President identifies priority for government in 2022

Photo by expansion.mx

7th February 2022

Speaking at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers to be held this year, President Díaz-Canel has said that Government’s priority tasks in 2022 will be improving the supply of food and goods, containing inflation, designing a comprehensive policy towards the non-state sector, and continuing to deepen remote working and digital procedures.  

Cuba’s President also stressed the importance of the transfer of responsibility for budgets and delivery to municipalities under the leadership of the Ministries of Economy and Planning, and Finance and Prices (Background Cuba Briefing 31 January 2022). 

Cubadebate reported that Díaz-Canel told the 1 February meeting that among the other issues also requiring immediate attention would be “the updating of all social programmes” and rethinking some aspects of housing policy, “based on the demands that are being made of us” especially by youth. 

Speaking about the need for closer attention to be paid to the views of young people, he stressed the importance of working with the new generations “treating them, listening to them and giving them participation as the important people they are in our society.”   

Díaz-Canel  also noted: the “urgent need” to design control mechanisms to address high prices and combat corruption; the importance of the national consultation now underway on the recently published Family Code which he described as “emancipatory”; and pursuing a policy of “creative resistance” in responding to the US embargo. 

In his dual role as  First Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party, he reportedly stressed the importance and responsibility associated with the Party’s role “in safeguarding order and citizen tranquillity”, defending socialism, and maintaining national unity. 

At the meeting, Ministers ratified Cuba’s position of zero tolerance towards narcotics, noting that in 2021 although the national border had been closed “attempts to undertake narcotics trafficking operations in the country persisted.”  

Colonel Héctor González of the National Anti-Drug Directorate was reported  to have told the meeting that marijuana produced in eastern and western provinces of the country constituted the main sources of national supply, while Cuban émigrés and foreigners were increasingly involved in narcotics trafficking operations.  

In an indication of the seriousness of the issue, the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, described it as one of national security, requiring work with adolescents and young people, especially with junior high school boys. He stressed the need for stiffer sentencing by the courts, closer international cooperation, and improved inspection of cargoes.  

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