Havana, April 16 (RHC)--The Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) begins today to update the agenda of resistance and development, particularly the socialist model of the Caribbean nation.

 The meeting will take place amid the pandemic caused by Covid-19 and its impact on all aspects of national life, marked at the same time by the tightening of the blockade imposed by the United States on the small neighboring country for six decades.

The Congress gets underway on the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Cuban revolutionary process and the defeat at Playa Giron of the mercenary invasion organized, armed, and financed by the United States.

The delegates will evaluate the results and relevance of what is known here as the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution. This process comes from the Sixth Congress, held in April 2011.

The document convening the forum, which will run until Monday, recognizes 'objective and subjective problems that influence the pace of implementation of the policies and measures approved.

Our objective is to arrive at the Eighth Congress with precise and concrete definitions, which strengthen and give continuity to the government program undertaken, in compliance with the Economic-Social Strategy for boosting the economy and the confrontation of the world crisis caused by Covid-19, the call points out.

We must make progress in the efficiency of production processes and the quality of services, resource-saving, increasing exports, the substitution of imports, and foreign direct investment participation, the document stresses.

It emphasizes that it is up to the socialist state enterprise to play the leading role in developing the economy and urges its linkage with other forms of production, such as the growing non-state sector.

The Eighth Congress of the PCC will assign the greatest importance to what it defines as 'the political-ideological work to confront the attempts of capitalist and neoliberal restoration'.

In the face of the cultural and symbolic war that is being waged against us, the defense of national identity and culture, as well as the knowledge of our history, reaffirm our sovereignty and independence, emphasizes the call.