Speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the closing of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People's Power in its Tenth Legislature, at the Convention Palace, on December 18, 2025, “Year 67 of the Revolution.”
(Verbatim Versions – Presidency of the Republic)
Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;
Dear President Lazo;
Esteemed comrades:
I thank you all for the profound, responsible, and concise debates that allowed us to address crucial issues of our reality. Only a genuine Assembly of the people is capable of facing, with a sense of urgency, calm, realism, and commitment, the colossal challenges the nation confronts at this moment and projecting itself into the future.
Today we have discussed and approved the Economic Plan, the Budget, the Government Program to correct distortions, and the General Law on Science, Technology, and Innovation, among other topics. All of these are interconnected by a demanding framework of necessary tasks to confront the country’s current complex situation and the risks and threats looming over the Latin American and Caribbean region.
We are living through an extremely complex moment for the economy and the daily life of the people, which demands deeper, faster, and more responsible responses.
This is not just another crisis: it is the accumulation of distortions, adversities, difficulties, and our own mistakes, exacerbated by an extremely aggressive external blockade, in an uncertain and dangerous context for the objectives of protecting peace, promoting cooperation, and advancing social justice, among other vital issues on the international agenda.
This context has also become dangerous for the survival of multilateralism, International Law, the United Nations Charter, and the norms and practices on which international relations have rested for eight decades.
This threat is manifested, in a peculiar way, in the impunity with which the genocidal crime against the Palestinian people has been and continues to be allowed. It is also expressed in the new doctrine promoted by the United States, which they call, with outrageous arrogance, "peace through strength," but essentially consists of imposing on everyone the arbitrary will and domination of American imperialism through threats, coercion, and even direct aggression.
The aberrant Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and the recently published United States National Security Strategy leave no doubt about the hegemonic pretensions against the peoples and nations of our America, ignoring and endangering the region as a Zone of Peace, firmly and officially proclaimed since 2014.
The text shamelessly exhibits the ambitions of a unipolar power already in decline. It responds to the interests of the large transnational corporations, at the expense of the inalienable rights of the countries in the region. It bluntly declares the U.S. intention to appropriate the natural resources and wealth that belong to sovereign nations of the Western Hemisphere and their respective peoples.
This explains the push for plans to establish U.S. military bases in various countries, the exaggerated and aggressive military presence in the Caribbean Sea, and the growing and provocative threats against Venezuela, with such unsustainable pretexts that change within hours.
The Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and other dark figures behind the dirty wars against the region have managed to corner the U.S. foreign policy apparatus in an apparently endless and unsolvable conflict. The threat of open or covert war against Venezuela is a criminal act that violates International Law.
The assault and hijacking of a fuel tanker and the illegal appropriation of its cargo—acts described as piracy and maritime terrorism; nearly 100 extrajudicial executions carried out in full view of the world through airstrikes on vessels in international waters; provoking incursions of U.S. warplanes over Venezuelan airspace; the attempt to forcibly replace for a second time the Bolivarian government and impose one selected in Washington, as attempted with a certain Guaidó—all these are acts contrary to International Law.
The United States government has reached the extreme of proposing the dangerous intention of completely and totally blocking oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. This is a brutal and risky wartime measure against a country that poses no threat to them.
This shows the powerless desperation of those who have bet on the surrender of that sister nation in the face of the violent and ruthless offensive of a clique that has seized control of U.S. foreign and hemispheric policy.
At the recent ALBA Summit, we had the opportunity to reaffirm our condemnation, in the strongest and most categorical terms, of the threats and aggressive actions against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Cuba’s absolute support and solidarity with that Latin American and Caribbean nation.
Almost simultaneously, and from long before as well, an incessant economic aggression is being exerted against Cuba, with a criminal intensification of the blockade and the unjustified inclusion of the country on the spurious and arbitrary list of States supposedly sponsoring terrorism. This translates into constant sabotage of commercial and financial transactions with virtually any market in the world.
It also manifests in the direct and indirect actions promoted by the United States government, which we have repeatedly denounced, aimed at interfering with internal macroeconomic performance, promoting inflation, and substantially depressing the purchasing power of the population.
