The Congress of Continuity

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The Congress of Continuity
Fecha de publicación: 
20 April 2021
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I heard it and even said it many times before it began the meeting of the Cuban communists. As a proud militant, I was convinced of what that truth meant and, of course, willing to take next to our generation our turn to do. No matter how hard the odds were (Cuba has never had it easy), I was sure that in this Congress things were going to move a bit, all the mechanisms would be adjusted and our coach, great, would leave us the best advice to win each battle, to move forward, as always.

Pressure? Only the logic of those who know that in each chapter life gives us; the healthy pressure that comes from commitment, from knowing that you are the continuity of a long and beautiful task, where exceptional men and women left all their energies, "the purest of their hopes as a builder"; the responsibility of being on the team of those who love and found, and the weight of memory: the continuity of the Revolution is the Party, Fidel told us, and it turns out that now you, I, we, the boys we were, are the Party.

You sit in front of the TV and there´s Raúl, with that scent of Sierra, giving you the signs and the confidence:

"... I have the satisfaction that we deliver the leadership of the country to a group of trained leaders, hardened by decades of experience in their transition from the base to the highest responsibilities, committed to the ethics and principles of the Revolution and Socialism , identified with the roots and values ​​of the history and culture of the nation, imbued with great sensitivity towards the people, full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit and aware that they represent the continuity in the work begun by Céspedes on October 10th, 1868, continued by Gómez, Maceo, Calixto García, and Agramonte; restarted by Martí at the head of the Cuban Revolutionary Party; by Baliño and Mella with the founding of the First Communist Party of Cuba; from Villena, Guiteras, Jesús Menéndez, Abel, José Antonio, Frank País, Camilo, Che, Blas Roca, Celia, Haydée, Melba and Vilma, Almeida and our unforgettable Commander-in-Chief, Fidel. "

You can even relax a bit believing that you talk "to them", with "the bosses", the new bosses who will be elected on the last date of the plenary session. But that day arrives, which, in addition, could not be another day than that of the victory of Girón, and when you read the names of the new Central Committee, it turns out that there´s Elier, "el Papo", your friend from the school days, your vice president of the University Federation, who is now a renowned historian, and Yury, the one from the Young Communist League Committee at the University, today leading research at Finlay, and Yailín, the colleague who runs the Granma newspaper and with whom you shared the scholarship and the classrooms at the Faculty. One year, give or take, it´s your generation, not in the abstract, real and palpable, which is definitely stepping forward.

You look at the photos and discover women, so many and from all sectors: the head of a factory, leading a scientific center, university professor, prosecutor, minister ... There are men and women of only one color: red, red, your own colour. So, definitely, the first secretary, Miguel Díaz-Canel, is talking to you, to me, because he has been talking for a long time and now more: we are the Party.

"The most revolutionary thing within the Revolution is to always defend the Party, in the same way that the Party must be the greatest defender of the Revolution," he tells us in his closing remarks, and also gives a heads up: "Today we say We are Cuba , Cuba Live, and it sounds simple and easy, but how difficult it has been to achieve and keep sovereignty and independence in the midst of the fiercest blockade ».

And it´s true, it has been, and will be difficult, but we already have the indestructible shirt of the four letters on. We are ready to tackle whatever comes. There is no fatigue, on this island the only thing left over is courage, steady hearts, and willing arms. We learned from the best and if we have learned something good from living perennially besieged and attacked, it´s the capacity to resist, the courage to face together the longest blockade in history, hurricanes, and tornadoes, this pandemic that has not given us a truce either. The Revolution exists despite mercenaries and deficiencies, because its greatest wealth is neither sold nor can be stolen, the wealth of this country is its people.

So, I watch the closing speech for the second time and write it again: this is the Congress of continuity. What our First Secretary of the Party said is a truth the size, not of one, but of several generations of Cubans who share it as an oath, the only one possible. An oath that has already survived wars, invasions, terrorism, and will remain undefeated, like Martí and Maceo, like Fidel and Raúl; yes, boss, we are stepping up, with you, with the Party:

"Our generation understands the responsibility they take when accepting this challenge and declares, before the historical generation, its honor and pride in giving continuity to the Revolution. We do so under the principle immortalized by Maceo: Whoever tries to take over Cuba will gather the dust of its soil denched in blood, if it doesn´t perish in the struggle ".

Translated by: Amilkal Labañino Valdés / Cubasi Translation Staff

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