Díaz-Canel: We all have the responsibility to overcome these damages
Statement by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, in La Coloma, Pinar del Río, on October 2, 2022, “Year 64 of the Revolution”

Author: Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez | internet@granma.cu

October 3, 2022 20:10:00

Diaz Canel in Pinar
Photo: Revolution Studios
(Shorthand Versions – Presidency of the Republic)

A hurricane in a few hours destroys us faster than we can recover, that is a first logic that must be had; but that cannot defeat us, what we have to do is unite efforts, unite talents, unite arms, unite disposition.

People are also shocked, we have to get out of that lethargy of affectation and start working, and then we see how with that work we begin to advance day by day, ripping pieces out of the affectation.

It must be said that after five days Mayabeque is practically recovered, Havana is quite recovered; the Isle of Youth was recovered. The provinces of Artemisa and Pinar del Río, where the damage was greatest, remain more complicated. To the same extent that the others are finishing, more forces are coming here; but what has been done is heroic.

I know that this causes a lot of discomfort in people because in addition to the accumulated situation that we already had in life, it lasts, then comes another group of affectations that cause damage, harden daily life; but here we have had cyclones in which, to recover, we have taken 19 or 20 days. There is an important part of the provinces that have already recovered in five days; I am convinced that with intense work next week this is going to have another face, and then, the next week, we will be almost fully recovered, fundamentally in electricity, communications and we will start with housing. Housing will always take us longer; but when one sees that there is the capacity for mobilization,

On the other hand, everything we do we have to do better. For example, the work that has been done today in the recovery of the water supply in Pinar del Río is going to allow it to now have a better water solution in the three conductors than it had before the cyclone. That is the concept of everyone working, what we do here is to improve La Coloma, and so in each town based on what we are doing.

Faced with this, there are different attitudes: there is a part of the population that immediately joins in, immediately begins to work on their own and then works on the social, and there the personal, family and social aspects are combined. There are other people who are more stunned, it is more difficult to push them, but later, little by little, when they see the incorporation of others, they also join.

There is a group of people who, to the same extent as recovery progresses, such as those in the most complicated places who make less progress, or who see that others are advancing faster, begin to have logical concerns and make claims; from a civic position, from a decent position they make logical statements of the concerns they have, and for that all the cadres, all the leaders have to be constantly explaining. Remember that now the information is affected because by not having electricity in a group of places the television does not reach, the radio does not reach, and it is very important that every day, in all the places, there are certain times in which we inform the population where we are, what are the difficulties, what are we making progress in, what are we not making progress in,

And, unfortunately, there is a group of people who, in a very vulgar way, I would say in an indecent way –regardless of the affectations they have, because look at the others, who are the majority, who act in a different way– do some claims from positions of total misunderstanding, challenging, offending. Who are they offending, the very people who are working to solve their problems? What is the logic of that, or who are they serving? Who are they summoning to come and solve the problems, if they are going directly against the people? It would be more useful if, with all those concerns that they may have, they could start helping those who are in the places working for them. We can not allow that. Demonstrations of this type have no legitimacy. Concern and honest approach,

The main concern of the country is how in the fastest possible way we can save this whole situation and improve within this situation; But those who act that way, who claim all the rights that the Revolution gives but who contribute little, must be confronted, confronted with arguments. One thing must be taken into account here: we are building a socialist society with a lot of work due to a blockade that does not allow us to advance in that socialist construction; but a socialist society is built from a centrality in work, where people contribute and receive for what they contribute.

There are many people who believe that everything has to be given to them, that everything has to be put in their hands, that everything has to be resolved and they don’t participate. In this group of people, those who are encouraged by the haters take advantage, those who at this time are more concerned about the progress of the restoration of the damage in Cuba than about the effects that exist in other places in the area, where less progress is being made in recovery and that have also been hit by cyclones in these times, to make other types of expressions, counterrevolutionary expressions, trying to commit acts of vandalism such as closing roads, throwing stones at economic or social places. That is already out of the law, and these situations will be dealt with with the rigor of the laws that in our society, from the Constitution and from the law,

There are people who, unfortunately, have demonstrated –they are the fewest–, but they have demonstrated in that way and we know all the links they have with all that counterrevolution that from abroad begins to encourage and begins to pay for that behavior.

I think that what the majority is doing is joining, participating, raising concerns, proposing things that can be improved, and in that, together with all the institutions, we have to work and move forward. But we are going to face the other from the Law, from the laws, as it is established, as endorsed by our Constitution in order to have citizen peace of mind, in terms of not altering public order, in terms of not altering the citizen order; because, in addition, those same people who act in this way have all the guarantees that are given in Cuba and are taken care of, and nobody says: “the cyclone happened to you and because you act like that we are not going to take care of you.” No, everyone is attended to and solutions are also sought for the problems they have.

I think that is the conception with which we have to work, the one we have to share, what we have to transmit, what we have to communicate, what we have to explain to the whole town.

I would also say that there is record time. Such a complex city, a capital as complex as Havana, that in five days has the levels of recovery that it has today is a record, and they have been achieving those levels of recovery, as those from here in Pinar del Río are working, those who they are in Artemisa and those in other places, and those deserve recognition. But you also have to support. It is very encouraging when a brigade is working on a post, on a line and there is a part of the population helping to open the hole or creating the conditions to remove the sticks that bother us, and together we are moving forward, and together we are feeling that triumph in the advance and between all of us we are achieving faster to return to a condition of normality.

This is a province that has historically been very affected by cyclones, in which we still have debts from previous cyclones, and when we have more resources available, we must finish paying off those debts to be up to date with all this type of damage to the Added to those now, which are not few, there were already more than 29,000 affected homes in the territory (They tell you that 5,000 between total and partial collapses now).

Among all the affected provinces, there are more than 40,000 homes that need revitalization, improvement, repair or even construction from their foundations, because they were totally destroyed.

Today I see a different spirit in Pinar del Río, people have been coming out of the coup, work is seen everywhere. Also noteworthy is the incorporation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior and other institutions; how the young people have come there, they were in all the organoponics, they were working.

And that everything we do we do better than it was before is what we call for. This is how the people of Pinar del Río are working and this is how Cuba is also committed to working for Pinar del Río, to working for Artemisa and to finish what we are left with in the other three provinces and in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud that were affected.

You have to put your chest to the bullets! We have to solve this by ourselves, with our effort, with our talent and moving forward; It’s not just solving adversity, but overcoming that adversity.

A lot of patience in the cadres, because the people are also in a very complex situation, just as the cadres are in a complex situation, because those who are showing their faces and are trying to explain and are trying to convene also have their homes destroyed, they have family problems like you have here and like the workers have, but together we can overcome this.

Nobody is to blame that a cyclone hits us, nobody is to blame that a cyclone has destroyed things. What yes we all have the responsibility to overcome these damages. The responsibility belongs to everyone! And it has to be like that, with the effort and with the conviction that we can face it.

(Applause and exclamations.)