The aggression of imperialism has continued to make use of its monopolistic power over the media and technological infrastructures of digital networks to promote hopelessness and disillusionment, irritate, mislead and confuse, fuel speculation, and erode confidence in the leadership of the Revolution, attacking deeply the emotional core of the Cuban nation.
Even employing the pernicious and mendacious activity of its diplomatic representative in Cuba, they insist on trying to damage ties with other governments, a goal that escalates with immoral methods in persistent and defamatory attacks against the international solidarity medical cooperation of our country.
Even under these conditions and in a year of great challenges, the authority, prestige, and trajectory of the country's solidarity became evident.
The resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that once again demanded the end of the blockade received, as always, overwhelming support from the international community, despite the dirty maneuvers and brutal pressures from the United States Government and the falsehoods they spread about Cuba, some nobly repeated by a very small number of delegations.
It has been the year in which Cuba joined as a Partner Country in the BRICS Group, showing recognition of the role and leadership of the Cuban Revolution among the nations of the Global South.
It is also a year of conscious mobilization of solidarity movements with Cuba, political forces, popular movements, and civil society organizations worldwide, during which we have continued to expand links in various regions of the world and direct foreign policy towards expanding commercial ties and investment opportunities.
Relations with Cubans residing in other countries continue to strengthen, and over the past year contacts have increased, their participation in national events, and their involvement in commercial, economic, and development projects for the betterment of our society.
Comrades:
I now return to the many internal challenges we must face and resolve, starting with the crucial matter of the economy.
In analyzing the country's current situation, we have been realistic and self-critical, but we have also reaffirmed our confidence in the resilience and victory of the Cuban people. The homeland does not surrender! We follow one principle: “Unity, Continuity, and Creative Resistance.” Unity around the Party, the Revolution, and the Marxist, Martian, and Fidelist ideals. Continuity of the historical legacy and the work we are building. Creative resistance to create, innovate, and move forward amidst shortages.
Today we concluded an intense, profound, and vitally important working session for the present and future of the nation. We have addressed, with the critical, united, and revolutionary spirit that characterizes us, core issues that touch the heart of the socialist project we all defend and build together.
No one in Cuba needs to be told that the economy is under strain: it is felt in the lines, in the pockets, in the blackout, in the transport that does not arrive, and in the rising cost of food. We come from years of GDP decline, high inflation, shortages, energy crises, and falling external income.
In this context, it is crucial that the Parliament sends a clear message: the magnitude of the crisis is acknowledged, reality is not sugarcoated, and at the same time, the political will is reaffirmed to change whatever must be changed to defend social justice and national sovereignty.
Yesterday, in the Economic Commission, we had an intense debate about the urgent need to increase national production, to establish it as a fundamental pillar of economic takeoff.
Today, that production is burdened by distortions, deficiencies, and bureaucratic hurdles that we have not yet eradicated, which on the one hand affect domestic consumption and also hurt exports, depriving us of important financial resources.
A country whose finances are relentlessly targeted is forced to manage its foreign currency revenues with maximum efficiency, which are essential to face problems with fuels, investments in thermal generation, the pharmaceutical industry, public transportation, among other areas.
All analyses must point to those who fail to comply, because behind their failures lie millions of dollars that were in the Economic Plan and relied upon.
In summary: accountability and timely analysis of what is failing, with concrete solutions for each case, are imperative. Until we do that, and remain stuck in analyzing descriptive and diagnostic reports that end up being useless autopsies, we will not solve anything nor change the current situation.
The 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee exposed the economic situation with complete bluntness and, at the same time, outlined a work method: macroeconomic stabilization, correction of distortions, and productive reinvigoration, not as slogans, but as a system of concrete decisions, with deadlines and responsible parties.
There, we emphasized three ideas that we reaffirm here today:
There is no room for the resigned management of the crisis.
Macroeconomic stability is not a technocratic luxury; it is a condition for wages to have value, for the market to function, not for its own sake, but to guarantee a sustainable social policy.
The Government Program to correct distortions cannot continue to be merely a reference document: it must become the mandatory roadmap for all agencies, companies, and territories.
The debates of this session have confirmed the main challenges:
• Reduce energy vulnerability and dependence on fuel imports.
• Recover productive capacities, especially in food, energy, and basic industry, with the coordinated and committed participation of all economic actors.
• Keep fiscal deficit and inflation under control to stop the loss of purchasing power of wages and pensions.
