[News] Cuba Doesn’t Need More Delays—It Needs Solutions

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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Cuba Doesn’t Need More Delays—It Needs Solutions
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June 17, 2026 from Havana

President Miguel Diaz-Canel

>From the Palace of the Revolution, on Wednesday afternoon, the
Extraordinary Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of Cuba approved a new set of reforms for the country’s economic and
social life—23 fundamental pillars and 176 proposals—designed not only to
overcome current circumstances but also to continue growing.

*Speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the
Republic, at the closing of the Extraordinary Plenary Session of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the Palace of the
Revolution, on June 17, 2026, “Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief
Fidel Castro Ruz.”*

Comrades, members of the Party’s Central Committee;

Distinguished guests;

Compatriots:

This Extraordinary Plenary Session is taking place at a decisive time for
Cuba. As proud heirs to the legacy of the Commander-in-Chief, we Cuban
revolutionaries *today face challenges of enormous magnitude that demand
unity, ideological steadfastness, courage, boldness, and creative
resilience.*

We are guided by our leader, a prominent member of the vanguard of the
Centennial Generation and a zealous guardian of the continuity of the
socialist Revolution—which he played a decisive role in building from its
very foundations to the present day—Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Hero of
the Republic of Cuba, who has taught us every day the sacred value of unity.

*The context is extraordinarily complex and challenging due to the
relentless aggression of the intensified economic, commercial, and
financial blockade imposed by the United States government* and the
criminal intent behind the hostile actions of the current administration:
first, the inclusion of Cuba on the infamous and spurious list of countries
that allegedly sponsor terrorism, and other equally false accusations that
seek to discredit the authority and governance of the Government, while
depriving the country of any source of foreign exchange earnings.

A blockade made even more severe by the Executive Orders of January 29 and
May 1, which reinforce the genocidal energy blockade and, through secondary
sanctions, internationalize the blockade, financial persecution, energy
restrictions, and investment restrictions to the point of maximum pressure.

At the same time, *political and ideological subversion is intensifying
through media disinformation on social media to undermine the Revolution’s
credibility* among Cubans and foreigners alike, fostering social
disorientation in a national and international context marked by profound
transformations in the socioeconomic structure and global geopolitics, as a
consequence of the unlimited powers of a hegemonic imperialist policy that
seeks to shatter multilateralism, fuels neo-fascist movements, and
exacerbates global tensions, constantly threatening international peace and
security and attempting to break the indispensable unity of leftist forces.

The silent genocide waged against Cuba causes immeasurable harm and imposes
terrible limitations on our daily lives as a people, while its perpetrators
brazenly lie to the world by denying the energy blockade and claiming that
we prohibit the entry of million-dollar donations—donations they tout
extensively but have delivered barely anything of what was promised.

*Cuba is resisting heroically and creatively, but for far too long it has
suffered a barbaric, undeserved, and unbearable punishment*, to which is
now added the threat of military aggression as a new weapon against
collective resistance.

Cuba faces a cruel blockade and real, daily financial persecution that
drives up the cost of every drop of fuel, every medicine, every food item,
every component, and every piece of technology the country needs.

Reality demands urgent and necessary changes. And *when life for the people
becomes so difficult, the primary duty of the Communist Party and the
revolutionary government is not to explain the crisis better, but to change
whatever needs to be changed to overcome it.*

What is required is a comprehensive and agile economic agenda,
implementable in the short term, that combines macroeconomic stabilization,
incentives to stimulate and promote productive openness, legal certainty,
the attraction of investment, intensive use of technology, and targeted and
effective social protection.

Let us recall that at the closing of the 11th Plenary Session, we stated
that the postponement of the Congress did not preclude the possibility of
making the necessary changes, modifications, and adjustments, taking into
account the powers of Party and government structures—such as the Plenary
Sessions of the Central Committee when it comes to resolutions adopted by
Party congresses.

