-DATE- 19851228 -YEAR- 1985 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- 9TH SESSION OF THE ANPP -PLACE- HAVANA -SOURCE- HAVANA RADIO RELOJ NET -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19851230 -TEXT- Castro Speaks FL312154 Havana Radio Reloj Network in Spanish 1902 GMT 30 Dec 85 [Text] In closing the ninth session of the National Assembly of the People's Government [ANPP], Commander in Chief Fidel Castro said next year will also be a year of great work, but we are sure that the coming year and the coming 5-year period will also be successful. In his 2 and 1/2 hour speech, Fidel expressed a series of reflections and impressions of the work done in our country in 1985, and of other international matters he had discussed at the plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee, in order to share the optimism and satisfaction with which we are going to receive the 27th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution. Fidel said that this year there has been a leap in the quality of the work of the party and state, the measure of which can be given by the increase in efficiency. Fidel referred to the proposals made more than I year ago at the energy forum regarding the measures that should be taken to resolve the chronic problems of the country's economy. He said the starting point was the premise that we were able to confront the consequences of the economic crisis and project development for the medium range. Our commander in chief discussed the origins of our economic problems, saying that the United States is subjecting Cuba to economic harassment. He said the United States committed France, Italy, Japan, and the FRG to not export to the United States a single piece of machinery or a single ton of steel containing Cuban nickel. The top leader of our revolution told the ANPP that what imperialism is doing to Cuba to try to impede our economic progress is an obsessive mania. After they have made so many attempts to destroy us, it turns out that exactly the opposite of what they have imagined is happening, Fidel said. He explained how they are attempting to frustrate our success in medicine, saying they are mistaken if they believe our medical development is going to depend on them. Logically, he said, cooperation and the exchange of information is of interest, but our medical development is not based on information we received because there are already some fields in which we are competing with them. Fidel referred to the advantage Cuba has over the other Third World countries with our economic relations with the nations of the socialist camp, saying this advantage should be used for future benefit. Our top leader explained that we are seeking more solid and secure development in all fields, based on energy conservation and on the use of cheaper energy such as nuclear energy. Fidel also discussed convertible exchange and the emphasis placed on increased production to replace imports from the capitalistic area and to increase exports to that area, to acquire products or raw materials that cannot be obtained from the socialist camp that are indispensable to us. Our commander in chief also referred to the adoption of measures to perfect the system for managing and planning the economy, with greater participation by all sectors. For this reason, in the Central Committee we said that 1985 was excellent from a subjective point of view, Fidel said. He said that in certain data of the economic plan it is observed that the economy has grown 4.8 percent while fuel consumption has been less than in 1984. He also said that a series of sectors grew and conserved raw materials, and that the conservation and production goals drawn up in late 1984 were met. Fidel said that this year we have had to confront objective problems that were very unfavorable, including the drop in sugar prices to less than $.03 per pound. Regarding the drought, Fidel gave detailed information on rainfall, saying that during the first semester it did not rain. Our commander in chief also referred to the passage of hurricane Kate, which passed over eight provinces when the sugarcane was recovering and the harvest was about to begin. He said that because of all these elements he had said that 1985 was an excellent year from the point of view of the effort made by the entire people, by the entire country, the party, and the government. Our commander in chief stressed the spontaneous offer of the USSR to help us repair the damages caused by hurricane Kate, mentioning the delivery of 100 percent of everything requested. That was really very valuable aid, Fidel stressed. Passing to another subject, the discussed the drawing up of the 1986 plan, in which all sectors participated, which provided for economic growth of 3.5 percent, which is more modest than in 1985. That is, despite the drought, the hurricane, and all those problems, we propose to achieve an economic growth rate of 3.5 percent, he said. Fidel said that the most solid part of the basis for our development is our relations with the socialist community and with the USSR. Fidel spoke of the tremendous possibilities that are becoming evident in the field of medicine, supporting this affirmation with the example of the results obtained in the family doctor program. He said more than 400,000 persons are now being attended by these family doctors and the number will grow to 1.5 million next year. Fidel asked the comrades of the party and people's government to give special attention to the contingents of young physicians who belong to that program. He explained that the party has been working for months because in August there was a certain increase in the people's complaints against hospital services. We propose to carry out a crusade to raise the quality of medical services, and I am sure we are going to achieve this, Fidel said. Fidel referred to the improvement in educational services, citing the example of the double