The Cuban Revolution Today: Proposals of Changes, Scenarios, and Alternatives 41
fruct but not in property (the “land and resources should be in the
hands of those who are capable of producing with efficiency,” and
therefore they should “receive the material remuneration that they
deserve;” (5) reducing the state by merging some ministries and elimi-
nating unnecessary personnel in order to “make the management of
our government more efficient” and foster the constant development
of its institutions (employees will not be abandoned and will receive
proper training for other jobs; (6) not being afraid of discrepancies in
the bosom of the revolution; (7) not “aspiring to a unanimity that
turns out to be fictitious;” (8) expressing the idea that if only one party
exists, “it must be more democratic than any other;” (9) talking about
the need for senior executives to give proper information to citizens
and workers in the political and administrative arenas—”informing in
a systematic way on subjects in charge with realism [can you clarify “in
charge with realism?”] and in a diaphanous, critical, and self-critical
way” in order to achieve real solutions through continuing account-
ability (R. Castro, 2007a; 2007b; 2008a; 2008b; 2009; 2010a; 2010b).
In his speech of December 28, 2007, Raúl Castro talked about the
broad consultation with the population concerning his speech of July
26, 2007. The consultation, which consisted of 215,687 meetings, was
directed to the various party, government, and mass-organization lev-
els and workplace organizations and aimed at the immediate adoption
of solutions to various problems, among the most important being
formulae for coping with the housing shortage, insufficient food pro-
duction, and lack of adequate transportation. Nevertheless, in broad
sectors of the population there is the perception that the measures
adopted so far are few and changes is occurring very slowly. President
Castro has asked people to be patient on several occasions.
Some measures adopted since 2006 under Raúl Castro and some
others that either he has raised in his speeches or the people have
expressed include the following: reduction of the state by merging
institutions, distribution of idle state lands in usufruct, authorizing the
use of products such as cellular phones, authorizing small private busi-
nesses such as hairdressers and barber shops, eliminating unnecessary