Fidel Castro Talks Food in Meeting with Cuba’s Armed Forces
HAVANA TIMES — Fidel Castro is alive and well and was seen outside his home for the second time in the course of less than a week, this time while meeting with chiefs, officials and civilian employees of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
The objective of the meeting was to speak, not about armaments and combat strategies, but about the main challenge currently faced by the country: producing food products for the population.
According to reports made public this Saturday by Cuba’s official media, on the gathering that took place on Thursday, Castro, who will turn 89 in about a month, gave FAR and MININT officers diplomas acknowledging their work in the production of food products.
“During a lively exchange with the officers in attendance, Fidel spoke of the accelerated growth of the world’s population in the midst of climate change; the crisis stemming from the growing water shortages, and the international conflicts that have an impact on the rise of products,” a brief note published by Cuba’s official newspaper Granma pointed out.
Fidel underscored the importance of increasing food production, applying science and employing it in the reproduction and development of farm animals.
The issue of food production will be tackled during the upcoming session of Cuba’s National Assembly (parliament), scheduled for July 15. Official statistics indicate that, during the first half of the year, the production of such food products as cheese, chicken, cold meats, mince meat and sausages remained unstable owing to underproduction at the national level, a phenomenon which forced the government to destine US $40 million above the allotted budget to purchase those food products abroad.
Castro also spoke of the “awareness of the Cuban people, forged in the heat of the revolutionary process, an awareness that has led to the creation of high values among human beings.”
The note is accompanied by three photos credited to Estudios Revolucion. The place of the meeting is not mentioned.
In one of the photos, Castro appears sitting at a table, surrounded by those who attended the gathering, including General Leopoldo Cintra Frias, Minister of the FAR, and General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Minister of the Interior.
This is Castro’s second public appearance in less than a week. This past Friday, he attended a meeting with experienced cheese makers at the Food Industry Research Institute of the Ministry of the Food Industry (MINAL), where he spoke with attendants for around four hours.
Last Monday, he sent an effusive letter of solidarity to the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, praising the leader for his “brilliant political victory” following the referendum held in the country the previous Sunday.
Sure John, as soon as the remaining octogenarian oligarcs die off Cuba will be Capitalist…err free! Cuban Vastro style communism died with them
That’s right, just let the dust settle…It just ain’t over for anyone; wait and see.
Your comment Mr. Goodrich coming from one who doesn’t even visit Cuba, is sufficient to make a cat laugh. The implication that you have knowledge of Cuba is so much balony. I recognize your expertise upon anarchy and theoretical socialism, but do please desist from endeavors to persuade that you know anything about Cuba that isn’t gleaned from the writings of others!
bla bla bla. Since December 17, US can supply us with agriculture equipment or materials to increase local productivity. Cuban government doesn’t allow our cooperativas to import these or any others products. The embargo is real but what is worst is the embargo imposed by Cuban government to its own people
And you are thinking “it ain’t over” for Greece?
It ain’t over ’til it’s over, Bub.
FYI,
Cuba is being subjected to an embargo put in place 54 years ago to impoverish the entire island. It is still in effect and is working quite well across all sectors of the island’s economy .
But of course, it’s all the fault of the Cuban government .
The U.S. hostilities have never caused any sort of serious distress to any other country’s economy in the past 100 years of U.S. imperialism.
Unless you want to start counting the 70 or so interventions in which the U.S. succeeded in its dirty work from 1945-2000.
Absent any mention of the embargo , any comments you choose to make on why Cuba is poor are just so badly slanted that you wind up lacking any credibility with people who actually know and understand Cuban and imperial matters.
Castro praised Alexis Tsipras for his alleged “brilliant political victory” in getting a majority of Greek voters to reject the EU bailout offer. Today, Tsipras has agreed to terms even more onerous than the terms the people rejected.
The referendum doesn’t look like much of a victory now.
Cattle ranching and animal husbandry is old science. The Argentinians, professed comrades to the Castros, are recognized masters at raising beef for food and dairy. I really don’t understand why the Castros can’t figure it out.
In the most recent publication of Granma, the official organ of the PCC, there is report about the giving of awards to civilian employees of FAR and MININT for food products. However as Granma is read by the Cuban population, there is no mention of the reduction in production of cheese, chicken, cold meats, mince meat and sausages, necessitating ever increasing purchase of food from other more productive economies (predominantly capitalist).
Fidel speaking about the need to increase food production, applying science and employing it in the reproduction and development of farm animals has been a constant theme ever since he recruited Dr. Reginald Preston from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen Scotland in 1963. All his pronouncements have only resulted in ever decreasing food production and as far as cattle are concerned (the reason for recruiting Dr. Preston) a drive through the Cuban countryside shows cattle of mixed breeds usually with discernible ribs and long horns indicating being aged. Some of these runts are wandering through bush growing where formerly sugar cane was grown – Cuban agriculture reflects Cuba at large – crumbling!