An Incredible Example of Cuban Democracy
By Jorge Fernandez Era (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES —“Did you see? ‘The National Electoral Council, in fulfillment of its mission, organized, directed, and supervised the process to elect the new vice-governor of Havana, a position that had been vacant since August.’ We finally have Reinol Delfín Garcia Moreiro in that role.”
“I heard something. Not sure if you’ve noticed how excited I am about the news.”
“Any objections to that comrade?”
“No, not at all. It’s just that I saw it coming. They put him on television weeks earlier in his previous position as deputy minister of Public Health, smiling broadly while explaining the arbovirus situation.”
“Worthy of applause. One hopes that in a few months he’ll keep appearing in the media, this time laughing his head off while explaining how screwed the capital is.”
“What stands out is the democratic of the process. Anyone would think that instead of this Reinol, they were crowning King Nol, since there was only one proposal.”
“Proposal, don’t forget, ‘submitted by the President to the National Electoral Council.’”
“I imagine to remind everyone of the way he got to the throne.”
“With both appointments, the extraordinary ability of the leaders to find the right people to occupy the highest responsibilities is demonstrated—first with Raul Castro saddling us with Canel, now with the latter imposing Reinol. It must be part of the ‘General Strategy for Implementing the Cadre Policy in the 2021–2026 Period,’ approved by the 2nd Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee in 2021, whose principles stem from the ‘strategic thought of the historic leaders, who since the triumph of the Revolution have worked to ensure trained comrades capable of taking on complex and momentous tasks in each stage of development.’”
“What development?”
“The development of the electoral process. Sunday’s vote in Havana’s fifteen municipalities disproves the claim that our president never hits the mark. ‘With transparency, impartiality, and legality,’ 98.53% of the 1,154 delegates authenticated his proposal. The vote was ‘free, equal, direct, and secret.’”
“Do you have any idea what ‘equal vote’ means?”
“That it makes no difference whether they put one guy or the other. The important thing is mobilizing all those people on a Sunday to put on the charade, ensuring above all that the snacks are provided.”
“I wouldn’t like one bit to be taken out of my Public Health office in La Rampa to take on a task of such magnitude, especially now, when the first secretary of the Party holds weekly meetings to talk trash… sorry, to talk about the trash.”
“Now they discuss the tons of filth flooding the city with millimetric precision, as if instead of garbage trucks they had invested in scales for weighing. That’s what they call a ‘study on waste management,’ ‘led by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment, universities, and capital institutions.’ ‘It will make it possible to determine exactly how much garbage and other waste are produced daily in the capital.’ That statistic about how ‘between November 21 and 27, the city collected 91,695 cubic meters of solid urban waste, at an average of 13,101 m³ per day, 1,877 m³ less than the previous week’ is priceless.”
“One of those meetings, in which poor Reinol will have to participate, could drag on for hours in the future. It would be interesting to hear a debate over whether 91,695 or 91,696 cubic meters were dumped in the landfills, with Canel demanding accountability for the missing cubic meter.”
“Your obsession with the president…”
“He’s the one who asks for it, man! He just declared in ‘the historic mountains where the Third Eastern Front operated’ (in the 1950s) that ‘We are demonstrating that we are capable of overcoming any adversity.” It only takes two fingers of an eastern forehead to realize that it’s the adversities that are overcoming them.
“He does plenty. He can’t get it out of his head that this country—without electricity, water, or transportation—is going to scientifically surpass the great powers. The little coffee that was left is on the floor after the cyclone, and he, with an optimism of the devil and the faith of turning setback into victory, has declared that ‘recovery cannot be limited to repairing what was lost, but must be an opportunity to apply science and innovation in agriculture and coffee production, encouraging producers and strengthening the country’s food sovereignty.’”
“Does he plan to send CITMA experts to determine exactly how many beans fell off the plants?”
“Keep ranting about him. You’ll end up missing him.”
“You think so?”
“When the presidency becomes vacant.”