ABOVE: The eighth congress of Cuba’s Communist Party (Photo from Granma via Washington Blade)
HAVANA | Raul Castro in his report to the eighth congress of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC) that ended April 19 in Havana referred to the rights of LGBTI+ people, gender-based violence and discrimination based on skin color.
“It continues to support the work of the Federation of Cuban Women and other institutions in the defense of women’s rights and the denunciation of gender-based violence. The confrontation with prejudices associated with sexual orientation and gender identity will deepen,” said the Cuban leader.
He also mentioned the process of drafting and discussing the Family Code, the law that must finally resolve whether LGBTI+ couples will have the right to marriage.
“In compliance with the constitutional mandate, the Council of State approved the commission that will come up with the draft of the Family Code for its analysis in Parliament and subsequent discussion with the population, an activity that is already being worked on,” he said.
The Council of State on March 23 appointed a commission that must present the bill within an unspecified period. Activism has demanded the identity of those who make up that commission be made public. This request, thus far, remains unanswered. LGBTI+ activists are currently divided between those who support public debate and the holding of a referendum to adopt the Family Code or not and those who reject the idea that the rights of a group are submitted to the majority.
Castro also commented on authorities’ response to discrimination against people of African descent.
“The creation of the government program and the commission headed by the president of the republic, (Miguel) Díaz-Canel, to address the issue of racial discrimination will promote a more effective confrontation with these lags of the past and greater coherence in the presentation and conduct of the public debate about them,” he said.
The political leader later declared that the agendas of LGBTI+, anti-racist, feminist and animal rights groups are a goal of U.S. policy with the aim of achieving “the breakdown of national unity.”
“Priority [of the United States government] is given to actions directed at young people, women and academics, the artistic and intellectual sector, journalists, athletes, people of sexual diversity and religions. Matters of interest to specific groups related to the protection of animals, the environment, or artistic and cultural protests are manipulated, all aimed at ignoring existing institutions,” he said.
These are the criticisms authorities have repeatedly made with respect to independent activism that emerges in Cuba: Having U.S. support to build spaces for participation that are parallel to organizations and entities that are subordinate to the State. Various groups, however, including those run by artists, animal rights defenders and the LGBTI+ community, have expressly declared their desire to dialogue with the institutions and have also emphasized their autonomy with respect to U.S. politics.
Raul Castro drew attention to “the benefits and dangers of using the internet and social networks” saying that “they can be used for the best and also the worst purposes.”
He declared the internet is “a virtual image of Cuba as a dying society with no future, about to collapse and give way to the much longed-for social explosion that is created and disseminated to the four winds.”
Regarding the political opposition, he said that “it lacks a social base, leadership and mobilization capacity, the number of its members and the number of social impact actions continues to decrease, concentrating its activism on social networks and the internet.”
The report did not speak explicitly of the non-state press in its range of agendas, but it did criticize the official media for their “incorrect approaches” to the measure of establishing stores for the sale of basic necessities in U.S. dollars.
Raul Castro has been a vocal critic of the official media precisely controlled by the PCC. In the report he pointed out “his attachment to the truth and his rejection of lies” to later regret the “demonstrations of triumphalism, stridency and superficiality in the way they approach the reality of the country.”
“Sometimes journalistic works that are presented tend to confuse, instead of clarifying. These approaches damage the credibility of the information and communication policy that has been approved. The immediacy in approaching the national task should not be at odds with objectivity, professionalism and, above all, political intentionality,” he said.
A good part of the report refers to the current economic crisis affecting Cuba and its relationship to U.S. sanctions.
“Sometimes the objective data on the damage that the United States has caused to the Cuban economy and the objective impact of the more than 240 coercive measures adopted since 2017 are not sufficiently understood or evaluated in detail. It should be understood that these are not simple actions to expand the embargo, but rather new methods, some unprecedented, that took the magnitude of the economic war to a qualitatively more aggressive step, which is reflected in the material deficiencies that accompany the daily life of every Cuban, “said Raúl Castro.
He later took the opportunity to express “the will to develop a respectful dialogue and build a new type of relationship with the United States, without pretending that Cuba renounces the principles of the revolution and socialism in order to achieve this.”
After referring to Cuba’s economic situation, its international relations and the state of defense institutions, the 89-year-old political leader announced he was leaving the post of first secretary of the PCC’s Central Committee. He gave his support to the current Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, near the end of the report.
