Pinar del Río - A few days after the beginning of a new year of challenges for Cuba, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, resumed in this western province his agenda of tours around the territories of the country, a work system that had its genesis in January 2024.
Since then, the head of state has visited eight municipalities in Pinar del Río, and this Thursday he arrived in the head municipality of the westernmost of Cuba's provinces.
The first stop was the farm of producer Reinel Rojas Medina, who for 13 years has been leading the family tradition of tobacco cultivation in those lands, and has managed to implement a closed production cycle with high technology, based on the use of science and innovation.
Using these tools has allowed them, for example, to implement controlled curing, which, among other benefits, damages the tobacco less, allows them to look for better leaf types and offers development to the producer.
From the 45 days that natural curing takes, explained the young producer, we can now do this process in 20 days. The farm has 68 hectares, 27 of which are currently dedicated to tobacco planting. The rest of the land is used to grow various crops and pigs, which ensures food for the workers and also contributes to social consumption.
Some 7,000 producers are dedicated to tobacco cultivation in Pinar del Río, and Reinel is one of the 20 with the best results. His purpose, he said, is to continue perfecting techniques and contributing.
And also with the purpose of contributing to the country, the MSMEs De Roja and j & j Sergen are working in Pinar del Río, both located in premises leased to the Raúl Fornet Dairy Products and Confectionery Company, which were previously unused. The Head of State arrived at them this morning, accompanied by the member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization, Roberto Morales Ojeda, and the highest authorities of the Party and the Government of the province.
“This is the path of the productive chain”, acknowledged the Cuban leader after touring the areas of both economic actors, whose productions, mainly sausages, bread and dairy products, even though they are still insufficient and have prices that are not affordable for the entire population, allow them to have income that, in part, they use to fulfill state orders in several centers, such as children's circles, homes for the elderly and school snacks.
This is no longer a Dairy Company, it is a food production combine, said Díaz-Canel at the end of his tour of the facilities, whose workers show how much potential there is still to be exploited in the most diverse corners of the country.
The Abel Santamaría Provincial Hospital, a center which is responsible for most of the medical attention to the population of Pinar del Río, and where the economic complexity has prevented to carry out all the necessary maintenance actions in its different wards, was also mentioned as a place to take advantage of potentialities. Problems with the hydraulic infrastructure of the facility are one of the main dissatisfactions expressed there; a reality that also limits the hospital's operation and has caused the closure of some wards, with the consequent impact on the service.
In this regard, President Díaz-Canel insisted on the importance of creating alliances with local companies to support constructive actions.
After visiting the Hemodialysis room, where 18 patients were being treated at that time, the Cuban President visited the Neonatology room, inaugurated two years ago and considered one of the best in the country.
The consecration with which the staff of that area works, basically made up of women, has been essential to support the results achieved by this province in the Maternal and Infant Care Program, which closed 2024 with an infant mortality rate of 4.2 per 1,000 live births.
There are many little ones that, little by little, are adding up to the construction of a better future for the nation and ratify, as the Head of State said in the final meeting of this visit to Pinar del Río, and when making an evaluation of what was appreciated in each of the places visited, “there are ways and paths to continue advancing; the issue is in how the processes are directed to obtain better results”.
WITHOUT REGRETS, ARTEMISA MOVES FORWARD
“Now in these days we have had a victory, and they had to recognize that Cuba's claims were fair”. This is how Díaz-Canel spoke on Thursday afternoon, referring to the exclusion of the island from the list of countries allegedly sponsoring terrorism.
From the Neptuno neighborhood, in transformation, and belonging to the capital municipality of the province of Artemisa, the dignitary commented, in a meeting with the residents: “We achieved a victory and we showed the world that we were right”.
Gratitude was the feeling that emanated with particular strength from the people. So it was, because the availability of water -which was an old problem- is already solved, and the precious liquid reaches every house; because they have a warehouse, a point from where gas is dispatched; a doctor's office, a sports field... About what has been achieved, President Díaz-Canel reflected:
“What this shows is that, although times are difficult, we can do things” and proposed to move forward. However, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party did not overlook the fact that there is plenty of land there to produce the necessary food; and that, together, many steps forward can be taken.
THE BEGINNING OF THE ITINERARY, AND OTHER DESTINATIONS
When people know what they do, when they have authority and leadership, they speak firmly. This is the case of Juan Carlos Hernández Trujillo, director of the San Pedro base business unit (UEB), belonging to the Pork Genetics Enterprise in the municipality of Artemisa, where President Díaz-Canel began his tour, accompanied by the member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Roberto Morales Ojeda.
The Director spoke about the priorities of a productive center whose social purpose is the achievement of future breeding pigs, of the Creole breed, the same one that decades ago aroused a special interest of the Commander in Chief, due to the potential it represented for the country's food sovereignty.
Among other issues, Díaz-Canel was interested in the level of income of the workers; in the ways of feeding and raising the pigs. He listened to a detailed explanation of the genetic work being done to improve the quality of the breeding stock.
The second point on the itinerary was the Ciro Redondo García General Teaching Hospital, an institution immersed in a recovery process after the passage of Cyclone Rafael. There, Diaz-Canel praised the work developed in the Intensive Care Ward, and commented to the workers that, in the face of the ravages caused by nature, they knew how to recover and organize the services well.
The third point of the tour was the Tomás Álvarez Breto base business unit, a place where the necessary components for construction works are produced. Blocks, hexagonal slabs, mosaics, among other elements, are made in the UEB, and are destined for the housing construction program. There the workers also knew how to overcome Rafael's traces.
DEFENDING AND PRESERVING THE REVOLUTION
Of the 11 municipalities that the province of Artemisa has, the country's leadership has already visited eight. “See you next month”, said the president, in the concluding meeting that took place this Thursday with the municipal and provincial authorities, in which he affirmed that ‘the fundamental task we have this year is to defend the Revolution, to preserve the Revolution’.
Among the priorities, Díaz-Canel referred to unity, the improvement of the ideological work and the political assurance of the economic measures.
In 2025 -said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party- “we can have results that mark the beginning of the change of the complex situation we have had in recent years”.
