By Alejandra Garcia on August 31, 2023 from Havana
‘with guard up’ photo: Bill Hackwell
During the upcoming weeks, all of Cuba will be involved in the preparations for the X Congress of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the largest mass organization in the country, with activities that seek to create a social impact in the island’s communities.
Volunteer work including blood donations, and planting crops to boost food production in Cuba are just some of the activities that the national coordinators of the organization, led by the Hero of the Republic Gerardo Hernandez, are calling for. They will be the prelude to the event, to be held from September 26 to 28 in Havana, which seeks to connect the different generations of Cubans as its main objective.
Four hundred and eighty delegates and 120 guests from all Cuban provinces will attend the event after several weeks of bolstering the strong mass movement aimed at strengthening and revitalizing the organization.
Cuba will experience days of joy; there will be cultural presentations in neighborhoods and emblematic avenues to celebrate in all its glory the 63rd anniversary of the CDR’s founded by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, on September 28, 1960, “as a link between the masses and the institutions of revolutionary power.”
The event will not only have a local dimension. Solidarity groups abroad will travel to the Cuban capital to be part of the discussions and bring their experiences to the event. As part of the Congress, the annual meeting of the Continental Front of Communal Organizations (FCOC) will be held, attended by activists from 12 countries.
CDR National Coordinator; Gerardo Hernandez photo: Bill Hackwell
According to the CDR National Coordinator, “having an organization like this is a privilege and an advantage for any country. Says someone who lived abroad and who practically did not know the neighbors in his building,” as he said when he took office in September 2020.
Three years later, that idea is still latent. At the Congress, the value of an organization like this one, which has stood the test of time and witnessed some of the most important events the country has experienced, will be proven once again.
“We plan to dialogue with former leaders and founders of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, a group born under U.S. siege, who financed counterrevolutionary elements and armed gangs,” Hernandez said recently during a brief exchange with the press.
“The organization will arrive at its 10th Congress with a revitalized and strengthened commitment,” he said.
Hernandez also mentioned that an exhibition of Bobby Carcassés, an artist of fine musical and plastic sensibility, with incursions in musical theater and cinema, will be inaugurated. There will be drawing and photography contests for children’s categories, with awards to be presented on the 25th of this month.
“It will be a great opportunity to validate our culture and idiosyncrasy. It will be an opportunity to pay homage to our history,” he commented.
Listening to Gerardo is very reminiscent of Fidel when he outlined the path to be followed by the organization, which he described as the first line of battle in the face of threats and the main defense of our dignity:
“Let us trust in the future, let us give ourselves fully to continue forward in our task, and let each year, each month, and each day be a further increase in our discipline, our conscience, our enthusiasm, our solidity, and our strength, of which today our Defense Committees have been giving sobering and exemplary proof.”
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English