session in the primary grades, the greater experience of teachers and professors, the program to provide training on computers at the secondary school level, and the vocational schools that have gradually been converted into preuniversity schools for the exact sciences. He said this is already bearing its first fruits because, in the recent mathematics Olympics, Cuba won second place over all the countries of Latin America. He also mentioned the results in sports and in training physical education teachers, saying we will continue to be a power in sports and will continue to develop sports. Regarding the pressing housing problem, Fidel said there is hope for the first time, based on the great construction materials factories that have been built and on the joint efforts of the state and the people. He also referred to the advances to be made in research centers, citing as an example the fact that when the genetic engineering and biotechnological center is completed on 1 July 1986 we will be among the world's seven most advanced countries in this field. No matter where we look there are excellent perspectives, Fidel said, citing the enormous defense effort. Fidel referred to the multiplication of our defensive capacity in the last 5 years. He said that if from the quantitative `point of view we have tripled our capacity, from the qualitative point of view we have increased it ten-fold, a hundred-fold. I believe we have really created the conditions to guarantee the defeat of any imperialist invasion of our homeland -- if it were attempted -- with the new concepts, with the people's war concept, with the preparation of the entire people for that war, with the preparation of the state, the country, and of our entire society. Even the pioneers want to prepare themselves and participate, our commander in chief added. Fidel briefly reviewed the phases oar people have lived through: their revolutionary spirit first and the political consciousness they acquired later, and the early days of the revolution with illiteracy, 3,000 physicians, and few university professors. He compared this with the completely opposite situation that exists today, mentioning the provincial reports on this subject to the ANPP reports in which everything the provinces were lacking then was described clearly, in contrast to the great deal they have now in educational facilities, public health, social security, industrial projects, and development in general. Fidel mentioned a few ideas that had been presented in the Central Committee meeting on how we should perfect our work to build socialism. He began by saying that capitalism cannot do what we can do in education, public health, and science. The possibilities of socialism, he said, are absolutely unlimited. Capitalism cannot have these possibilities. Socialism is a really human system in which the problem of one man is the problem of the entire society, in which every person has the solid support of everyone. This cannot exist in a capitalist society. Our system is very superior; I see infinite possibilities in socialism, Fidel said. Referring to the way to perfect our system by overcoming subversive factors, Fidel mentioned the real tapping of human resources, reminding us that in some places there is high productivity with few workers, and in others there are inflated numbers of workers. He spoke of the need to lighten all those structures and reestablish multiple trade, in order to conserve resources. He gave the example of surplus teachers --whom the Ministry of Education was able to retrain and whose level of competence it was able to increase, saying that paying professionals to study for some time will be applied also to physicians. Fidel said it has proven that efficiency is determined by the training of different level personnel, for which reason he ratified his stance on the importance of training and retraining the nation's technical personnel. I believe, he said, that development also demands the use of automation techniques, and the solution to excess personnel is not to inflate payrolls; the solution is retraining, raising their level of ability, preparing them. It does not mean, and I repeat, that we should take quick action everywhere, creating problems. No. What I propose is that we meditate, that we calmly and serenely study all these problems and seek the solution that I am sure will give us total superiority over the capitalist system. Fidel dedicated the last part of his address to the great battle Cuba has been waging against the foreign debt of Latin America and the Third World during the past year. Fidel referred to the formulas the imperialists have been inventing, such as the Baker Plan, to lend out a little money, while the economic crisis gets worse every day. Imperialism is sailing against the wind in this hemisphere, he said; all the objective sectors are opposed to imperialism, which is faced with unsolvable problems, our commander in chief said. To attack a country like Nicaragua, he said as an example, would really be to create the conditions for a hemispheric explosion. We do not want them to make this error. We hope they will not do it but we are not sure that they will not do it, he said. Fidel referred to our improving relations with Latin America, to the fact that ties of unity are being developed between the Latin American peoples, and that the crisis, which is in his opinion the greatest in the history of the hemisphere, will make a considerable contribution to the rapprochement and unity of the peoples of Latin America, and to political change. Finally, he spoke of the preparations for the third party congress, for the preparation of the materials and the draft program that will be presented to a later meeting for approval. Later our commander in chief said that conditions are optimum for the congress. It will be an opportune congress at an opportune moment that has really promising perspectives, he said. -END-