Díaz-Canel at the closing of XII UJC Congress: The Revolution believes in its young people

The challenges remain enormous but the Revolution believes in young people, said Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, on Thursday at the closing of the 12th Congress of the Young Communist League (UJC).

The head of state conveyed the greetings of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, who praised the quality of the event and highlighted the depth and commitment in the debates generated, which he said demonstrates the reason that always accompanied Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro to place his faith in the new generations.

Díaz-Canel stressed that the UJC has the task of continuing to be the vanguard of a joyful and profound youth and to unite and motivate under its banners the youth universe, beyond its militancy.

He pointed out that there they spoke without euphemisms of the painful emigration of the young population that crosses the Cuban nation, but it is also time to talk about those who are here and now, those who sustain with their efforts the country and the Revolution under the same economic needs imposed on us by the economic blockade.

They are the ones who leap over the sorrows and impacts of the economic, cultural and political war that is applied to us and go out every day to fight to make Cuba a better country, he added.

The head of state recalled that in different contexts, the youth have had the opportunity to prove themselves as the best revolutionaries and in the face of this, they have excelled as good human beings characterized by always seeking the welfare of their own, of the Homeland, of the Socialist Revolution, of Cuba.

The revolutionary process has the challenge of defending the work in the manner and style of each generation committed to continue it and the legacy and example that gives young people the historical privilege of attending in just two years the centenary of Fidel, he insisted.

To the new leadership of the organization, the First Secretary transmitted the maxim of not forgetting the lessons of 65 years in Revolution and on the basis of those symbols dare to write new pages as it was done during the confrontation with the COVID-19, the rescue work in the Saratoga and in the Supertanker Base of Matanzas and in the future battles to come.

As part of the election process, the new secretariat for the 2024-2029 period was presented with a high level of renewal, at the head of which Meyvis Estévez Echeverría, who was serving as second secretary, was promoted as first secretary.

Estévez Echeverría read and delivered a declaration of the Cuban youth to José Ramón Machado Ventura, Commander of the Rebel Army, who received it from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution.

Through the document, the delegates expressed the willingness of the present generation to remain faithful to the imprint of the heroes and heroines who preceded them, and at the same time not to let the teachings and example of Fidel die or disappoint, on the occasion of the celebration of his centenary in 2026.

Another element that transcended was the declaration of denunciation to the genocide perpetrated by the Zionist State of Israel against the people of Palestine in defense of the right to exist with dignity in their own land and patented the will to attend from the base structures of the UJC in a prioritized, continuous and close way to the young Palestinians studying in Cuba.

The plenary strongly condemned the complicit support of U.S. imperialism to the crime that has hindered the search for a just and lasting solution to the conflict, to which the largest of the Antilles will never remain indifferent.

Members of the Political Bureau Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power and of the Council of State, Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister, Roberto Morales Ojeda, secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, secretary general of the Cuban Workers' Central, and Teresa Amarelle Boué, secretary general of the Federation of Cuban Women, and other Party and Government authorities were present at the ceremony.

Also present as special guests at the event were Commanders of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, deputy prime minister, and Guillermo García Frías.