Cuba: Party Conference Looks at the Future to Face Challenges

Machado Ventura called to make the greatest effort in getting rid of certain obsolete mentality based on inertia and old prejudices. “We must be responsible at work by looking at the future with the aim of strengthening the foundations of our party´s performance”, he added.

The First National Conference of Cuba´s Communist Party opened Saturday morning at Havana´s Conventions Hall presided, over by the Party´s First Secretary Raul Castro.

The Conference opened with a tribute to National Hero Jose Martí expressed in the opening remarks by the Second Secretary of Cuba´s Communist Party Ramon Machado Ventura who said: “As a tribute to that who forged unity of Cubans in their struggle against colonialism and to achieve the independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico, Jose Marti, who founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party, which undoubtedly was the forerunner of our Communist Party, let this meeting of Cuban Communists pay honor to his ideas, bastion and guide of our revolutionary process since its very beginnings, as it was expressed by the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, in 1953, who described Marti as the mastermind of the attack on the Moncada garrison on 26 of July.”alt

In his opening speech of the Conference the Second Secretary also said that the work has been really intense in the months that followed  the 6th Congress of the Communist Party and that there still much to do as to the accords and guidelines approved by the Congress, bearing in mind the criteria that stemmed from the discussion by Cuban communists of the basic document of the National Conference:

“The mission of this conference is to get to a conclusion based on the criteria of hundreds of thousands of party members and turn them into working objectives, tasks and indications to meet the accords of the 6th Congress, particularly the social and economic guidelines of the Party and the Revolution,” Machado Ventura pointed out.

Ongoing changes in Cuban economy also demand the transformation of the working style and methods of the Communist Party and its leaders, stressed the Party’ Second Secretary:  “We must make the greatest effort in getting rid of certain obsolete mentality based on inertia and old prejudices. We must be responsible at work by looking at the future with the aim of strengthening the foundations of our party´s performance. Let´s do this thinking that it is not a temporary situation, but something that has to be part and parcel of our action as the guarantee of the permanent performance of the Cuban Communist Party at every historic moment.

Following the opening remarks by the Party´s Second Secretary, the 811 delegates kicked off debates in four commissions to analyze the issues contained in the draft document of the Conference.

The debates are focusing on the Party´s performance, its working methods and style, the political and ideological activity, cadre-related policies and relations between the Communist Party and the Young Communist League, as well as interaction with grassroots organizations.

In representation of over 800 thousand communist party members in the country, the 811 delegates expressed their commitment to boost the implementation of the social and economic guidelines approved by the 6th Party Congress and to enhance direct and stronger relations with the people in favor of national unity. They also stressed their determination to fight any manifestation of corruption, indiscipline or illegality.

The need for the Young Communist League to attend the needs of children, youths and adolescent was also underlined by the delegates who stressed the need to strengthen relations with the youth organization.

The initial version of the draft document of the Conference was published in October and submitted to debate in over 65 meetings of Communist Party and Young Communist League members. The discussions resulted in over one million opinions about the document.

In early January, the 811 delegates to the Conference held territorial meetings to address the new modifications proposed, which included changes and modifications to 78 of its 96 objectives, plus the addition of another 4 issues.

The Conference, which will close today, was called by the 6th Communist Party Congress held in April 2011.  (Taken from RHC).