Speech by Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez – Part 2

The following is the second part of a speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the country’s president. Díaz-Canel addressed the closing of the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba on December 13, 2025, in Havana.

The full introduction to the speech can be found in Part I.

We publish the speech that follows for the information of our readers. The translation from the Spanish-language original is by World-Outlook, as are the subheadings, photos, and endnotes. Due to its length, we are publishing the speech in two parts, the second of which follows.

— World-Outlook editors

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(This is the second of two parts. The first can be found in Part I.)

By Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez

Correcting distortions and reviving the economy

Comrades:

Due to its immediate, medium-term, and long-term importance, I must refer, albeit briefly, to the government program to correct distortions and revive the economy, the popular discussion of which is particularly significant at this time. I will not dwell on what has been discussed, but I must underscore certain considerations that I believe are important to achieve the results proposed in that program.

Correcting distortions and reviving the economy is not a slogan; it is a concrete battle for stability in everyday life, so that wages are sufficient, so that there is food on the table, so that blackouts end, so that transportation is revived, so that schools, hospitals, and basic services function with the quality we deserve. We have debated vigorously, without triumphalism, and we have defended an economic agenda that goes to the root of the problem, and that implicates every agency, every territory, and every cadre.

We accept the urgent need to advance toward macroeconomic stability. That means putting accounts in order, confronting inflation, adjusting the budget to protect the neediest, and solving the complex issue of the exchange rate. These are not simple or popular decisions, but a responsible Party aims not for the easy way out, but for a real solution to the problem. The task is to combine economic rigor with social justice, and that combination can only be guaranteed by the socialist revolution.

We have placed food production at the center as a national priority. A strong agricultural sector, with local supply chains, support for producers, and fewer obstacles to their management, should change the situation. Guidelines have been approved to eliminate obstacles, improve collection and sales mechanisms, stimulate production efforts, and better support those who work the land.

We also have reaffirmed the decisive role of the socialist state enterprise, called upon to demonstrate true efficiency, discipline, and a capacity for innovation. The autonomy we defend is to produce more, to better serve the country, and to link up with the non-state sector without losing its socialist essence. The message is clear: whoever directs a state enterprise must feel that every peso, every resource, every decision is a commitment to the people and not an opportunity to enjoy privileges.

We agree that without economic efficiency, there can be no sovereignty. Therefore, it is essential to take a leap forward in state enterprise management. Their autonomy will be increased, but so will their responsibility for results. The OSDE [Organizaciones Superiores de Dirección Empresarial – Higher Business Management Organizations]^[1] must stop being administrative structures and become true motors for development.

We also intend to promote, in an ordered, controlled way, the unquestionable contribution of mipymes [micro, small, and medium enterprises — MSMEs] and non-agricultural cooperatives as necessary actors for revitalizing national production. Work will be done to better integrate them with the state sector.

We will unblock foreign investment, aggressively and with a sense of strategy, with the goal of identifying and eliminating unnecessary obstacles that scare away capital. The priority, as announced, is oriented to projects that generate food, energy, and foreign currency.

We must move forward with determination in correcting monetary distortions, always protecting the most vulnerable. With respect to exchange rate unification,^[2] it is an unwavering goal for the economic health of the country that we must gradually achieve.

Indispensable consultation with workers

I have commented on several ideas without much detail. We must dedicate hours of analysis and discussion to the final version of the Plan, including the indispensable consultation with workers. We understand that audacious proposals will emerge from them for the best use of our potentialities and reserves, to achieve a plan that is more focused on the urgent need to solve the country’s current situation.

We have also debated the State Budget and investment priorities, strategies for confronting inflation, the fiscal deficit, the impact of the blockade, the arbovirus health crisis, and other public health problems.

Another focus of our discussion is energy transition. Cuba needs to advance decisively toward a cleaner, more sovereign, and more efficient energy system. But we have made it clear that we do not want a transition that will leave behind territories, workers, or families. We want and must promote a just energy transition, one that generates jobs, revitalizes local economies, and opens opportunities for technicians, engineers, workers, and communities.

That is why the plenary session has backed giving priority to investments in renewable energy; an expansion of solar and wind energy; a more intelligent use of biomass; and energy efficiency programs in homes, businesses, and services. Every solar panel installed, every circuit that is modernized, every efficient appliance that becomes widely used, should also be seen as a new opportunity for work, training, and productive interlinking. We have insisted that energy projects include components of local employment, on-the-job training, and community participation. The battle for energy is also a battle for territorial justice.

This plenary session mandates that priority be given to municipalities hit hardest by blackouts, climate vulnerability, and a lack of infrastructure. These must be the first place for the combination of investments, social programs, and popular participation, as proof that the Revolution abandons no one, and that we do not see energy transition as a privilege, but as a right.

With respect to social development, it is still at the center of the project. There is no Revolution without social justice. We reaffirm that despite limitations, health and education will continue to be free and with quality for all.

We leave here today with concrete agreements, precise tasks, and most importantly, with a plan of unified action to face the enormous challenges ahead.

Bureaucracy, formalism, inertia

Comrades:

In reviewing the implementation of agreements from previous plenary sessions, we acknowledge progress, but also, in all honesty, we identify shortcomings, delays, and obstacles. Bureaucracy, formalism, and inertia are still putting unacceptable brakes on the will of the Party and the needs of the people.

It has clearly been said here that we must change all that should be changed, and it will be changed. We have proposed and approved concepts of work, priorities, and actions. Now it is up to us to implement, work, and achieve. Mechanisms of control will be strengthened, and accountability will be thorough and systematic.

Once again, we turn our sights responsibly and optimistically to the Cuban youth. The youth of Cuba are not just beneficiaries of social policies; they are protagonists of transformation.

