Can you tell us more about the new President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Cuban vision for the future?
The recently concluded process confirmed a generational transition tied to historical continuity. The new president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, will not break with the basic principles of the revolution set forth by its founding leaders, Fidel and Raúl Castro.
Fidel once said, when talking about the leaders of the revolution of 1868, “We would have been like them, and they would have been like us today.” This means, like Karl Marx said, that people are more similar to their times than to their parents. Díaz-Canel is a man of his time. But if Fidel or Raúl were in his place today, they would do as Díaz-Canel is going to do.
I add this because sometimes it is said that Raúl was a reformist. But if Fidel had continued after 2006, the reforms that have taken place would have happened all the same. Raúl responded to historical conditions by updating the economic model to be in sync with the 21st century and the demands of our people.
Díaz-Canel was born in 1960 after the triumph of the revolution in 1959 and is a child of the U.S. blockade. About three quarters of the population in Cuba was born under the blockade, which aims to put obstacles on our trade with other countries and our financing, and whose impact on the Cuban economy has surpassed $200 billion.
In the coming period, we will continue to update and advance our new economic and social model. The speed in which we do it will depend on our efforts, as well as the limits of the blockade.
We will continue to build socialism—democratic, prosperous and sustainable. The main means of production will continue to be in the hands of the state, with different forms of property and property management continuing to develop. A hotel or restaurant that does not function efficiently in state hands will be rented to a person or cooperative that will make it function better and pay taxes to the state, who will continue as owner.
Property may be given to a person in areas that are not fundamental such as small restaurants or barbershops. We will continue to work on the agricultural sector, where about 75 percent has been privately owned for many years now, with small farmers often organized into agri-cooperatives.
We remain committed to elevating people’s well-being, guaranteeing their health, education, social security and prosperity. We will make education and healthcare more efficient but they will continue to be free.
We think China and Cuba are at a historical moment in bilateral relations evidenced by the high level of interchanges that have taken place in the past few years that indicate there is a high level of political dialogue taking place.
The congratulatory messages from President Xi Jinping to Díaz-Canel and Raúl were the first we received in Cuba. They were the first to be made public and included a warm message and political promise of friendship in the coming era. As Xi said, Cuba and China will always be friends, brothers and comrades.