We are here so that you feel, once again, that you have the full support of the Party and Government leadership, because you are an important part of this process of socialist construction, assured the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to the delegates of the First Meeting of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities.
The meeting, which is being held at the Convention Center in the capital until December 3, takes place in the context of the 15th National Conference on Equal Opportunities—organized by the Cuban Association of People with Physical Disabilities (Aclifim)—and demonstrates the inclusion of people with disabilities in different spheres of life.
"You," acknowledged the president, "with a sense of patriotism and responsibility, in your desire to be fair and faithful, are dedicating this meeting of evaluation and debate to promoting the legacy of the Commander in Chief, who did so much to ensure that 'our society is totally inclusive, fair, and that we maintain that fairness and that vocation for justice.'"
And all this has been supported, he stressed, despite the intensification of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade during all these years, "which has led us to a very difficult situation in different areas, but that has not prevented us from continuing to do everything possible in socialist construction, without renouncing what we aspire to for the future, in which, as part of social justice, equal opportunities and participation in our society and in that socialist construction are kept alive."
The dignitary also highlighted the concept of unity with which this meeting is being held, in which all the associations together, seeking a common goal and approach, will be "building consensus on how much further we can advance in the midst of the situations we face, what more we can do, and also with a critical analysis of what can be done and what we have not done.
"And that for us, for the country's leadership, both in the Party and in the Government, is one of the sources we have to improve our work, to promote a set of actions that continue to favor their full incorporation into our society and that no one is left behind," he said.
"We could not be talking about socialist construction," he insisted, "if we did not look at people with disabilities and if we did not also draw on the contribution they are capable of making to our society."
In her speech, the national president of Aclifim, Mabel Ballesteros López, highlighted the importance of the fact that "for the first time in our country, organizations of people with disabilities have agreed to meet in a common space," in the context of the activities for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is celebrated every December 3.
She said that the date "has become a favorable framework for the vindication of all fundamental rights in the face of the growing gap of exclusion." And in the midst of this scenario, in which many governments around the world have become passive entities, the Cuban government maintains a constant commitment to people with disabilities.
He emphasized that the associative movement "has grown with the Revolution, with its social policy, backed by Fidel's ideas of building a more just and equitable society."
