Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, José Ramón Machado Ventura, convokes the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba for April 16 to 19, 2021 at a December 2, 2020 meeting marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Party School system.

The decision to hold the 8th Party Congress in April 2021 was made public as the nation faces an extraordinary and crucial time. The COVID-19 pandemic tested the capacity and will of the Revolution, and the mettle of our people to face any difficulty, no matter how complex.

Once again, the truth of Cuba, its values, its proven humanist, solidarity and social justice vocation was demonstrated before the world. Together with the country’s organizational capacity and the scientific development, it allowed us to translate into visible results, a commitment to life and the well-being of our compatriots and other peoples worldwide, despite the constant aggression of the United States Government.

Capitalism and its neo-liberal advocates demonstrate that they have no solution whatsoever to the cardinal problems of humanity. Their theories of the minimal role of the state and the maximization of the market have only reinforced their inability to save lives.

Today, as Cubans are immersed in overcoming the many obstacles derived from the pandemic, particularly those linked to our economy, in addition to others that had already been weighing on us, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba ratifies with this call the decision to hold the 8th Congress on the scheduled date.

The Congress will focus its attention on the evaluation and projection of key issues for the present and future of the nation, ranging from the Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development, the updating and implementation of Policy Guidelines, to economic and social results achieved since the previous Congress. It will also analyze the functioning of the Party, its ties with the masses and ideological activity, as well as assess the Cadre Policy in the Party, the Union of Young Communists (UJC), mass organizations and government administration.

It will be an opportune setting for the updating of our strategy of resistance and development.

Some of the delegates to the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba on March 17, 2021 delved into the content of the documents that will be discussed at the Congress.

It will stimulate the participation of members, revolutionaries and patriots in the solutions that are required to confront the acute world crisis that is affecting us and to continue the transformations that will strengthen the national economy. To achieve this, we have a vast experience of struggle in the construction of socialism as the only option for development, and the enduring example of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

Worthy heir of the trust placed by the people in their leader, our Party — unique, one that follows Marti and Fidel, that is Marxist and Leninist — assumes a high responsibility in the preservation of unity, a strategic factor for victory.

In recent years, the U.S. government has increased its hostility towards Cuba, intensifying its genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade and its political-ideological subversion. Added to this are the consequences of the world economic crisis. In the face of these difficulties, the people have responded with firmness, discipline and consciousness, which needs to be translated even more into contributions of efficiency and superior results in the economy. This implies new ways of thinking and acting to achieve prosperity, the fruit of our daily work.

In this scenario, the implementation of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution faces wide-ranging challenges. Objective and subjective problems are faced that influence the pace of implementation of the approved policies and measures.

The current situation cannot become a justification for delaying the processes; on the contrary, it imposes the need to give impetus to the updating of our economic and social model in order to fulfill what we have agreed upon and to eliminate the obstacles that still persist in the development of the productive forces and efficiency, a matter defined as the main strategic problem by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz.

There is an urgent need to increase food production in the country, using all domestic reserves, including, as in all other sectors of the economy and society, research, innovation and technological development, as well as systematization of results.

Links between the state and non-state sectors of the economy need to be further developed as part of the defined economic strategy. Domestic industry will increasingly have to respond to domestic demand. It is essential to banish inertia and apathy and to creatively exploit all existing potential, stimulating the contribution of all the people, their ideas and initiatives.

We must make progress in the efficiency of production processes and the quality of services, as well as in saving resources, increasing exports, import substitution and the participation of foreign direct investment. In this endeavour, the socialist state enterprise is called upon to play its leading role in the national economy.

Our objective is to arrive at the 8th Congress with precise and concrete definitions, which strengthen and give continuity to the government program undertaken, in fulfillment of the Economic-Social Strategy for the promotion of the economy and the confrontation of the world crisis provoked by COVID-19.

The constant prevention and confrontation of corruption, crime, social indiscipline, and other negative manifestations incompatible with the essence of the socialism we are building, must be a task for all of us.

To achieve this and other objectives, we must continue to strengthen the functioning of the Party from the base to the highest levels, based on the exemplarity of those who militate in its ranks. At the same time, it is essential to have cadres who maintain at all times a revolutionary attitude towards problems, who develop the capacity for analysis in the search for solutions, who foster frank dialogue and who are characterized by impeccable ethics in their daily actions.

The Party will give particular attention to the Union of Young Communists, its cadres, militants and the new generations, for whose training and education in values it has a special responsibility. Likewise, it will support the mass and social organizations in their mission to integrate, mobilize and represent our people, promoting greater participation of their members in the political and socio-economic processes that decide our future as a nation.

Today, political-ideological work to combat attempts at capitalist and neo-liberal restoration is becoming more important. Social media and the Internet have become permanent platforms for ideological confrontation, where our arguments must also prevail against enemy campaigns.

In the face of the cultural and symbolic war that is being waged against us, the defence of national identity and culture, as well as knowledge of our history, reaffirm our sovereignty and independence.

U.S. imperialism has not been able to achieve its goal of destroying the Cuban Revolution. It insists on provoking instability in the country, legitimizing the mercenary opposition and fracturing the unity of Cubans, which has become an insurmountable barrier for guaranteeing our freedom, justice and socialist democracy, which are non-negotiable.

We once again ratify the strategic importance of maintaining the defence and national security of the country as a matter of the highest priority.

Compatriots:

On the 64th Anniversary of the landing of the Granma, a date that stands out for showing us the value of sacrifice, of having confidence in the triumph of the ideas that the people have made their own, and of the will to win, we ratify that this will be the Congress of Continuity, expressed in the gradual and orderly transfer of the main responsibilities of the country to the new generations, with the certainty that the Revolution is not limited to those who led it to triumph on that glorious January 1st, but to the will and commitment of those who have made it theirs in all these years and those who will continue its work.

The 8th Party Congress, which we will hold from April 16 to 19, 2021, will belong to all the people. As in Girón, 60 years later, in the face of the empire that will never succeed in breaking us, and in the face of present and future difficulties, however powerful they may be, we will once again proclaim before the world our unyielding conviction of Victory.

(Translated from the original Spanish by TML)

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