“This has been a Congress of achievements and what has been pledged will be realized (…), we are founded on the eternal trust which the Revolution has always had in its campesinos,” emphasized José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Party Central Committee and a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, during his speech at the closing ceremony of the 11th Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP).
Before the end of the Congress, which also included the participation of Miguel Díaz-Canel, first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, and a member of the Political Bureau, Machado Ventura had recalled the position of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, on the front line of the battle to recognize the rights of the sector; reason for which the delegations sent a message of eternal gratitude to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution. He also conveyed greetings and best wishes from the President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raúl Castro, on Cuban Farmers Day. “Raúl, as always, never forgets his concerns or his duties,” he stated.
Assessing – during his speech – the incorporation of new associates, the functioning of the association and the targets toward which the organization must aim, Machado Ventura emphasized that “the ANAP is strengthened.”
The Second Secretary of the Party Central Committee called for better control of livestock and milk refrigeration to “start to be a solution.” He warned that the issue can not be left to sit, but that farming activity must driven forward and prioritized from within the sector itself.
In addition, he mentioned the “classic price grievance,” noting that 70% of campesinos are responsible for the production of root and other vegetables at a national level, thus the solution to this issue is in their hands.
In his analysis he commented on the speculator as an intermediary who contributes little and, in the majority of cases, “reaps” greater profits than those who produce the food at the primary level. There can not be a huge gap when calculating prices, given that the difference is paid for by the people.
He concluded by stating that “today we continue to face difficult challenges (…) demanding that forms of economic management be updated in order to attain greater efficiency and results, but without forgetting for a single moment, that this will forever be the Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble, as Fidel proclaimed on April 16, 1961, and as recalled by Raúl in his central report to the Sixth Party Congress, highlighted Machado Ventura.
