“The people need things to change, but with the Revolution that Fidel and Raúl made,” was his mantra
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2024 — In a battered fiber cement shelter in Cayo Palma, a small town in Holgüín, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero demonstrated his method for democratic consultation: the monologue. The cameras of Cuban Television, which followed him on his journey through Gibara from “the first light of day,” recorded the long scolding of the prime minister to “the odd leader who does not have the sensitivity required to be able to talk to the people.”
“They are afraid to come here and be told to their faces the things that need to be said,” Marrero exploded, sweaty from the heat of September and surrounded by local authorities. The difference – he stressed – is that he is willing to “sit down” with the guajiros and ask them to give him their criticism. The first row of about twenty seats in the little school were for officials; the farmers – few and standing – waited their turn to take the floor.
Cuban Television did not devote too much time to the “dissatisfactions” in Cayo Palma, nor in Muñoz, another more populated town. Off camera, the reporter admitted that there was a notable deterioration of the “roads” to both towns and a “scarce supply of goods and services.”
One of the few televised testimonies was that of a woman to whom the authorities brought some basic supplies – cooking oil and rice – and she complained that there was “nothing constant.” It’s not easy for the inhabitants because of all the red tape, and they gave up a long time ago when it came to getting medications.
The bread rolls are not only tiny but are also transported in dirty boxes surrounded by flies
Bread is another of the great problems of the small towns of the eastern province. The images themselves were eloquent: the rolls are not only tiny but are also transported in dirty boxes surrounded by flies. The Muñoz bakery, in addition, leaves much to be desired due to the precariousness of the facilities.
Soon the microphone returned to Marrero, who thanked the villagers for their “support for the Revolution” even though their situation was critical. “We have to end the shoddiness, the bureaucracy,” he insisted, appealing to the people themselves to make an effort. “We have to know all the problems, which are many.” The solution is another story.
To top off the “high expression of socialist democracy,” according to Cuban Television, the prime minister went to a rural school, where the Pioneers* were trained and in uniform. It was a “frank and pleasant” dialogue with the humble communities of the Cuban East, the reporter summarized, while focusing in the foreground on an old man from Gibaro with a shiny US Marine cap.
At one point on his journey, Marrero confessed that he made those exchanges as a kind of model for the accountability assemblies formerly held. Suspended since 2021, these meetings return to Cuban neighborhoods as proof – says the official press – that the Government is willing to listen to the people in the midst of the crisis. “The people need things to change, but with the Revolution that Fidel and Raúl made,” was Marrero’s mantra.
The Communist Party newspapers reproduced on Saturday similar scenes in all provinces
The Communist Party newspapers reproduced on Saturday similar scenes in all the provinces, with lower-ranking leaders. In Sancti Spíritus, for example, they have achieved a curious sample of “patriotic virtues”: the creation of an official commission to “supervise the quality of the bread for the basic basket,” which soon became the main concern of the meeting.
In Villa Clara, on the other hand, people talked about the multiple problems of garbage collection and the proliferation of crime, but Vanguardia did not offer too many details about the debate. There, the delegates also gave scoldings and celebrated their own willingness to “listen to the voters.”
The 5 de Septiembre digital news source gives the chronicle of accountability the tone of an epic. It reports that the delegates “are moving heaven, sea and earth,” and don’t accept “unfinished or unconvincing answers” from those who “harm their people,” and they should “begin the task” – the kind of war cry attributed to Antonio Maceo – every day. In every town there are “dark minds longing for blackouts” for the meeting to be suspended but, they warn, not even that can prevent the leader from being there.
As for the municipality of Segundo Frente, according to Sierra Maestra, the delegates have asked for trust in the “influence of the Party” and its first secretary in Santiago de Cuba – Beatriz Johnson Urrutia – for a solution to their problems. An undated solution, of course, because now the Government only intends to “listen.”
*Translator’s note: In 1961, the José Martí Pioneer Organization for Cuban youth was created to replace the banned Association of Cuban Scouts.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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