"The people, the heroic Cuban people, are the ones to be praised in this victory," stressed the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez when referring to the results obtained in last Sunday's national elections on Wednesday, March 29.
“The Cuban people should be extolled for their courage, dignity and loyalty and their leading role in this victory,” the Head of State said during his intervention at the monthly meeting of the Council of Ministers.
"On behalf of the Council of Ministers, the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the Central Committee, who are present here, I would like to send a message of respect, admiration and immense," said the President amidst the applause of those present.
“To the Cuban people, the dignitary ratified, we are going to serve with passion, with commitment, without reluctance, to the last consequences."
“This victory must be celebrated,” said Díaz-Canel at the meeting, which was chaired by the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.
Following the presentation of the results of the national elections by the highest body of the Cuban Government, the President said that the success of the elections came down to three fundamental elements:
First, he said, there are lessons to be learned from the success of these elections, we must look at it without complacency, together with the people, work in the priorities for the future in order to follow up this process, which has just reaffirmed the revolutionary convictions and indicated the steps to continue consolidating the unity within the Revolution.
ELECTORAL CONTEXT
Díaz-Canel reminded the audience of the demanding context in which this election took place and, in spite of which, the majority of the people showed their support to and their confidence in the Revolution.
At the same time, he shared that Sunday's results "proved, once again, the transparency and strength of our electoral process."
“The scenario,” he said, “has been very complex from the economic point of view, since the government of the United States keeps looking for ways ro suffocate our economy by provoking discouragement and rupture with the revolutionary process in the population, and thus bring about the longed-for social collapse to which they aspire.
The comparison that the enemy pretends to make between these results and those obtained in the 2018 national elections is opportunistic, since they are totally different electoral contexts, the president said. He then spoke of the inflation, the instability in the electro-energy system, the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, the insertion of Cuba in the spurious list of State sponsors of terrorism, and the discrediting campaign that the U.S. government launched against the Cuban Revolution in the media, among other elements.
In the midst of all this, the President said that Cuba has held three highly significant elections in the last six months: the referendum of the Family Code, the municipal elections and the national elections.
“Holding these three elections amidst these conditions is an act of courage of the Revolution,” he added. And it has been done by complying with what is set forth in the Constitution of the Republic, by overcoming the implications that the economic-social situation could have, by trusting in the people and in our convictions.
The fact that the turnout of these elections exceeded those of the previous two and that the results of these national elections were also higher, makes it even more significant, he underlined.
The turnout of 76 % is a sign of confidence because this "would not have been possible if the people did not continue trusting in the Revolution."
"The people displayed civism, patriotism, loyalty to the Revolution, fidelity to the Revolution, political consciousness, demonstrating that they do know who is the real cause of the situation we are facing," said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
The Cuban people overcame this situation and "voted in favor of the Revolution," he emphasized. Likewise, he acknowledged that the results obtained were possible because the people feel that the highest organ of the People's Power and the new Assembly that is going to be formed by their votes, is "a legitimate and necessary instance to face the difficulties and move forward."
NEVER LET THE PEOPLE'S TRUST DOWN
Diaz-Canel emphasized before the members of the Council of Ministers that now the most important thing is that the people's trust can never be let down, and it means that, among the lessons we have learned, we must strengthen and improve the work of the National Assembly of People's Power, of the government bodies at all levels and, of course, of the Party, the Young Communist League and the mass organizations.
These results must engage us all to “devote ourselves permanently to each one of the territories for which we have been elected, who have deposited a vote of confidence in us, in the Revolution, and in what it represents."
As Fidel himself told us, he recalled, those results have to lead us to "work for the whole country, in representation of Cuba: all working for Cuba."
"If we deputies work systematically in each of the municipalities or districts, and accompany the local authorities, without supplanting functions, if we continue to listen to the people and take problems that go beyond the territories to higher instances for their solution, we are going to take away more and more pieces of the problems every day."