To this end, intensive work has been carried out, based on the informative
report and debate from the ANEC Congress, the public consultation on the
Economic and Social Program for 2026, the opinions of economists and
experts, the debates and contributions made by the Economic Commission of
the Party’s Central Committee, the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines
approved and updated at the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Party Congresses,
the proposals of the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee, and the
work carried out by the commissions that have been preparing the documents
for the postponed 9th Party Congress—for reasons well known—regarding the
updating of the Conceptualization of the Economic and Social Model, the
Guidelines, and the National Plan for Economic and Social Development
through 2030.

In addition, a study has been conducted on the experiences of socialist
construction in other countries, such as China and Vietnam, and artificial
intelligence has also been utilized to further the search for references
and evaluate the proposals in relation to our current laws and regulations.

*This involves facing the enormous challenge of continuing to advance the
process of socialist construction, defending the Revolution and its
achievements, and perfecting our society*, under the conditions of a
country subjected to the cruelest, most genocidal, and longest-lasting
economic, financial, energy, and commercial blockade imposed by the world’s
most powerful nation. And to overcome this, the legacy we have is that of
our Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz (Applause).

No one in the history of humanity has ever faced the challenge of socialism
under the conditions that this country, this nation, and this people must
confront today! We will undoubtedly overcome this challenge through unity,
courage, popular participation, and full conviction in our ability to
achieve victory.

*The transformations we are presenting are intended to advance the defense
of socialism, to support and expand social justice, and to create economic
wealth and distribute it equitably. If there is no wealth, there is nothing
to distribute; we would be speaking of social justice in the abstract.*
Social justice as conceived by the Revolution—with its humanistic mission
of helping the most disadvantaged, generally through free welfare programs
and projects—doesn’t cost the people anything, but it does cost the State.
And to carry it out, to deepen it, to sustain it, and to maintain it, the
State needs wealth—and we must produce that wealth ourselves. If there is
no wealth, there is no social justice, and everything else is a fairy
tale—everything else is a fairy tale! Either we produce under these
conditions, create wealth, and then distribute it with social justice and
equity—not egalitarianism. That is the challenge!

*We need to unleash the productive forces—to have more production rather
than more restrictions—because it has been proven that control without
supply merely drives operations into the informal market.*

Equality and integration among economic actors are necessary in accordance
with the National Plan for Economic and Social Development through 2030 and
the territorial and local development strategies involving state-owned
enterprises, MSMEs, cooperatives, agricultural producers, foreign and Cuban
investors, residents and non-residents alike: all must act and contribute
to the country’s socioeconomic development under clear rules.

*We must export and produce to attract and bring in foreign currency and
make productive use of it.* Every unit of foreign currency that enters the
country must be channeled toward financing production, imports, investment,
wages, and infrastructure.

*Legal certainty must be guaranteed: contracts, usufruct rights, leases,
concessions, surface rights, and licenses, with temporal stability and
protection against arbitrary changes.* Without legal certainty, no one will
invest, and no one will take risks.

*We must promote digitalization with traceability: electronic invoicing,
digital payments, public registries, and interoperable data as a foundation
for reducing tax evasion and corruption.*

*Social protection must be prioritized:* replacing inefficient blanket
subsidies with direct support for vulnerable people. We must always ensure
that every action does not increase social inequalities; on the contrary,
they should be gradually reduced until they disappear.

We must act with selective and intelligent openness: attracting technology,
financing, markets, and external knowledge, while protecting strategic
sectors through regulation, not through stagnation.

A gradual and experimental approach is necessary: reform in phases and
through verifiable pilot programs, maintaining state leadership and
adjusting course based on evidence to address and minimize potential
economic and social costs.

Also essential are political unity to ensure the consistency and
credibility of the measures; clear and precise communication of the
decisions to be implemented, to gain support for the transformations; and
the adoption of compensatory mechanisms to mitigate economic and social
impacts.

*We must work with agility, coherence, and quality—and above all, with
oversight. What has been approved must be implemented effectively.*

In this scenario, it is necessary to make progress on at least five fronts
simultaneously:

   - Macroeconomic stabilization and the recovery of foreign revenue.
   - The transformation of the Economic and Social Model.
   - The stimulation and recovery of the agricultural production sector.
   - The strengthening of accounting and cost management.
   - The anticipation and mitigation of the social costs associated with
   the necessary transformations of the Economic and Social Model.

