Cuban Revolution leader Raul Castro Ruz attended the closing ceremony of the 11th Congress of the Cuban Women’s Federation and took the opportunity to say that “in Cuba we are proud of the women for their work in the past and for their performance in the present, amidst difficult moments.”
During the gathering at Havana’s Conventions Hall, Raul Castro said that he was honored to be among so many women who are currently facing the growing aggressiveness of (US) imperialism against the Revolution.
Meanwhile, in his closing remarks of the Congress, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed the role of Cuban women in different sectors, like the production of food, the defense of food security and community work.
He recalled the legacy of Cuban patriots Ana Betancourt, Mariana Grajales, Amalia Simoni and Revolution heroines like Celia Sanchez, Vilma Espin and Haydee Santamaria, whose roles and examples were crucial for today’s women to enjoy their achievements.
Diaz-Canel said that the Congress coincided with International Women’s Day, a date marked by the rebelliousness of women against the current discriminatory world order, and although their demands have changed, discrimination and violence against them are still there for the shame of humanity.
In that regard, he condemned the genocide against the Palestinian people and against women and children.
Cuba was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, a process that completed with the setting up of the Cuban Women’s Federation on August 23rd, 1960.
The new organization contributed to the employment of women and their participation in social and economic programs in the revolutionary stage.
The head of state stressed the adoption of a National Program for the Development of Women which expresses the state’s political will to encourage genre equality in an integral form in the country and based on the sensitiveness towards that population sector.
The Cuban Parliament protects the rights of women with legislations like the Family Code, the Penal Code, the Penal Law and the Integral Strategy for the prevention and attention to genre violence as well as the Protocol of Action in the face of discrimination, violence and harassment at work centers.
The enemy tries to show inaction by the Cuban state against genre violence but we have proven the fact that here there is no impunity for such crimes, said Diaz-Canel and recalled that last year, Cuban courts processed 61 criminals for murders of women and gave them over 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.
“Women have much to contribute to Cuba, that’s why we need them,” he concluded.
The 11th Congress of the Cuban Women’s Federation wound up on Friday in Havana.