CUBA IS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE WORLD
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party denounced the anti-Cuban campaigns orchestrated by certain counterrevolutionary and international press that pretend to discredit the electoral results in Cuba.
“It is the same press that makes up electoral results of first world nations that are neither blockaded nor attacked nor subjected to a huge media campaign, and the turnout barely exceeds 60%,” he said.
"Then we should ask ourselves why this biased and tendentious look against Cuba. It is simple, comrades, because we are an example for the world. And that example must continue to be defended, and that example must also be defended with the encouragement given by this result of the people in these elections," the president said.
“Even when the "counterrevolutionary campaign insists on presenting the elections as lacking in transparency, the truth is that they do not have a single proof, not a single evidence of any irregularity."
The transparency of our elections," he said, "begins with the proposals of the pre-candidates in the plenary sessions of the social and student organizations. Afterwards, another process takes place in the municipal assemblies of the People's Power, in which the candidacies are approved, sometimes making changes in the people initially submitted to consultation.
Díaz-Canel also mentioned how on voting day the ballot boxes are presented open, before voting begins, so that the people can see that there is nothing inside them that could lead to fraud; then, when the counting of the votes takes place, which is a totally public act, the ballot boxes are opened and the ballots are counted in front of the people.
"We do not need international observers. The entire people have the right, the possibility and the power to be observers, and they do so."
He also highlighted the work system that was deployed at the community level, which "showed that, when we constantly interact with the grassroots, of which we are all part and to which we devote ourselves, we can help solve problems, we can help understand, we can argue."
Regarding the tours made in the last seven weeks by the candidates for deputies to the National Assembly of People's Power, the President emphasized that they were not only for the population to approve a candidacy or to express their will and understanding with the strategy of the united vote. They were meetings where problems we have were raised, confidence was given to the candidates, but it was also demanded that, when representing the people, they should take their problems to the National Assembly of People's Power.
"There is a mixture of confidence and expectation in how we are going to represent them; a demand that we interact more, that we make that kind of meetings more frequently, and also a totally enriching experience for all of us who participated in it."
Díaz-Canel then spoke of how many accumulated problems could have been solved in those days; of the need to maintain and improve that work system as a priority of the new Legislature, and of the constant follow-up that should be made of all the proposals.
The main learning is related to "everything that a close, direct, honest and transparent link with the population brings"; hence his emphasis on the need to continue with these tours as a work system, as one of the elements to be included in the improvement of the National Assembly in the next Legislature.
And this, he added, must also have an expression of improvement in the Council of Ministers, the agencies of the Central Administration of the State and all our institutions, as well as in the municipalities.
"There is expectation, there is confidence, and I believe that we all have to work as part of this learning process to seek, above all, an economic response to the situation that the country is facing," he said.
WHAT ARE THE PRIORITIES?
From these contributions, work priorities also emerged. The Head of State highlighted the need to analyze the problems of each place differently; to undertake actions for the improvement of the municipalities in a more intense and intentional way; the production of food; the attention to the fundamental demands of the population, which focused mostly in water supply, transportation and housing.
He also mentioned the importance of improving the quality of services and, above all, the good treatment of the population, which, he said, "must be respected, assisted, well attended and not bothered, because the attitude of the person who provides a service to the population cannot be to bother, to irritate, to cause discouragement".
Likewise, he commented on the work that must be done to continue strengthening our educational, health, cultural and sports systems; to achieve an adequate relationship between the state and non-state sectors of the economy; to fight inflation and speculative prices; to give greater participation to young people in fundamental tasks; to advance in the social transformation of neighborhoods and in the attention to people in vulnerable situations; to eliminate any trace of violence against women and any form of discrimination; to confront directly and effectively corruption, crime and social indiscipline; as well as to promote local development projects.
All that has been done and the results obtained in this electoral process, said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, "give us strength, ratify our convictions, and give us tremendous energy to continue moving forward, because Cuba won in these elections."
Translated by ESTI
