January 2022 dawned early in the eastern Cuban province of Las Tunas, determined to save its Sugar Industry, translating into concrete facts its concern for the most vulnerable, and hopeful in what could be achieved here with local development initiatives. This was confirmed by the highest political and governmental authorities during a tour of the municipality of Majibacoa.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- In the cane cutting squad of the Pérez basic unit of cooperative production (UBPC), Manuel Pérez Gallego, first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in Las Tunas, was interested in the sugarcane yields of this productive base. There, they are harvesting an average of 38 tons of cane for each cultivated hectare, a figure above the rate for the municipality (31 tons per hectare), but far from what is necessary for the local sugar mill to stop depending on raw material supplies from the neighboring province of Granma.
Accompanied by Jaime Chiang Vega, governor, the also member of the Central Committee of the PCC inquired about the application of the 93 new measures approved by the Council of Ministers to save the Cuban Sugar Agroindustry; which, among other aspects, bring an important reorganization of the workforce. Pérez Gallego emphasized the need for these productive structures to provide food for their workers.
Already in the Majibacoa sugar mill, the political leader showed particular concern about the attention to those who made up the work shifts on December 31 and January 1st. This factory, which began operations on December 30, 10 days after planned, already owes its plan 5,535 tons of sugar and began in 2022 with its machines stopped due to an electrical failure.
Pérez Gallego stressed that the people of Las Tunas expect good manufacturing performance from a traditionally efficient sugar mill. These days, he stressed, are decisive to guarantee a stable grind, which should never be below 70 percent of its capacity. In compensation for the aforementioned setback, the “Majibacoa” opened this year with a good technical condition in its manufacturing area and an acceptable number of cutting equipment available, but not with trucks ready to transport the cane.
“Daily, you have to evaluate the travel cycles. This is a task that must be constantly monitored, taking advantage of the economic incentives that the drivers now have, whose income already depends directly on the tons of cane they transport,” said the Party's first secretary.
The Balcón del Oriente Cubano is a key piece in the national effort to rescue an agribusiness that is experiencing the worst moments in its history, with more than 127 thousand tons of sugar production plan, the highest of all the country's provinces. To achieve this, the three sugar mills from Las Tunas immersed in the 2021-2022 harvest, Majibacoa, Colombia, and Antonio Guiteras, must process more than one million tons of cane, with 9.64 points of planned industrial performance.
NEW YEAR, NEW HOUSE
With the beginning of the current calendar, the delivery of five homes - out of a total of nine started last year in the second stage of the housing complex of the Blanca Rosa community - took place. Clara Feria Labrada, one of the beneficiaries, highlighted the comfort of these properties.
"The Revolution always takes into account vulnerable families like ours," she said. On her side, Yunaisi Laguna, from the living room of her new home, was pleased to receive a home where she will take better care of her children, one of whom has a chronic health condition. "Very grateful and committed to the Revolution. This is only possible in a country like this."
These houses are part of a group of 13 built mostly under the vaulting technique, within a program that benefits mothers with three children or more, retired workers, and combatants of the Revolution. Dany Gutiérrez Jorge, director of Housing in Majibacoa, specified that this body, in 2021, invested more than one million pesos in the first 10 of that total. Most of the materials used, he commented, are locally produced. However, the governor urged them to continue looking for alternatives that would ensure the Indio Bravo region, for example, its own brick suppliers.
“LA PRESA” CONVERTED INTO A THEME PARK
This first of January the first part of the Jibacoa theme park was also open, consisting of a main ranchón and barbecue. In that space, explained Roger Ortega Hidalgo, in charge of local development projects in Majibacoa, more than two million pesos have already been invested in a pack of eight that intends to completely renovate La Presa old restaurant, to turn it into a recreational complex that also provides new jobs.
The park, he explained, has been built "in response to the demand of the residents, dissatisfied with the remoteness of basic services." “It emphasizes, he concluded, in the recreational offer to the family, as well as their right to receive different types of gastronomic services with functionality; taking into account the current moment of the economy and thus creating a strategic place where all types of the public can attend.”