And these five aspects are very well developed in the report presented by
ANEC at its last congress.

The Commander-in-Chief taught us that*in times of crisis, we could not give
up on either development or critical thinking, that no obstacle is
insurmountable, and that there is always an opportunity to grow.* And along
that path, the Army General showed us that it is possible, that it was
possible, and that it will always be possible.

The people understand the causes of many of the difficulties we face, *but
they also need concrete answers, timely decisions, and results that are
felt in their daily lives.*

*There are obstacles that do not come from outside or from blockades. There
is sluggishness, bureaucracy, regulations that hold back those who want to
produce, and decisions we have put off. *What depends on us, we must change
ourselves, and we must change it now.

We owe our homeland to the resistance, but today resistance alone is not
enough. This time demands that we transform, produce more, remove more
barriers, listen more, make better decisions, and be accountable.

What we intend to set in motion is an emergency economic and social agenda,
comprising measures that are part of our Government Program and policies
approved by the Party, along with decisions that can no longer be put off.
Some will not enjoy unanimous consensus, but they cannot be delayed. And
each will have a specific person in charge, a defined deadline, a metric to
measure its implementation, and public accountability to the nation.

What works will be expanded. What does not work will be corrected without
delay. Anyone with a responsibility will have to be held accountable for
it, and when someone cannot meet the demands of the moment, they must
responsibly make way for someone who can do it better.

*We will face this process as the challenge of the generations that today
share the defense of the Fatherland, the Revolution, and Socialism.*

Regarding the Economic Management System, I want to emphasize that the most
important point is that central planning—if we adopt these
transformations—*would
not have the function of managing the economy, but rather of creating an
appropriate institutional and regulatory environment so that enterprises
and workers are encouraged to produce goods and provide quality services
efficiently, as well as to introduce innovations into their management for
these purposes.*

And we must definitely ensure that the Plan is built from the bottom up
with the participation of workers.

*We will continue restructuring the government apparatus, the State, the
Party, and the institutions.* We will integrate structures where necessary,
review duplicated functions, reduce unnecessary steps, and continuously
optimize the way the country is governed and served. Let these structures
be more dynamic, more proactive, and less bureaucratic.

One of the most important and urgent tasks is to boost the country’s
development from the grassroots level—starting with the municipalities.

It cannot be delayed any longer *to empower municipal governance so that
municipalities finally have and exercise all possible authority to develop
themselves.*

No economic change will be sufficient *if the socialist state-owned
enterprise—which will remain the fundamental pillar of the economy—does not
have the genuine capacity to manage, innovate, and be accountable for its
results.*

It is necessary to reform the management of state-owned enterprises based
on real autonomy, economic and financial evaluation, the separation of
state and business functions, and the application of the “comply or
explain” principle to prevent regulations from becoming an obstacle when a
more beneficial and demonstrable solution exists.

To that end, we will move forward in two directions: *greater real autonomy
for enterprises and more professional management of state assets through
the National Institute of Business Assets, which is responsible for
representing the owner of the means of production, evaluating results,
demanding efficiency, and better separating the business function from the
regulatory function of the ministries.*

*Autonomy does not mean a lack of oversight*; it implies a framework of
accountability. It means being able to make timely decisions, form better
partnerships, invest more effectively, pay better wages, and be accountable
for results to the people and to the State.

*State-owned enterprises need to be strengthened, not replaced by
administrative mechanisms that paralyze them.* To this end, the separation
between state and business functions must be completed; performance must be
evaluated using economic and financial tools; and real autonomy must be
granted to manage material, financial, and human resources, with subsequent
oversight, transparency, and accountability.

There is no sovereignty with an empty plate. The Cuban people’s food will
be treated as what it is: a matter of national security.

