• Submitted by: Juana
• Havana
• Politics and Government
• 04 / 16 / 2016

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Cuban President Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), ratified on Saturday the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution while reading the main report to the Seventh Congress of the organization.
The President of the councils of State and Ministers recalled that the Congress takes place precisely in the 55th anniversary of the proclamation of that socialist nature in the farewell words of the mourning ceremony to the victims fallen during the prelude to the Bay of Pigs invasion organized by the U.S. and defeated in just 72 hours.
With this Congress, he stated, one of the objectives of work approved by the Party Conference which established to maintain the periodicity established by the statutes, except in extreme exceptional situations, is met.
Raul stressed that delegates, representing all sectors of society, were democratically elected from proposals at grassroots levels.
Later, he pointed out that the number of PCC members has decreased as a result of the negative demographic dynamics, the effects of a restrictive policy of growth since 2004 and inadequacies in the work of recruitment, retention and motivation of potential PCC members.
However, he acknowledged that it was possible to slow down this trend in recent years.
He also explained how during the period elapsed between the 6th and the 7th Congress the task agreed of monitoring in a continuous way the progress of the implementation of the Guidelines, the plan of the economy and the performance of annual budgets, was met.
We get to this Congress, Raul said, with the presentation of four encompassing and highly complex documents that will set the course of the revolutionary process and the PCC.
Also, he added, they will contribute to the development of society and ensure the future for the construction of a prosperous and sustainable Socialism.
The Army General explained that unlike the previous Congress, all documents were not subject to open discussion because this time it’s about the confirmation and continuity of the guidelines agreed five years ago.
The Seventh Congress of the PCC started today with the participation of 995 of the 1,000 delegates selected. It will end on April 18 with the presentation of the top leaders of the PCC and the election of the new Central Committee, Secretariat and Politburo.

(ACN)