The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, acknowledged this Thursday that there is no true unity within the Party, stating that it cannot be “formal or uncritical,” but rather a product of debate and the confrontation of ideas among the members.
During the extraordinary plenary sessions of the provincial committees of the PCC in Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, the leader warned that unity is not based on silence or superficial agreements.
“Unity is not, and cannot be, formal and uncritical; we cannot assume that just because we say we have unity, we are truly united. If there is no debate, if there is no honest and open criticism for improvement, there is no unity, comrades,” declared Díaz-Canel in his remarks broadcasted by Canal Caribe.
The leader added that "unity is built by discussing things strongly among ourselves, but moving forward together," and stated that "when one remains silent to avoid bothering others and problems continue to pile up, there is no unity; that is a lie, a critical-free, formal, fictitious unity."
Díaz-Canel also stated that unity must be based on "frankness, honesty, and the active participation of all members." He argued that debates within the Party should be "clean and transparent," although the contrast with the Cuban reality is evident, given that the Government itself continues to repress and criminalize the open criticism of citizens, activists, and independent journalists.
At another moment, he urged party officials to focus on "the priorities" and the contexts in which they develop, emphasizing that this context "is the foundation." He also stated that members must take responsibility "for what is not functioning well" and actively participate in solving problems, rather than merely adhering to formalities.
The meeting was also led by the Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, Roberto Morales Ojeda, who emphasized the need to implement the agreements of the XI Plenary of the Central Committee, held in December, “quickly.” Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the first secretary of the Party in the province, participated in Santiago de Cuba, and in Guantánamo, Yoel Pérez García.
The intervention this Thursday continues the speech that Díaz-Canel delivered the day before in Pinar del Río and Artemisa, where he held the Party members responsible for what is not working in the country and demanded that each nucleus take on the responsibility of correcting problems from the grassroots level, amid an economic crisis characterized by blackouts, shortages, and increasing social discontent.
The journey, which the Government presents as an exercise in "strengthening unity," unfolds in a context of political fatigue and loss of trust within the PCC itself. The continuous appeals to the "base" and "change of mentality" reflect the efforts of the party apparatus to maintain cohesion in a scenario of institutional wear, where the discourse of unity is increasingly echoed as a slogan in search of resonance.
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