Castro Regime Rushes Unfinished Business Before Raul Leaves the Presidency

Castro Regime Rushes Unfinished Business Before Raul Leaves the Presidency

14ymedio, Havana, 19 May 2017 — The government rushed on Friday to
accomplish some pending tasks before Raul Castro leaves the
presidency. The Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party ratified two programmatic documents at a meeting where
Marino Murillo reappeared, vice-president of the Council of Ministers
removed from the family photo of power as of November of last year.

Just 40 days before the promised deadline, the Conceptualization of the
Cuban Social and Economic Development Model and the bases of the
National Economic and Social Development Plan were approved until 2030.
The package also included compliance with the new modifications to The
Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the
Revolution.

A note read on the noon edition of the television news reported that
President Raul Castro considers these documents as "the most studied,
discussed and rediscussed in the history of the Revolution." The
approval of the texts occurs after a long process in which, it is said,
more than 1.5 million Cubans participated.

The Plenum agreed to submit to the consideration of the National
Assembly the Conceptualization of the Model and the Guidelines, but with
regards to the Plan it only proposed to inform the parliamentarians
about its approval.

The ratification of these programs comes at a difficult time for the
country. Last year, the island experienced a 0.9% decrease in its Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) for the first time since 1995. Stopping this drop
and obtaining an increase in GDP is the government's main economic
objective for this year.

The political and economic crisis in Venezuela has caused an abrupt drop
in oil imports to the island. Of the 100,000 barrels a day received by
Cuba at a subsidized price during the best years of closer ties with
Venezulea, analysts estimate that now only less than half as many
barrels are arriving.

A Russian oil company has taken on providing an emergency supply and
plans to send in the next few months about 250,000 tonnes of oil and
diesel to the island where, since last year, the consumption of
electricity in state entities has been rationed and cuts have been
applied to the fuel supply.

The current scenario directly raised questions about what was
established in the Plan for 2030.

The Conceptualization does not reference that the ultimate goal of Cuban
socialism is to build the communist society; nor does it mention as a
goal the suppression of the exploitation of man by man.

Missing in the document are topics of great interest to the population
such as the elimination of rationing system, the permitting of
professionals to exercise self-employment in their specialties, or human
rights.

Source: Castro Regime Rushes Unfinished Business Before Raul Leaves the
Presidency – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/castro-regime-rushes-unfinished-business-before-raul-leaves-the-presidency/