*And idle land in Cuba must be eliminated.* Every piece of land that is
currently overgrown with marabú—when it should be producing food—must have
a clear solution: either it is put to productive use or it is handed over
to those willing to do so.

*We will expand the granting of land in usufruct to those who are willing
and able to produce*: producers, cooperatives, micro, small, and
medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and other forms of association—without
ever renouncing national sovereignty or regressing to the dependent country
we left behind with the Revolution.

*We will recognize the right of those who work the land to invest in what
they need to make it productive, and those who commit to real results will
be able to directly import seeds, fertilizer, parts, and equipment*. But
one principle must be clear: that land will continue to belong to the
people; and if it does not produce, if it does not serve the country, if it
does not fulfill its social function, it will have to pass into the hands
of those who can indeed make it productive.

We cannot continue to ask Cuban farmers to produce more food with fewer
tools and at prices below their costs; they must have effective mechanisms
for direct access to foreign currency, such as selling to exporters—as is
the case with tourism—or on the foreign exchange market.

We must ensure that the land is an opportunity rather than a burden, that
those who sow see the fruits of their labor, that those who produce can
live better lives, and that those who invest in the countryside find
security, support, and a future.

*Cuba needs its farmers, their work, and their trust. *When the Cuban
countryside becomes a path to prosperity for those who work it, the country
will be stronger, more just, and more sovereign.

As for foreign trade, exports, logistics, and value chains, we must
authorize direct imports and exports for state-owned and non-state-owned
enterprises—whether they are productive, export-oriented, or
import-substituting—while maintaining technical and fiscal requirements but
eliminating mandatory intermediation.

*Regarding debt renegotiation, we must carry out a debt-for-assets swap
process*, focused primarily on exchanging national assets for debt, without
permanently transferring ownership of those assets. Through this mechanism,
we can secure financing and other benefits without losing ownership rights
to the assets.

We must also explore other mechanisms, such as “debt-for-nature” or
“debt-for-social-development” swaps, the issuance of bonds tied to the
Sustainable Development Goals, and others.

*We will comprehensively review the list of activities prohibited to the
private sector, guided by a clear principle: to replace, whenever possible,
prohibition with responsible regulation.* The country needs to establish
legal pathways for these activities, with clear rules and appropriate
controls.

*We will also make the scope of the corporate purpose of MSMEs and other
economic actors more flexible* and significantly ease the bureaucratic
burden currently faced by many entrepreneurs; furthermore, we must
streamline the creation of economic partnerships between state and
non-state management models.

Foreign investment is also trapped in a web of obstacles that hinder its
necessary growth. We must not only tell foreign investors where to invest,
but also allow them the initiative to invest in the economic sector of
their choice, as well as to directly hire their workers without state
intermediaries at all times.

*We must authorize foreign direct investment in the national private sector*,
including MSMEs, with clear rules on ownership, repatriation, reinvestment,
and dispute resolution.

*We must facilitate investment models with different modalities and
involving all stakeholders, led by Cubans living in Cuba.* And to Cubans
living abroad who wish to invest, donate, import technology, open a market,
or launch a project in their homeland, we will offer a clear, stable, and
respectful framework, without them being viewed with suspicion for wanting
to help their own people or contribute to the development of the land where
they were born. To those who wish to build alongside Cuba, without seeking
to impose anything on it, we say with our hearts on our sleeves: here is
your home, and here is an open door, because at this moment, this homeland
cannot afford to lose a single good Cuban (Applause).

The blackout is not just a problem of megawatts or a generation shortfall.
The blackout is the child who couldn’t study for the test, the food that
went bad in the refrigerator, the elderly person who spends the night
awake, restless and sweltering. It is the hospital operating at capacity,
the clinic that cannot stock medication, the worker who loses a day’s pay,
and the business that has to close. That is why energy is not just a
technical issue—it is a human, economic, and national issue.

*We are going to accelerate the integration of solar energy into the
national economy, just as we have been doing.* To achieve this, we will
facilitate the direct entry of foreign companies that supply panels,
batteries, inverters, and related solutions, thereby reducing the number of
middlemen who drive up costs for the public and the country.

