Those who know him say that when he hangs out with "the madman on duty," you have to prepare for what's coming: a difficult challenge. It is not the biggest problem. The problem is that this is almost always the case.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- "I am daring for things and what I propose has to be impossible for me not to achieve it. Hence, the Santa María farm has everything. I do not see that phrase as something disrespectful; on the contrary, I consider it a challenge that one day they imposed on me to make everything better."
The madman in this story, who as a madman only has the strength and drive to undertake new things, is called Grabiel Prieto Sánchez, a 54-year-old agricultural engineer who worked as director of the Santa María farm, some 11 kilometers from the city of Las Tunas until he was appointed director of the Integral Agricultural Company for his excellent results in his already long-service record.
He arrived in Santa María back in 2015, when the farm was going through a complex and difficult situation, at a time of transformations in agriculture; he was sent to fix everything wrong and since then, you have to recognize how much has been done.
"When I look at Santa María I can say without self-sufficiency that I don't even believe the things we achieved. The water supply for livestock, the planting of pastures and fodder, the administrative operation, and community care were improved. There is not a task, a work in that community in which the farm is not present, as a protagonist."
Prieto, as everyone calls him, was born in Lagunas de Varona, a historical place and, for him, emblematic because his childhood was beautiful, with his parents and two brothers, through those mountains full of vegetation, where the two rivers that converged were a delight.
"Lagunas de Varona is a wonderful place, mountains, mountains, lots of vegetation and those two rivers that crossed. My childhood was as a country boy, with a very humble family. There were five of us, my milker father was the only one who worked. I became a rancher for him, that's the truth."
How do you decide on Agronomy?
"Well, thanks to a man who forced me to become an engineer. That man's name is Nelson Rae, a ranch manager. I was head of the production at the Cuenca Lechera company and he always told me that he had to improve me because I was a boss who sent engineers and I couldn't just be an agronomy technician."
And how did you get to the address of the Santa Maria farm?
"Nelson told me about the need for me to go work in the Becerra area, at the Carlos Sosa Ballester cooperative, with serious problems in its operation. I spent about two years there with extraordinary results. That cooperative marked my life as a leader, it taught me that everything could be achieved and that there were no bad people if you lead them well. Then, I went to the Veguita farm, in the middle of a very big drought. They sent me to the Manatí area and, finally, to the Santa María farm, which had difficulties in its operation.”
“This is how my life has passed. In all the places where I have been I have given my best, I have had a lot of love for them, and the Santa María farm earned my love, I lived for it; although I always looked for time to dedicate it to my family, since I have my wife and three children."
After giving his soul to Santa María, as payment to his father, to his family, to Nelson Rae, he now takes on a greater challenge: the Integral Agricultural Company of the municipality of Las Tunas. As a countryman, he owes to the country field; it represents a great treasure for Prieto.
