In Ciego de Ávila, commitment and courage are required to move forward and do not go backward in the aspects that are already showing progress. This was one of the lessons left by the working meeting, which was held on Monday, February 1, in the territory, as part of the tour that the President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, together with Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and a group of deputy prime ministers and ministers made through the country.
The analyzed topics concern priorities that the Cuban Government has established and involve the raising of the quality of life of the people in a direct way: the situation of Covid-19 in the province, the status of the Ordering Task, food production and the vital confrontation to queue makers and hoarders.
After presenting the province's assessment report, Governor Tomás Alexis Martín Venegas said that even though a set of measures have been established and implemented, there are still several challenges to face in the current epidemiological frame. Among the negative features, referred to by Dr. Ángel Batista Díaz, Provincial Director of Health, are the delays in the detection and admission of cases. As strengths, the province has the Molecular Biology Laboratory in the city of Morón (https://bit.ly/3ahPQEY), the conditioning of 17 isolation centers in eight of the 10 municipalities and the 17 specialized medical consultations in Acute Respiratory Infections.
However, the indicators in the confrontation have suffered notable deterioration. In this sense, the Deputy Prime Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda, stressed that the province reports in the last 15 days 219 confirmed cases, with repercussions in all its municipalities, which translates into an average of 20 cases per day since the beginning of the current outbreak and municipalities such as Morón, Majagua and Ciego de Ávila show very high incidence rates. He pointed out that inefficiencies in epidemiological control already faced by the province are repeated. This determines that Ciego de Ávila returns to the Epidemic Stage and the Limited Indigenous Transmission Phase. He reiterated that in order to reverse the current situation it is essential to increase health promotion and education actions, in order to raise the perception of risk among people, as well as to maintain responsible attitudes, social isolation, and conduct an active and effective research.
Regarding food production, the Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca recognized, at the meeting, the potentialities that are available for all municipalities to achieve self-sufficiency. However, he specified that it is necessary to carry out actions, such as the increase in the creation of organic gardens, promote small livestock farming and attend to pig fattening in state entities and recover the 32,000 tons of sugar to be in line with what is also demanded by the country.
In the exchange with authorities and directors of Ciego de Ávila, it was recognized that the province is working on the implementation of its Economic Development Strategy, which is appreciated, among other elements, by having six Productive Poles with more than 13 thousand hectares to the production of Various Crops and 47 projects aimed at this vital activity of producing food for the population, which does not mean that it is enough.
Regarding the Ordering Task, Marino Murillo Jorge, Head of the Implementation Commission of the Guidelines, insisted on the protection of the vulnerable people. Also, he stated, referring to the prices, that there has been a tendency to go to the maximums of the products and the work of conciliation with the producers have not been done, which has had repercussions in the increase of these ones by generating discomfort in the population. Alejandro Gil Fernández, Minister of Economy and Planning, referred to this issue and said that an in-depth analysis of prices, in pursuit of total efficiency, is in process yet. Hence, he praised the participation of specialists from the Association of Economists and Universities (https://bit.ly/3oCzOuM), to reiterate the need to substitute imports with national productions and productive chains, generate jobs and produce more.
In the final words of the meeting, the Prime Minister affirmed the importance of unity of action, the energetic confrontation with all that was done wrong to enhance autonomy in the municipalities and, essentially, to perfect communication mechanisms and methods, to have "a street government, attached to the people and their problems, that must be given quick and concrete answers."