CUBA: Castro Accuses United States of Provoking Disorder

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HABANA, Apr 5 1997 (IPS) - Cuba’s President Fidel Castro went one step further in his crusade against the US government, accusing them of trying to provoke discontent in the country.

“The enemy (the United States) calls on the people to violate the laws, to rob, to carry out sabotages, to damage the economy,” said Castro at the Young Communists’ Union (UJC) 35th anniversary party Friday night.

The UJC has 530,822 members and is officially considered to be the cradle of future militants for the governing Cuban Communist Party.

Castro’s speech coincided with a strong official campaign opposing US President, Bill Clinton, who presented a document entitled “Support for a democratic transition in Cuba” in February.

The Cuban authorities consider this document a complement to the US Helms-Burton law, approved last year, which aims to toughen up the economic blockade Washington imposed on Cuba in 1962.

Castro referred to the “rigorious, merciless and cynical” US blockade on Cuba, calling on the crowd to make themselves aware of the dangers of capitalism and to fight to defend the Cuban regime on both ideological, political and moral fronts.

The disappearance of the socialist block in Eastern Europe “broke the glass jar” which had protected Cuba up until then, and the Cubans “had to learn to live surrounded by contaminating elements,” he said.

He added the island would have to fight hard to preserve socialism and, and the same time, to carry ahead a programme of economic reforms.

A lot of care should be taken in feeding the idea that all is working perfectly. Advances are being made, the economy is working, but there will be no solutions in the short-term, he said.

The central passages of his speech affirmed that “imperialism aims to provoke discontent and disorder in the country,” calling on the people to confront crime and the lack of social discipline of the “allies of the enemy.”

“The only allies of imperialism are the lumpen and the socially undisciplined,” said Castro, asking the citizenry to co- operate in order to confront the demonstrations of social indiscipline which contribute to making the “special period,” which started with the economic crisis of 1990, even worse.

The President gave a list of “lacks of discipline” to be fought, including uncontrolled internal migration, tax evasion, illegal settlements and the renting of housing to foreign tourists.

He said the uncontrolled movement of people from the interior to the captial was making it more difficult to resolve the housing problems, making transport and water and electricity supplies more complicated issues.

He also defended the State need to tax people in the higher income bracket, as these sectors have the same access to free or subsidised services as the rest of the population.

All the Cuban population has free access to education and the health services and the right to buy food at subsidised prices, independently of the size of their income.

Castro especially criticised the irregularities committed by the self-employed, and while he assured the government would not reverse the measures, he said they would work vehemently for the fulfilment of the law.

The broadening of the self-employed bracket was supposed to fight underemployment and the inefficiency of the State companies. But self-employment brought its own problems, like the peddling of stolen goods, tax evasion and the practicing of unauthorised activities.

Castro stressed the renting of housing to foreign visitors was now one of the most prosperous private businesses in Cuba, due to the hot competition with the prices of tourist hotels.

He warned that Cuba will have to toughen up militarily, economically and spiritually in order to avoid an invasion by the United States, something which could cost hundreds of thousands of lives.