The independent farmers were right.
Victor and Sanchez
Independent journalist
victorernestosanchez@ymail.com

Santiago of Cuba, 25 of May - (www.miamiprogressive.com) When commemorating itself this past 5 of May, 13 years of formed the first independent cooperative in Santiago of Cuba, we decided to give to a route by the time and its protagonists. Nevertheless the time has been in charge to demonstrate that the conditions that made that one group of farmers make so important decision, subsist and they stay.

In conversation with Antonio Alonso, one of the founders of that one movement, that still conserves original documents of the project of the independent cooperative Transition says to us: “When seeing the conclusions at that the farmers have arrived who participated in this last congress and you compare it with the expositions that we realized that one 5 of May of 1997, it give account you, that the independent farmers were right�.

when reviewing the constituent document of the independent cooperative Transition, we paid attention to the interjection e) We will locate part of our products in places or clients like foreign corporations, hotels for tourists, etc. This example only demonstrates that to the repression and political persecution that east group of farmers by his project underwent, never had justification, when today she is one of the recommendations exits of the Congress Farmer. Nevertheless, the authorities to the highest instances of the country, have had to recognize the irrational of the agrarian policy, but measured partial, as the earth delivery in usufruct, in case single they are not the solution. The own Murillo Sailor Jorge, vice-president of the Cabinet and minister of Economy and Planificación when talking about to given earth to usufructuarios under protection of the decree law 259, said that 920 thousand hectares had been distributed, but indicated that around half of the assigned ones they insufficiently remain idle or exploded.

The agrarian policy in Cuba has been a disaster from the same beginning of the Revolution. The first fraud and that until today continues being a myth, was the Agrarian Reformation. It is only enough with being sent to the SPEECH DELIVERED BY Fidel Castro RUZ, PRESIDENT OF the REPUBLIC OF CUBA, IN the CLOSING OF I SAW CONGRESS OF the ANAP, CONDUCTED IN the THEATER “CARLOS MARX�, the 17 OF MAY OF 1982, “YEAR 24 OF the REVOLUTION�. In this speech Fidel Castro it recognized categorically how by their own decision, the earth were not distributed. At the end of this work we added a synthesis of that speech, to facilitate the information.

If the agrarian policy were a failure, less it has not been its commercialization. In 1968 a great denominated campaign unfolded “offensive revolutionary� to eradicate the small retailers, which was described to them as “timbiriches�. During his mandate Fidel Castro always one was against the intermediaries or drug dealers, something that now sees as a profit of a new economic conception in that they want to enrumbar the country more and, is discovered that the form to regulate the prices is the supply and the demand. They observe this publication of the Granma newspaper:

“With small carts, mules and horses we left towards the mountain range to buy merchandize. Without cost of fuel we maintain a supply between 18 and 30 lines. The price is of supply and demand. At present, near 300 carretilleros they leave to the dawn to buy fruits in gardens and parcels, that soon sell in different points from the city head. Pregón returns to these historical streets with marked to benefit and social impact�.

The city of Santiago of Cuba, with more than 450 thousand inhabitants and one ample network of tourism and hospitals cannot guarantee its supplyings with mules and small carts. That needs an ample infrastructure services and a high agricultural production.

An analysis in perspective of these two so important variables in the economic agriculturist: possession of earth and market, forces to you to analyze them separately, to arrive at the incidental ones that in each of them they develop.

The earth possession in property, under the prerogatives of the economic freedom is a basic principle for the economic handling of the agricultural producers, because they serve his earth as collaterals of loans and the decision making in favor of their interests assure the agricultural selection of the cultures and activities that more good agrees to them, from acurdo to their experience or some study of market intelligence.

The earth possession does not only assure a profitable agricultural production. In Cuba, after which the government recognized his initial conceptual error on the earth possession, the 30 of January of 1991 Decree-Law no. 125 establishes in its Article 3 that the Earth property of the State could be given in usufruct. This did not change the situation, those that tried to operate the Earth failed they left and it, for want of resources and of economic liberties, mainly the inherent ones to the market: of purchase and sale.

The failure that marked that antecedent was not sufficient and the 10 of July of the 2008 Decree-Law No.259 was promulgated on the idle earth delivery in usufruct. After almost two years to enter in force, some has not presented/displayed positive results. To all these agri-economic failures the nourishing plans in Blind person of Avila and other places are added where thousands of santiagueros participated. As well as the call urban agriculture, hydroponic and the organopónicos ones. Now the parcels story of and familiar patio come to us with, like solution to a critical situation that does not admit an experiment more.

 

“I was one of the victims of the Bitter Reformation, as she had more than 5 cavalries, all cleared me. They only left a parcel me around the house, but that has helped me with the feeding, but it does not give to live like agricultural producer. That kiosco that appears in the photo of the newspaper thus prepared, it for the photo. My children in the outside are those that have maintained to me until now� says to Maurilio Garci'a to Us, a farmer of the Cujabo, to about 15 kilometers of the city of Santiago of Cuba.

 

The market has been the main stumbling block of the agricultural production in Cuba. The commercialization (intermediary) was always a sin for the calls historical leaders of the revolution, mainly for Fidel Castro, whom it preferred to buy to international prices the fruits, vegetables, vegetables and until flowers in the outside, not to give participation to its nationals. This that was one of the expositions of the independent farmers in 1997, today they bring like a discovery of the congress farmer. They observe this supposed intervention: “The expression of Pedro Castle, neighbor of the Mahogany, in the municipality of San Luis, was tacit: What does a nation agricultural buying fruits, flowers and foods abroad�.

