Pinar del Río, Cuba_ What we want with this systematic contact, besides the dialogue, is that we can help to unblock problems, assured the President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, at the Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca de Vueltabajo University, during the first day of a government visit to this province, which continues this Thursday.
After participating in one of the consultation assemblies of the Constitution project in the center, Diaz-Canel warned that this was not just his visit, but also a visit of the Council of Ministers.
He explained that several ministers are accompanying him on these tours throughout the country, and then they continue the work with their structures, and noted that this makes possible for them to have a moment of contact with the governments of the territories, Granma newspaper points out.
"At the end, in the conclusions, there are projections for the next year's economic plan, or things that can be helped to solve in some way, and this is what we wanted to establish with this style of work: a government in function of the population”, he said.
In order to personally take the pulse of the province, the Cuban President openly discussed with the people in each of the visited sites, and even stopped the tour in the center of the city of Pinar del Río, to get off the vehicle and greet the population.
"They tell us with a lot of honesty the problems that exist in the territory: transport, aqueduct, prices, salaries, availability of construction materials, housing. People are very transparent”, he said.
AN INDUSTRY RECOGNIZED IN CUBA AND THE WORLD
The first stop of the tour was e La Conchita canning factory, an industry that used to export eight different lines, and currently, due to technological obsolescence and the poor condition of most of its facilities, it has none.
In it, Díaz-Canel knew that in 2018, after a long investment process, the waste treatment system of the factory should be ready, an essential step to be able to undertake its modernization.
Iris Quiñones Rojas, minister of the Food Industry, explained that for 2019, it is planned to refurbish the buildings that are currently used as warehouses, to assemble new production lines in them, with established safety standards.
The President of the Councils of State and Ministers insisted on the need to advance as much as possible the project, taking into account the results of the agriculture of the territory and the prestige of the Conchita brand.
"This is an emblematic industry, the people of Pinar del Rio defend it a lot and in all of Cuba its products are known," he said.
Then, as is usual in these visits, out of all protocol, he toured the facilities, walking along the lines of guava and fruit bomb, climbed the mats and bins, and spoke with the men and women who made it possible that in spite of its deterioration, La Conchita was the best performing industry in the country during the mango and tomato campaigns in 2018.
Yusimí Sánchez was one of them, who expressed to the President her dissatisfaction with the salary at certain stages of the year in which the economic activity declines, but also her commitment to a unit where she has worked as an operator from 18 years.
"This is a experienced collective”, she assured him.
The Polytechnic Tranquilino Sandalio de Noda, an institution that is preparing to complete 106 years in the training of students in agricultural specialties, was another of the objectives of the visit.
There Díaz-Canel was interested in the quality of the classes, the motivations of their students and their expectations once graduated.
"Do students learn today as you did?" he asked Yaquelin Barrios, a graduate of the school 18 years ago, who now works as a teacher.
In addition, he was interested in the opinion on the draft Constitution that is already submitted to popular consultation."There is a lot of expectation with what young people can contribute to this debate. It is very important that you participate, because this is a Constitution for the present, but above all for the future of the country, "he said.
Also on the Magna Carta project, he exchanged with students and professors of the Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca University.
On the subject, he warned that Western media, mainly the press that attacks Cuba, tries to sow two matrices of fundamental opinion.
"One of them is that the Cuban citizen is not interested in the Constitution, and that is a lie that breaks down right away, because the tabloids have run out and in many places they have asked us to have another edition," Diaz-Canel said.
"The second opinion matrix that they try to impose, is that it is an exercise for pleasure, because the Constitution is already practically approved and this is like a play," he said. "However, I am convinced that the final text will be more robust, after we incorporate the contributions of the people," he said.
DO NOT ALLOW HOARDING OF MATERIALS
The government visit also included a center for local production of materials, belonging to the Civil Maintenance and Construction Company, and Los Pinos store, in which they market many of the products obtained in that mini-industry, mainly destined for people with subsidies.
In this last point, he insisted on combating crime and not allowing the hoarding or reselling of materials by unscrupulous people. We have to be severe with that”, he said.
The Cuban President continued touring other sites in Pinar del Río, accompanied by Julio César Rodríguez Pimentel, first secretary of the Party in the territory; Ernesto Barreto Castillo, president of the Provincial Assembly of the Popular Power, and other ministers and officials.
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