Import tariffs on solar technologies, storage systems, and energy-saving
equipment have already been eliminated. *We will now also move forward with
eliminating taxes on their sale and on services related to their
installation and maintenance.*

In addition, *we will create credit and financing mechanisms so that these
solutions are not accessible only to a select few*, but can gradually reach
households, MSMEs, medical clinics, educational centers, nursing homes, and
other essential services for the population. And in this effort, our Cuban
companies and technicians—both state-owned and private—will play a central
role, installing, maintaining, repairing, integrating, and creating jobs.
Cuban companies can specialize in the installation, integration, operation,
and support of these technologies.

*We will promote electric transportation powered by renewable energy
sources.* Any electric vehicle intended for public, private, or light-duty
freight transport that demonstrates it operates entirely or primarily on
solar energy will be eligible for special incentives, tariff exemptions,
sales tax exemptions, and facilitation of imports for chargers, batteries,
parts, and related solutions.

We will also promote*the installation of solar charging stations throughout
the country with foreign, private, cooperative, and state investment,
prioritizing urban routes, tourist hubs, industrial zones, and essential
services.* Alongside this, we will establish an expedited process for
granting licenses for transportation operators, electric taxis, or related
mobility services, under clear rules, technical oversight, road safety
standards, and transparent pricing.

The top priority, above all else, is the people who cannot wait for the
economy to improve, because there are hardships that know no deadlines.
True social justice is not built on artificial prices that eventually lead
to shortages, long lines, low wages, and an illegal market.

*Social justice is built on real foundations: income with purchasing power,
direct protection for those who need it most, and a national economy
capable of producing more.* There are no shortcuts; these are not new
ideas, but decisions that the country discussed and approved years ago. The
mistake was not in proposing them, but in postponing them, and that period
of delay must end.

*The basic food basket will be guaranteed to retirees, families with
chronically ill children, and vulnerable populations. Targeted programs for
social transformation will be developed in the poorest neighborhoods*. We
must give the state-owned and private business sectors a greater role and
incentives to get involved in solving prioritized local problems, such as
soup kitchens, sanitation, and shelters for children without family
support, among others. With these decisions, they will have new, concrete
tasks: delivering pension payments to retirees near their homes so they do
not have to wait in line for hours under the sun; sponsoring soup kitchens,
nursing homes, senior centers, and children’s centers; creating solidarity
quotas and cost-based pricing for those who truly need it; and digitizing
everything so that it is clear who contributes, who receives, and what the
results are.

For years, we operated under a system of wage controls, price regulations,
and a government that subsidized a huge portion of the country’s economic
life. That formula had its rationale, its context, its results, and its
time; but it no longer addresses the complex reality we face today. The
prices families face have become far too disconnected from the income of a
worker or a retiree, and we cannot continue to act as if that gap did not
exist.

*We will also open new avenues for secure access to medications.*

*As for fiscal, tax, monetary, and financial restructuring policies, the
main objective for reducing the fiscal deficit lies in increasing
production—which is the basis for tax revenue—and cutting unnecessary
budget expenditures*. That is why we will also correct a policy that did
not yield the expected results.

*Price caps, in practice, failed to contain inflation.* They often led to
product shortages, a shift toward the black market, higher prices, lower
tax revenue, and an impossible race between actual prices and
administrative decisions that were always late or remained rigid in the
face of changing economic realities, thereby limiting all those who wish to
conduct their economic activities legally and transparently. For this
reason, we will not continue to impose blanket price caps, as the Prime
Minister explained. We must correct distortions in the tax system that
currently drive up the costs of production chains and ultimately get passed
on to the final price.

*We will move toward a creditable value-added tax (VAT) progressively
supported by electronic invoicing, to avoid cascading taxation*. But these
decisions can only be implemented alongside more direct and effective
social protection—shifting from subsidizing products to subsidizing
people—and through efforts to restore the purchasing power of wages and
pensions. This is not about leaving anyone to fend for themselves in the
market; it is about providing better protection, increasing production,
regulating intelligently, and organizing realistically.