• Sustain and diversify external income, particularly tourism, exports of goods and services, remittances, and foreign investment.
• Protect the most vulnerable sectors from the impacts of adjustments and price and subsidy corrections.
All those objectives were already being worked on, and decisions must continue to be made.
Once again, I insist: the transformations we must make are not only structural but also mental. We see it day by day—things that get stuck or simply don’t move forward due to a lack of flexibility or because of frameworks that no longer work for these times, nor under circumstances of such intense pressure.
The only limit to flexibility is anything that undermines our principles, against self-determination, sovereignty, and national independence. Outside of that, we must increasingly and fearlessly promote every initiative that helps us overcome the powerful obstacles the enemy places in our way and move forward.
No one has written how to build socialism in a country that emerged to its true independence after more than four centuries of colonization and 60 years of neocolonial subjugation. No one like Cuba can speak about what it means to drive its development with social justice under the favorable conditions of its integration into a socialist camp that suddenly disappeared. No one can tell us what it means to resist exemplarily but at a high economic and, therefore, social cost, an infamous policy of intensified blockade and fierce persecution as Cuba faces. That history is being written by us, Cubans, the people of Cuba, every day and this very moment! (Applause.)
We have analyzed and endorsed the Economic Plan and the State Budget for the coming year. These are tools that, far from being mere numbers, express the political will to prioritize the attention to the people, investment in strategic areas, and the constant pursuit of efficiency.
We recognize the enormous difficulties we face, worsened by an economic, commercial, and financial blockade that criminally strangles us. But here there is no room for defeatism!
Our response is greater creativity, greater discipline, greater control, and an uncompromising fight against the burdens that hold us back: bureaucracy, indifference, and corruption.
The bureaucrats, the indifferent, and the corrupt are the very negation of the Revolution, because in their attitudes hides a profound disdain for the people who are the essence and meaning of the Revolution. And I say more: because within them lies betrayal.
We have seen this many times throughout history, but we have also witnessed the natural antidote of the Revolution to save itself from traitors. And that antidote lies in the people, who sooner or later uncover the mask of the pretender.
Members of Parliament:
Regarding the Economic Plan and the Budget, we have acknowledged the tensions: inflation, GDP decline, and energy crisis. But we have also reaffirmed that correcting distortions and reviving the economy is not a slogan, but a concrete battle for the stability of everyday life. That battle demands economic rigor, but also social justice, because we do not accept a model that sacrifices equity in the name of efficiency.
The Economic Plan for 2026, as analyzed here, is a plan of offensive and profound adjustment that seeks to:
• Prioritize food production by removing obstacles, ensuring basic supplies, and above all, generating real incentives for both state and non-state producers.
• Accelerate investments and operational solutions in the national electricity system by combining the repair of thermoelectric plants, increasing efficiency, and expanding renewable energy sources.
• Organize and make the allocation of foreign currency transparent, so that sectors that export, substitute imports, and supply the domestic market with local production are favored.
• Grant real autonomy to the state socialist enterprise to enhance productivity and efficiency, demanding measurable results while not tolerating inertia or stagnation.
The challenge for 2026 is not only to fulfill the Plan, but to demonstrate that the Plan translates into visible changes in the territories and in the lives of the people.
Regarding the Budget we approved in this session, focused on food production, essential services, and social programs, it must be executed with transparency and rigor, and it is our responsibility to ensure that this is the case.
As has been seen, this Budget is based on severe restrictions but preserves the priority of health, education, social security, and the protection of the most vulnerable. The transition from product subsidies to subsidies for people must be carried out with care, transparency, and participation, so that no one is left unprotected.
From the Assembly, we must demand:
- That every peso in the budget has verifiable productive or social backing.
- That unproductive expenses, projects that do not add value, and structures that do not generate results are drastically reduced.
- That the territories take greater responsibility for revenue collection and the efficient use of resources.
It is not about adjusting for the sake of adjusting; it is about adjusting in order to continue redistributing fairly.
At the center of our discussions has also been the Government Program to correct distortions in the economy. This is not a technical adjustment; it is a revolutionary necessity to perfect the socialism under construction, making it more prosperous, sustainable, and just.
