Elio Delgado-Legon’s Diary

So much information, so many examples come to mind when one begins to reflect on neoliberalism’s failure that one doesn’t know where to begin. It seems unbelievable that, with so much evidence before it, with so many failures behind it, the capitalist system should continue to insist on going down the same, destructive path.

The review and discussion of Cuba’s draft labor bill began in July and will continue until the month of October at all workplaces around the country. Organized by the union sections, these discussions are aimed at gathering the opinions, suggestions, and all items which the workers feel should be added or removed from the document, before it is debated and approved by the National Assembly.

The opinions of those who believe they are capable of governing Cuba, who give us lesson after lesson about how to solve the country’s problems overnight, would be worthy of pity were they not so outrageous.

The coming month of September will mark 15 years of one of the greatest injustices ever to be committed in the United States. I am speaking of the detention, trial and conviction of five innocent Cubans, whose only crime was to try and prevent acts of terrorism against Cuba which were being planned in the state of Florida.

On January 1, 1959, the situation changed radically, for the revolution set a government by the people and for the people. The workers became the owners of the means of production, and the aspirations of the revolutionary government coincided with that of the workers entirely.

The way I see it, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include the reduction of world hunger to half by 2015, continue to be too modest, for there is enough cultivable land in the world, and sufficient food is currently being grown, to be able to feed every human being on the planet.

From June 11-14, the FEU will hold the closing sessions of its 8th Congress, a gathering which, since January of this year, has engaged students in a broad debate process and an exchange of ideas and proposals regarding the workings of the organization, institutional issues and political questions.

In the Cuban Five trial defense attorneys had access to only 20 percent of the case documents, something which seriously hampered their work. In addition, they were constantly denied the possibility of meeting with the detainees in order to adequately prepare their defense.

In the course of over 14 years, I have often asked myself why so much secrecy has surrounded the case of the five Cubans who were detained in Miami in 1998.