That is why the 11th Plenary Session has directed that in each province and municipality work should be done together with the youth and student organizations on specific plans for the labor integration of young people, for supporting those who neither study nor work, and for developing productive and social projects that channel the creativity and responsibility of the new generations.

We will not resign ourselves to the waste of young talent, or to migration continuing to be their goal in life. The Revolution was born as a project of youth, and it can only continue if the young people feel it and make it their own.

With respect to the Party’s work, we have drawn up a strict balance sheet of actions taken. The goal is to strengthen political unity and the role of the Party in leading the country, provinces, municipalities, institutions, and communities, with a priority on the economic, ideological, and communication battles that we are called upon to wage every day.

The people’s trust in their institutions is built with deeds, palpable results, and sensitivity toward everyday needs. The coordinated action to confront Melissa is the best proof of how much we can achieve with organization, discipline, and unity.

The very course of the plenary session has confirmed repeatedly that our principal strength is unity, unity based on debate, criticism, and conscious discipline.

As for media intoxication and disinformation, we know that there is no better antidote than the truth, systematic work, and example. As commitments for the immediate present, based on what was debated here, I mention and agree to the following:

• To enrich and perfect the Government Program with the results of the popular consultation now being held.
• To advance in implementing the approved economic measures with discipline and control.
• To guarantee that the 2026 Budget responds to the priorities of the people and the defense of the Revolution.
• To reinforce attention to territories affected by natural disasters, ensuring that no one is left abandoned.
• To promote the active participation of youth in every aspect of national life.
• To intensify the ideological, cultural, and communication battle, defending the truth about Cuba against manipulation and disinformation.

A party that stands together with the people

Comrades:

We have reached the end of this 11th Plenary Session at a particularly challenging moment for our country. No one is unaware of the economic tensions, material shortages, and external pressures suffered by our people; but neither can anyone deny the moral strength, creativity, and capacity for resistance that the Revolution has demonstrated time and time again. Today this Central Committee reaffirms that the Party does not stand on the sidelines of problems, but at the center of solving them, together with the people.

Everything we have said and agreed upon will be nothing but empty words if the Party does not demand from itself a different way of functioning. The most recent plenary sessions have been clear: we must combat formalism, routine, complacency, and self-deception. We have talked about criticism and self-criticism not as a ritual, but as a method of work. Today we confirm that the sole Party of the Cuban Revolution must be more democratic in its internal functioning, closer to the real problems of the people, more demanding of its cadres, and more transparent in its relationship with society.

The implementation of the agreements of this 11th Plenary Session will not depend solely on documents and resolutions; it will depend on the daily conduct of each member, each cadre; on the functioning of each institution in the territories, especially the municipalities; it will depend on the capacity to listen, rectify, be held accountable, tell the truth even if it hurts, and to mobilize the moral and productive reserves that are there, in the people, waiting for a leadership to call them together and be with them.

We are not ignoring the exhaustion, irritation, and uncertainty that has taken hold in certain sectors of society as a consequence, first, of 66 years of blockade, now intensified with a significant impact on everyday life; but also because of errors and shortcomings yet to be resolved.

It would be irresponsible to deny that reality or to sidestep the dose of self-criticism that we owe ourselves. But it will not be possible to face and solve problems if we allow ourselves to be defeated by discouragement; we are the children of a people who made a Revolution just 90 miles from the largest imperial power on the planet, and who have defended it successfully for more than six decades.

In closing this 11th Plenary Session, the call is very clear: for cadres of the Party and Government, we must all leave here with a realistic plan with deadlines and responsible parties for each economic resolution adopted, and we must be transparent in reporting progress and obstacles. 

And above all, the call is for unity. A conscious unity built on truth, participation, and mutual trust. The unity that we need today is that of those who have strong arguments but march together.

With that conviction and renewed confidence in the demonstrated capacity of our Cuban people to take on the greatest challenges, and in the strength of our ideas, we now conclude this working session of the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. 

Intense work lies ahead of us. No one should expect easy or immediate solutions. The path ahead is one of struggle, creation, and intelligent resistance, because we are guided by reason, moral strength, and a heroic people as our greatest inspiration.

In the year of the Commander-in-Chief’s Centennial,^[3] let us honor his memory with a permanent exercise of criticism and self-criticism, not to find fault, but as a spur to transformative action. Changing everything that must be changed. Revolutionizing the Revolution, which is what is expected of us, of revolutionaries.

With Fidel, with Raúl, with our people!

We will win!

Homeland or Death!

Socialism or Death!

(Exclamations of “Venceremos!”)

(This was the second of two parts. The first can be found in Part I.)

NOTES

[1] OSDE is the Spanish-language acronym for Organizaciones Superiores de Dirección Empresarial (Higher Organizations of Business Management). It refers to entities in Cuba that oversee state enterprises in sectors such as water and sanitation.

MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises) were permitted to operate in Cuba beginning in 2021. They can be established as state, private, or mixed entities, but are prohibited in certain strategic sectors such as health, telecommunications, energy, defense, and the media.

[2] Exchange rate unification refers to the Cuban government’s major economic reform starting January 2021, which ended the decades-long dual currency system — made up of Cuban Pesos (CUP) and Convertible Pesos (CUC) — by setting a single official rate of 24 Cuban Pesos to 1 U.S. Dollar (USD). It abolished the Convertible Peso, and aimed to streamline the economy, though it introduced significant inflation and other challenges for citizens and businesses.

[3] Commander-in-Chief’s Centennial refers to the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Fidel Castro in August 1926. The National Assembly, Cuba’s parliament, has declared 2026 to be the “Year of the Centennial of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.”

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