|
Announcement from the
President to the Cuban people
DUE to the enormous
effort made to visit the Argentine city of Córdoba, participate in the
MERCOSUR meeting, in the closing session of the Summit of the Peoples
in the historical University of Córdoba and the visit to Altagracia,
the city where Che lived as a child, and in addition to that
immediately attending the commemoration of the 53rd anniversary of the
assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes garrisons on July
26, 1953 in the provinces of Granma and Holguín, compounded by days and
nights of continuous work with barely any sleep have all resulted in my
health, which has stood up to every test, being subjected to extreme
stress and breaking down. This provoked an acute intestinal crisis with
sustained bleeding which obliged me to undergo a complicated surgical
operation. All the details of this health accident are confirmed by
X-rays, endoscopies and filmed material. The operation has obliged me
to take various weeks of rest, at a remove from my responsibilities and
duties.
Given that our country
is threatened in circumstances like this by the government of the
United States, I have taken the following decision:
1)
I
provisionally delegate my functions as first secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba to the second secretary,
comrade Raúl Castro Ruz.
2)
I
provisionally delegate my functions as Commander in Chief of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces to the abovementioned comrade, General of
the Army Raúl Castro Ruz.
3)
I
provisionally delegate my functions as president of the Council of
State and the government of the Republic of Cuba to the first vice
president, comrade Raúl Castro Ruz.
4)
I
provisionally delegate my functions as the principal instigator of the
National and International Public Health Program to member of the
Political Bureau and Minister of Public Health, comrade José Ramón
Balaguer Cabrera.
5)
I
provisionally delegate my functions as the principal instigator of the
National and International Education Program to comrades José Ramón
Machado Ventura and Esteban Lazo Hernández, members of the Political
Bureau.
6)
I
provisionally delegate my functions as the principal instigator of the
National Program of the Energy Revolution in Cuba and cooperation with
other countries in this sphere to comrade Carlos Lage Dávila, member of
the Political Bureau and secretary of the Executive Committee of the
Council of Ministers.
The funds
corresponding to these three programs: Health, Education and Energy,
should continue being managed and prioritized, as I have been doing
personally, by comrades Carlos Lage Dávila, secretary of the Executive
Committee of the Council of Ministers; Francisco Soberón Valdés,
minister president of the Central Bank of Cuba; and Felipe Pérez Roque,
minister of foreign affairs, who have accompanied me in these matters
and who should constitute a committee for that objective.
Our glorious Communist
Party, supported by the mass organizations and all the people, has the
mission of assuming the task entrusted in this announcement.
The Summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement, scheduled for September 11-16, should receive the
greatest attention of the Cuban state and nation to take place with the
maximum brilliance on the agreed date. I would ask everyone to postpone
the anniversary of my 80th birthday, which thousands of personalities
so generously agreed to celebrate on August 13, to December 2 of this
year, the 50th anniversary of the Granma Landing.
I ask the Central
Committee of the Party and the National Assembly of People's Power to
give their firmest support to this announcement.
I do not harbor the
slightest doubt that our people and our Revolution will fight until the
last drop of blood to defend these and other ideas and measures that
are necessary for safeguarding this historical process.
Imperialism will never
be able to crush Cuba.
The Battle of Ideas
will continue advancing.
¡Viva la Patria!
¡Viva la Revolución!
¡Viva el Socialismo!
¡Hasta la Victoria
Siempre!
Fidel Castro Ruz
Commander in Chief
First Secretary of the
Party and
President of the
Councils of State and
Ministers of the
Republic of Cuba.
July 31, 2006, 6:22
p.m.
|