We understand the concerns and the impacts that some measures may have on daily life. But, as has been explained in this forum and in all spaces throughout the country, inaction would be the greatest risk. We must put in order what is disorderly, properly value our work, stimulate productive effort, and put an end to illegalities and imbalances.
This program is a call for the conscious participation of everyone, so that every Cuban, from their position, becomes a protagonist in the rectification and progress.
We understand the concerns and the impacts that some measures may have on daily life. But, as has been explained in this forum and in all spaces throughout the country, inaction would be the greatest risk. We must put in order what is disorderly, properly value our work, stimulate productive effort, and put an end to illegalities and imbalances.
This program is a call for the conscious participation of everyone, so that every Cuban, from their position, becomes a protagonist in the rectification and progress.
The Government Program to correct distortions and relaunch the economy has clear objectives: to regulate prices and tariffs, confront the exchange rate chaos, improve the relationship between the state and non-state sectors, encourage production, and protect those with the least. All of this will be refined through the debates currently taking place at the grassroots level.
The Government Program we have approved seeks precisely that: to correct distortions, strengthen the socialist state enterprise as a driver of development, and make space for all forms of management that contribute to collective well-being. We cannot allow monetary duality, the lack of productive incentives, or bureaucracy to weigh down the people's effort.
The problem is no longer a lack of diagnosis, but rather the speed and consistency of implementation. Therefore, from these conclusions, it is necessary to emphasize:
Each agency, company, and territorial government must present concrete implementation schedules for the program, with quarterly goals and public accountability.
Measures that prove to be ineffective or counterproductive must be corrected without dogma, with political humility and technical agility.
Priority must be given to communication with the people: explaining what is being done, why it is being done, what effects are expected, and in what timeframes. We lack innovation in communication as a science. It is not just about what you say, but how you say it.
A program that is not understood or not monitored ends up being perceived as a series of improvisations. To avoid this, it is essential to refine and strengthen it with input from the popular consultation that is already underway.
Members of Congress:
In recent days, we have debated and approved the General Law of Science, Technology, and Innovation, a fundamental legal instrument to chart the path towards technological sovereignty and the development we need. We must turn science and innovation into the driving force that propels every sector of society. This Law is a firm step in that direction, so that the knowledge created by our talented people is translated into solutions, efficiency, and well-being.
Science cannot remain confined to laboratories; it must become practical solutions for production, energy, health, and the daily lives of the people.
The country does not have infinite reserves of material resources, but it does have reserves of scientific, technical, and academic talent that are not always fully utilized.
Key economic decisions must be supported by evidence, studies, modeling, and impact evaluation. It is essential to close the gap between research and production: university-business-territory must be part of the same innovative cycle. Innovation is not only technological; it is also organizational, managerial, participatory, communicative, and involves social oversight.
Science and innovation must cease to be mere complements and become the engines of the economic change we need.
Compatriots:
The challenges Cuba faces in 2025 and 2026 will only be resolved through concrete work, systematic control, and active popular participation. The 11th Plenary Session and this very session of the Assembly agree on one idea: it is not enough to approve, we must fulfill, and it is not enough to fulfill, we must be accountable.
From this Assembly, we must take on several political commitments:
- Strengthen the bond of each deputy with their constituency by communicating, listening, explaining, and gathering concrete proposals to inform public policies.
- Fight head-on against bureaucracy, corruption, wastefulness, the misappropriation of resources, and the lack of sensitivity to the people's problems.
- Strengthen unity not as uncritical unanimity, but as the building of consensus through responsible debate and participation.
The country is going through a severe crisis, but it is not defeated and never will be defeated (Applause). Cuba’s history shows that when the political leadership, the institutions, and the people work in the same direction, with truth, discipline, and creativity, there is no blockade or crisis that can take away our future.
The decision to postpone the IX Congress of the Party should not be seen as a setback. It is a necessary and timely decision that will allow us to unite our forces, improve the nation’s situation, increase the people's trust, and create the conditions for a better and more fruitful congress, which will consolidate, as endorsed by the Constitution, the construction of socialism and progress toward a communist society. This is the call made to us by the General of the Army!
This decision will be an opportunity to dedicate the year 2026 to recovering in every way possible and to making progress in fulfilling our commitments.
