Salvador Valdés Mesa, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee (PCC), presided today over the central ceremony for 17 May, Peasant Day, a celebration dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the founding of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) and the centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
During the gathering, which was also attended by José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, member of the PCC Central Committee Secretariat, and Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, member of the PCC Central Committee and Vice Prime Minister, the clear and courageous voice of Ailén Amador Sánchez, a member of the Jesús Sardiñas credit and services cooperative in Aguada de Pasajeros, was heard as she spoke on behalf of the Cienfuegos ANAP members.
The young woman, born and raised on the red earth of Aguada, confessed that she «decided to stay in the countryside and make the land produce,» and added that when she speaks, she also speaks for the work and thought of Fidel.
«In the year of his centenary,» she said, «we must ask ourselves what Fidel would ask of us, the young peasants of today, and the answer is clear: the Commander-in-Chief would call on us to produce, to resist and innovate, and not to give in to the pressures, threats and coercive measures never before seen against a small country, from the most powerful empire on the planet.»
There, in the heart of the municipality of Aguada de Pasajeros, recognition was received by the provinces of Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus, deserving of the status of Outstanding, and Cienfuegos as National Vanguard.
Félix Duarte Ortega, member of the Council of State and president of ANAP, concluded the ceremony with a recollection of peasant struggles and highlighted the attachment of countrymen and women to the Revolution.
He referred to the multimillion-dollar losses caused by the blockade of the US government to the peasants of the largest island of the Antilles, unable to access vital inputs, spare parts, machinery and equipment, raw materials, basic resources such as animal feed, fertilisers and pest and disease control products, among other logistical supplies.
«These damages prevent greater access to new technologies and limit the contribution to industrial processes, among other effects on exports and the consequent obtaining of foreign currency that impacts the economy and reduces yields and efficiency in land use,» asserted Duarte Ortega.
«Our task in this period is to drive forward the five priorities defined for the sector on 12 May, at the meeting we held with the First Secretary of the PCC Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and a representation of peasants.
«These directions range from the defence of the Homeland, ensuring the government programme strategies, particularly those related to food production and promoting the energy transition, to creating a political movement that allows solving the main problems in the communities and areas where cooperatives operate.»
He thanked the peasant and indigenous associations that have provided support and solidarity, thereby demonstrating that Cuba is not alone.
Finally, he congratulated all the people and entities that have supported the peasant organisation over these 65 years, and those who work long hours on the land to make it produce with their sweat.
And as no peasant gathering is complete without a guateque, from early on, the best poets and décima singers gathered on the platform to enliven the national ceremony, among them El Jilguerito, accompanied by tres and lute, singing in words the epic of the men and women who work the furrow.