We need a financial system that supports the economy, serves the various
economic actors, reduces lines, facilitates payments, ensures transparent
operations, and turns savings, credit, and investment into concrete tools
for development.

To thoroughly modernize the country’s banking and financial system. To that
end, Cuba needs banks that are more agile, more digital, closer to the
people, and more useful to those who produce, export, import, invest, or
start businesses.

*We will open up opportunities—under strict regulation—to private and
foreign financial institutions; new mechanisms for credit, productive
financing, the development of financial markets, and payment services, in
which state, cooperative, and private actors can participate.* The goal is
to ensure that collecting a pension, receiving a remittance from abroad,
paying for a service, applying for a loan, financing a harvest, purchasing
equipment, or moving money to support production is not an obstacle course.

We will allow offshore accounts, foreign-currency payments between
companies, and auditable international transactions for entities that
import, export, or provide global services.

This is not about weakening the role of the state, but rather about
expanding and modernizing the country’s capacity to finance production,
support those who generate goods and services, regulate the flow of money,
and provide better service to our people.

We will turn digital transformation, software, and artificial intelligence
into cross-cutting tools to develop agriculture, the energy sector, health
care, education, foreign trade, banking, e-commerce, logistics, tourism,
and tax enforcement.

Specific proposals regarding software, artificial intelligence, the
knowledge economy, and the digital economy must be presented as
cross-cutting infrastructure to boost national productivity. This is not
just about exporting software, but about digitizing payments, taxes,
foreign trade, agriculture, healthcare, energy, logistics, government, and
statistics.

*Regarding tourism and the real estate sector, new business models must be
implemented, with the participation of all economic actors.* Develop a
productive, regulated real estate market that includes: leasing of idle
state-owned properties; rental of buildings, commercial spaces, warehouses,
offices, tourist facilities, workshops, and industrial spaces; concessions;
rights of use for real estate; and transparent bidding processes open to
state, private, cooperative, or mixed-ownership entities.

We have discussed fuel imports and all the opportunities that have been
opened up to the private sector, but now the goal is to achieve this with
reasonable, transparent, and non-exploitative profit margins.

Regarding vehicle imports, we must eliminate all import barriers,
prioritize the import of electric vehicles, and, of course, develop solar
panels.

I know there is concern—and rightly so—about the partial dollarization of
the economy, inflation, and the lack of many products priced in local
currency. *We are not going to ignore this problem.* The business models we
are authorizing in foreign currency must directly and verifiably contribute
to an increase in foreign exchange earnings that allows for the
sustainability of offerings in local currency.

We must be more stringent regarding the use of digital payment platforms.
We must expand approvals for wholesale and retail trade, eliminating
intermediaries, and we must definitely implement electronic invoicing.

*We must eliminate wage barriers that prevent us from retaining talent and
a highly skilled workforce in the productive, export, technology, energy,
and agro-industrial sectors*, and allow for variable compensation in CUP
and foreign currency linked to verifiable results in exports, import
savings, increased productivity, innovation, energy availability, or
foreign sales.

Regarding digital government, public data, and smart monitoring, mandatory
and phased-in electronic invoicing must be implemented for medium and large
taxpayers; this should then be extended to MSMEs and self-employed workers,
using simple tools adapted to actual connectivity.

We must modernize the National Statistical System and the ONEI through
digital data collection from companies and entities, publication via public
service applications using artificial intelligence, and the protection of
sensitive data.

We must use artificial intelligence to simplify procedures, process scanned
documents, detect errors, validate files, authenticate documents, and
reduce administrative burdens.

We must improve the quality of services provided to the public by designing
new approaches to each issue.

And we must seriously address a problem that affects the daily lives of
millions of Cubans: solid waste collection. We will launch local-level
projects to improve the collection, treatment, and disposal of solid waste,
in which—responsibly—those who place the greatest burden on the system must
also contribute more to sustaining it.