It will also allow us to implement the adjustments that we must make in the structures of the Party, the Government, and the State to facilitate, without rushing, the exchange of opinions and viewpoints that this process demands.
All the forces and energies of the Party, the State, and the Government, together with the people, must be dedicated to improving the country’s situation:
Advancing in the implementation of the approved economic measures with discipline and control; strengthening attention to the territories affected by natural disasters; promoting youth participation in all areas of national life; intensifying the ideological, cultural, and communicational battle; and defending the truth about Cuba against manipulation and misinformation.
During this period, the popular debate on the Government Program aimed at strengthening it must also be concluded, and we will continue implementing the actions needed to achieve its objectives.
Additionally, we will keep working on the preparation of the documents which, after popular consultation, will be debated in Congress and are already well advanced.
We close this session with the conviction that the National Assembly has been and will be worthy of its historical responsibility (Applause). It is now our duty to transform into reality what we have approved here. May every law, every plan, and every budget become tangible actions in the lives of the people. May science and innovation translate into concrete solutions. May the economy regain its vitality without abandoning social justice.
Let us never neglect unity, the "apple of our eye," as the Army General and leader of the Revolution, Comrade Raúl, has called it. That is our greatest strength in the face of all threats.
We trust in our capacity for the revolutionary offensive, in our resilience, and in our creativity, and no one will be able to defeat us (Applause). As I said at the XI Plenary, the greatest gain lies in the quality of discussions and in the superior way of addressing problems when they are tackled directly. We are fully committed to solving these problems and charting a path to overcome them.
The decisions we adopt cannot remain only in press summaries. They will be seen in the improvement of the country’s everyday life.
That will be the real test of the shared and assumed commitment, the true measure of the transformative power of this Parliament and the vitality of the Cuban Revolution.
Here, in the National Assembly, the Assembly of the people of Cuba, with its talented youth, its women and men from the most diverse professions and trades, white, black, mulatto, seasoned in a thousand battles, critical and committed, the Cuban Revolution beats, alive and active! (Applause.)
The greatest proof of its existence is precisely the thorough effort of its enemies to suffocate it and destroy even its smallest foundations.
This Assembly has the honor to put forward a proposal of profound patriotic and revolutionary significance. Inspired by the enduring legacy of our leader and by the call for unity and continuity, and reflecting the sentiments expressed in these times by many compatriots, Comrade President Lazo, we propose that the year 2026 be officially proclaimed as the “Year of the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz” (Prolonged applause).
It will be a year to study his thinking more deeply, to emulate his example of tireless work, fidelity to principles, and absolute trust in the people and in the victory of ideas.
May every task we undertake in 2026 — from the most complex economic transformations to the simplest act of solidarity — be imbued with the Fidelist spirit of struggle, his profound love for the people, and his unwavering commitment to social justice.
This will be the most consistent way to honor the man whose centenary calls us to be better, to defend what has been conquered, and to optimistically build the future.
We leave this session with clear mandates and enormous responsibility. The path is not easy, but it is ours — the one we chose with sovereignty and dignity. The key is to turn every problem into a solution, every limitation into a reason to create, and every threat into a reason to unite even more.
We will not let our guard down. We will deepen the ideological and cultural battle, defend the achievements, and work tirelessly for the sovereign and prosperous country that this people deserve.
The task is complex, but the will of this people is invincible.
The National Assembly, united in the will to safeguard the independence, sovereignty, and Revolution from the many dangers that threaten us today, cannot be separated from the history that has brought us here, overcoming trials that seemed impossible.
Let us say it loud and clear, with the conviction of that December 18, 1956, when the two brothers embraced and, after counting the few survivors and the limited rifles gathered at the reunion, the older brother said without a shadow of doubt: “Now we have truly won the war!” (Applause.)
And today here we reaffirm that: Now we have indeed won the war! (Applause.)
This is the people of Fidel and Raúl: conquerors of the impossible!
May 2026, the Year of the Centenary of the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, find us fighting and more united than ever!
Long live Free Cuba! (Exclamations of: "Long live!")
Long live the Revolution! (Exclamations of: "Long live!")
Long live Fidel and Raúl! (Exclamations of: "Long live!")
Socialism or Death!
Homeland or Death!
We will overcome!
(Ovation.)
Photos: Abel Padrón Padilla
(Taken from Cubadebate)