One of the main arguments of Fidel Castro was the possible stops income, even denominated “flowerpots�. Nevertheless, now it is emphasized as the market “the Avileño� in this city of Santiago of Cuba enters like average 20 000 pesos by day. Their workers happen a wage that oscillates between 1 500 and 3 000 pesos to the month. What of being certain - a worker of the market - he gains two or three times more, than the best professional of our community.

 

There is something I want to make clear in this article. In Cuba, in any forum, to the nationals he at least does not allow himself them to make expositions spontaneous. The interventions are chosen, and selected the people are going who them to expose. So all these interventions are the manifestations that the government wants make public.  Despite they observe the next paragraph and they see the reality of our peasantry until nowadays:

 

“In Santiago of Cuba he lost myself more of 50% of the fruits, and we had to sell them, secretly, to borders of the highway�, tells to Edilberto Hernandez, one of the workers of the kiosk of the CPA Victory of Girón, of the municipality of Foreman, by where the experience began to arrange more effective bonds between producers and salesmen, for the sake of diversifying supplies, replacing imports and, consequently, to save.

In this political, economic and social experiment the Cuban Government has been worth all the average ones to use them to his way. The international cooperation has not escaped to its ruses and created a series of projects and ONG´s <<gubernamentales>>de rural development to catch bottoms of the European Economic Community, for its financings. Nevertheless, all this also finished being a great failure.

 

In spite of all this chain of failures and the evident and verified deceit of the Cuban peasantry, very little has capitalized its situation like political strategy. Obsérvese this appreciation of own the Fidel Castro of how it knew if it to be useful: “… there are certain circumstances political in that the earth distribution is the unique alternative, for being, without a doubt, the most political measurement, the one than promotes more revolutionary support…� Not in vain the famous alliance worker-farmer was an initiative that gave certain results in the social fights.

 

The efforts of the independent farmers to organize themselves and to demand their rights, did not have a great endorsement by the internal and external opposition, says Antonio Alonso, Director to us of the Project of Cuban Rural Civic Development. “The lack of resources and interaction with the other projects that the opposition advances in Cuba was the main causes of little growth of this movement of civic development and rural, that as much had contributed for the future model of rural development in Cuba�, it concludes Alonso.

 

The designation of a Commissioner of Agriculture in the structures of the Municipalities of Opposition, could well correct that situation that raises Antonio Alonso, that also is Commissioner of Agriculture by the Municipality of Santiago of Cuba. That structure would facilitate the possibility of realizing joint demands of national character, that locates the necessity to realize a true agrarian law in Cuba.

 

Note:

SPEECH DELIVERED BY FIDEL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, IN THE CLOSING OF I SAW CONGRESS OF THE ANAP, CONDUCTED IN THE THEATER “CARLOS MARX�, THE 17 OF MAY OF 1982, “YEAR 24 OF THE REVOLUTION�.

(VERSIONS TAQUIGRAFICAS - STATE ADVICE)

The important thing in fact was not going to be the details of the law, but the content as far as the depth of the reform; but it was spoken of zones of development, earth distributions, et cetera.

But it was not clearly still what we were going to do with the great large estates. Until that one moment, until the end, almost the unique thing that appeared in the law, according to the technicians, was earth distributions. That word always liked much.

… the agrarian reform in the form of earth distributions had certain predicaments in the revolutionary thought, because generally it was a demand of the farmers, and is certain circumstances political in that the earth distribution is the unique alternative, for being, without a doubt, the most political measurement, the one than promotes more revolutionary support, magnificent! , but that can, even, to eliminate the agricultural production.

I meditated that in our country the Revolution had a tremendous support of the farmers, of the workers and who for strictly political reasons we did not have to create hundreds of thousands of smallholdings; in addition, that one distribution had a disadvantage: that there were no earth for everybody, and when was spoken of earth distributions, until much people of the city already it was aspiring to that they gave a piece him of earth. The Earth to a cavalry by head was going to benefit to 100 000; 150 000; 200 000 families, but were going away to be hundreds of thousands of families without earth, or we would have had to still divide it in smaller fractions, aggravating the situation.

We did not have a real political necessity to apply that one reform of earth distribution. In certain way we were distributing land of large estate owners, when to more than 100 000 families farmers we made proprietors of those earth that were cultivating.

In our country the circumstances that occurred agriculture had certain capitalist development: cane plantations, plantations of rice, plantations of diverse types, great cattle property, and we had a proletariado agriculturist…

It tried to imagine how it would be a cane field divided between 10 proprietors and each of them seeding a few banana bushes, others of yucca, others of rice, others of kidney beans and a cane small piece to me, what would be of the sugar industry!

Then it went when we began to analyze the convenience of not making distributions of earth and to caress the idea of the cooperatives. Later we realized, I thought at least I took root when she saw an enormous cattle property that she had thousand of heads of extensive form and about 10 either 12 workers, how we could form a cooperative in that one enormous property, we were going to overnight make those 10 or 12 workers rich; we saw other types of great rice plantations in which the same phenomenon took place, and decided to create the first state companies in those cattle properties and other great agricultural companies.