gesture of detente from the United States – which Miami exile watches closely–, the authorities offer what their allies can send. One of them is Venezuelawhich is bringing 400,000 food modules, fifty electrical transformers, conducting cables, and more than 22,000 square meters of zinc sheets to repair roofs on two ships that travel to Cuba, Carmita Y karola sky.
“They inaugurate a maritime bridge built by the Bolivarian Government over the waters of the Caribbean Sea, for the solidarity operation (…) But the operation does not end there. This is only the beginning,” the text indicates.
In addition, this Monday 19 boxes of PYAM water treatment tablets have left Argentina, for the treatment of 950,000 liters of water. According to Foreign Ministry calculations, 2,000 people can be supplied for 90 days. “This input is essential to collaborate with the response of the Cuban Government to the needs of the population of Pinar del Río, the city most damaged by the climatic phenomenon,” said the Argentine Foreign Ministry.
It is expected that help will also arrive from Mexico, announced by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to Miguel Díaz-Canel himself on Twitter.
In recent days, the Government has announced various measures that, it maintains, will help alleviate the situation of the population after the disaster
The president has not stopped traveling to Pinar del Río, where was he for the third time this Sunday, in his military uniform, despite the fact that contact with the street is becoming more and more complicated for him and the military need to control the environment so that Díaz-Canel approaches the annoying population without videos like last week’s in Mayabeque, where he was booed by local residents and rebuked by a woman who ended up shouting: “They make fun of the people.”
In recent days, the Government has announced various measures that, it maintains, will help alleviate the situation of the population after the disaster. Among them is the approval of financing from the State Budget 50% of the prices of construction materials, water tanks and mattresses that are sold to the affected population. In addition, those who do not have sufficient income will be able to access bank loans or request subsidies for the purchase of construction materials.
Provisions have also been passed specific in the Ministry of Labor so that those who are forced to suspend their work activities while the recovery lasts receive 60% of their salary, among other measures related to Social Security.
It remains to be seen whether what has been announced is fulfilled in a timely manner –something that rarely happens–, but in view of the infinity of protests of greater or lesser magnitude, the Government is losing the battle that most worries it: that of the story.
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