Cuban President evaluated socioeconomic programs in the Guantanamo municipality of Baracoa 
(Photo: Yaqueline De la Rosa)

By Yaqueline De la Rosa*

The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez visited the Guantanamo municipality of Baracoa, as part of his tours of the country's territories, with the aim of evaluating the control of the commitments made in different spheres during 2023 and boosting the economy.

During his tour, the head of state arrived at the Unidad Empresarial de Base Derivados del Cacao Rubén Suárez Abella, where he exchanged with its collective regarding the working conditions, the production process and the investments aimed at renewing the industry, which is essential to increase yields, with greater energy savings.

There, he learned about the difficulties related to the investment to be executed as of 2018, which threaten the expected results in the production lines of liqueur butter and the one that produces jams.

For that reason, Díaz Canel called to solve the deficiencies to diversify productions and to look for linkages in other entities, in favor of greater productivity and competences for Cuban cocoa, which reaches great acceptance in Belgium and other European countries.

As part of his visit, the head of state went to the coconut oil extraction factory, belonging to the Baracoa Agroforestry and Coconut Enterprise, and learned that the entity increased its production capacity after a technological investment implemented since 2021, but instability in the supply of coconut affects yields.

This panorama is due to the impact of Hurricane Mathew that devastated the plantations, which are in the natural process of recovery, so the dignitary called to seek alternatives such as bringing coconut from other provinces to have the necessary raw material and achieve high yields, in correspondence with the potential of the factory.

Then, the Head of State arrived at the Baramar Business Unit, belonging to the Fishing Company, where he learned that the leading product is the elver, a marine species in great demand in the international market, which is why it is an exportable item for Guantánamo.

After touring these centers in Baracoa, Díaz-Canel affirmed that chocolate, coconut oil and fish are products that distinguish Baracoa, whose productions can offer better economic results and greater welfare for the inhabitants of this northeastern territory and the province of Guantánamo in general.

He said that he will analyze the difficulties of the productive processes of these units, together with the directors of the Ministries of Food Industry and Agriculture, in search of viable solutions.

In his exchange with the people of the First Village of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez learned about the dissatisfactions related to the housing program and the need to recover the Moa-Baracoa highway, an essential linking point for the transportation of food and other resources to this territory and Maisí.

He called on everyone to work to improve the social indicators, but emphasized on the economic ones that need greater efforts, land use, productivity and popular participation, in favor of the reduction of the prices of food and other resources, in pursuit of the country's development.

* Yaqueline De la Rosa is Radio Havana Cuba's correspondent in Guantanamo