But this solution will not be solely state-led; it will incorporate foreign
investment into the non-state sector, the business system, communities, and
creative initiatives that help restore cleanliness, order, and health to
our cities and communities.

Comrades:

Cuba does not need further delays; it needs solutions. It is not a matter
of creating more offices or holding more meetings, but of achieving
concrete results.

To govern is to solve problems, break through bottlenecks, provide support,
and ensure that decisions translate into real improvements; because
creating in Cuba, investing in Cuba, working in Cuba, and staying in Cuba
also depend on the country’s ability to pave the way, organize
intelligently, and support those who want to contribute.

Alongside economic opportunities, we will also promote concrete spaces
where young people can take action within their communities.

The Community Youth Network must be a pathway for young people to find
places to learn, find employment, serve their community, and turn an idea
into a real project. This network must coordinate useful initiatives in
neighborhoods: revitalizing public spaces, supporting vulnerable people,
cultural and sports activities, training in trades and technologies,
community communication, productive projects, local employment, and support
for at-risk youth.

This is not about creating yet another structure or bringing young people
together merely to receive guidance; it is about giving them skills, tools,
knowledge, responsibilities, and real opportunities to transform the places
where they live—because staying in Cuba must also mean having a place where
they can be useful, grow, learn, lead, and build a future starting from
their neighborhood, school, workplace, and municipality.

We know our country; we know where the obstacles lie, where corruption
lurks, where there is excessive sluggishness, and where shame and dignity
are lacking.

*Every measure we announce will have designated leaders, deadlines, and
performance indicators. We will report on what is progressing, what is not
being fulfilled, and what needs to be corrected.*

There will be matters that, to protect them from those who wish to sabotage
them, we will have to handle with discretion. Martí has already taught us
that some things must remain hidden in order to be achieved; but discretion
will never be a license to hide anything from the people.

As a people, we will not call on ourselves merely to resist; we will call
on ourselves to create, to produce, to decide, to oversee, to prosper, and
to transform, because what we are beginning today is not done by a
government alone— this is something we all do together—or we don’t do it at
all: with the farmer who returns to the fields to plant, with the small and
medium-sized business that dares to take risks, with the technician who
installs the first solar panel, with the teacher, with the doctor, with the
young person who decides to stay and invest in their homeland, with the
Cuban living abroad who reaches out, with you, with me, with everyone.

We will not deny the problems; we will not defend bureaucracy; we will not
close the door on talent; we will not abandon the vulnerable; and we will
never allow the suffering of this people—caused by the perverse imperialist
blockade—to be used against the sovereignty of the homeland (Applause).

Nothing will be impossible if we embrace the challenge as an opportunity
and history as inspiration!

Céspedes, Agramonte, Maceo, Gómez, Martí, Mella, Villena, Guiteras, Che,
Camilo, Almeida, Fidel, and Raúl—all our heroes—faced moments that were
just as difficult, or even more so, for their time, than those faced today
by the new revolutionary generation, and all emerged from those challenges
with honor and glory—even those who fell in combat without living to see
victory—because they bequeathed to us lessons in courage that endure to
this day, as was demonstrated on January 3 of this year when 32 Cuban
fighters fell while confronting elite troops vastly superior in number and
resources.

No revolution has had it easy, and ours has had the audacity to survive six
decades of a blockade, genocidal laws, hybrid warfare, and a series of
unilateral coercive measures that no other nation has endured—nor could it
endure—for so long.

On the centennial of the birth of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro and the
95th birthday of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, the best tribute we can pay
to the admirable work of our two historic leaders is to defend it and
preserve its essence of social justice, amid the storm of predatory wars,
threats of invasion, and processes of neocolonization that, like the
Seven-League Giant, are sweeping across the sky, devouring worlds in these
times.

We are all called to action, and together we will prevail.

Long live Free Cuba! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)

Long live the heroic Cuban people! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)

Long live the sovereignty of the Cuban nation!

Source: ACN
<https://www.acn.cu/cuba/miguel-diaz-canel-cuba-no-necesita-mas-dilaciones-necesita-soluciones-discurso>,
translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English
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