Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19890905
-YEAR-
1989
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
President Castro Speaks on Special Education
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Radio Rebelde Network
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-89-174
-REPORT_DATE-
19890911
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000017956
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     FL0809144989
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-89-174          Report Date:    11 Sep 89
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     2
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       9
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       05 Sep 89
Report Volume:       Monday Vol VI No 174

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Havana Radio Rebelde Network

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   President Castro Speaks on Special Education

Author(s):   President Fidel Castro delivered during the official ceremony
marking the beginning of the 1989-90 school year, during which six
special education schools were inaugurated, in La Lisa
Municipality, Havana, on 4 September--recorded]

Source Line:   FL0809144989 Havana Radio Rebelde Network in Spanish 2300 GMT 5
Sep 89

Subslug:   [Speech by President Fidel Castro delivered during the official
ceremony marking the beginning of the 1989-90 school year, during
which six special education schools were inaugurated, in La Lisa
Municipality, Havana, on 4 September--recorded]

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Speech by President Fidel Castro delivered during the official ceremony
marking the beginning of the 1989-90 school year, during which six special
education schools were inaugurated, in La Lisa Municipality, Havana, on 4
September--recorded]

2.  [Text] Students, teachers, guests, comrades: As previously mentioned, the
1989-90 school year began today.  We inaugurated six special education schools
today.  There are more schools. I am also talking about the primary education
prototype school. We call it prototype because it is the type of school we want
to establish for the primary schools construction program. We are also building
a secondary education prototype school.

3.  This is important because it is linked with the idea of completely
developing the primary and secondary school network in the capital. We still
have many schools in structures that have been adapted for them. It is not that
there are not enough primary schools. It is not that there are no secondary
schools. Many have very good installations that must be maintained, so no new
buildings have to be built for those schools. However, others are still in
structures that have been adapted for schools.

4.  Not all schools have the necessary material conditions.  They do not all
have adequate classrooms. Sometimes, the classroom is a warm little room
without basic facilities. Some have over 30 pupils. We want each primary school
to have the necessary facilities with less than 30 students and we want the
teaching to be conducted with all the necessary requirements. In other words,
there are enough primary and secondary schools but not all have adequate
facilities.

5.  Once these special education schools, child care centers, and polyclinics
have been completed, we intend to develop other programs. In the field of
education, the future problem is construction of all the primary education
installations needed to achieve the best conditions in primary education and
the best conditions in secondary education.  Among other things, we are
thinking that each of these schools should have after-school day care
facilities, not for all students but for the children of working mothers.
After-school day care is the continuation of the child care center. When the
child reaches the age of 6, he goes to primary school. If the mother works, she
needs a place for the child to stay until she comes back from work.

6.  We propose to have after-school care for the children of working mothers in
all these new secondary schools. A child completes primary school at the age 13
or 14. He also needs somebody to look after him. He needs a place to eat lunch.
We know that many children go home and go through the trouble of warming up
food left for them.  We intend to have all new secondary schools have their own
kitchen and lunchrooms, or at least, lunchrooms.  These schools can either have
the food prepared in a larger facility or prepare the food right there so that
they don't have to depend on anyone. One of our future dreams is to develop
these programs in education.

7.  We have already completed the child care center program with 110 child care
centers built in 2 years. Of course, more child care centers need to be built:
five, six, or seven. This is not a great number of child care centers. 
Fortunately, child care centers have already been built.  There was a demand
for 19,000 slots, and 24,000 have been created. This is why we no longer have
the great pressures we used to have. However, the number of working mothers
continues to increase and more child care centers need to be built every year
to keep up with the demand, but a massive program is not needed.

8.  The polyclinic program will be completed this year. So no new polyclinics
will have to be built unless there is a new housing area. Our polyclinics
network will be completed. All new polyclinics have physical therapy
gymnasiums. We have left those with good installations in the old structures.
Next year--starting now--we will start building a physical therapy gymnasium in
each one of them. More than a gymnasium, we are going to offer physical therapy
services. The polyclinics will not have a gymnasium proper but will provide
physical therapy services.

9.  These three important programs will be completed this year. The child care
center program was completed last year. The polyclinic program and the special
education school program, totalling 24, will be completed this year.

10.  As Maximo [not further identified] said here, six were inaugurated, and
the two that had already been inaugurated makes eight. We need to build 16
more. We expect them to be completed by December. Minibrigade members have many
commitments and have done a great deal of work. They are making a special
effort.

11.  What do these special education schools mean? Above all, they mean quality
of education. There was talk of illiteracy at the beginning of the revolution.
There was talk of 25 or 30 percent illiteracy, talk of several thousand adults
being illiterate. There were hundreds of thousands of children who did not have
teachers, who did not have schools. We talked about these kinds of things
during the first years of the revolution.

12.  There have been colossal changes in all this. In the country today, there
is not a single child without a school. Some schools may be better than others,
some older, one may be in better condition, and another that is not in such
good condition. However, there is not one child without a teacher. In addition
to this, we have a reserve of 17,000 teachers. We use them to aid in the
improvement of the rest of teachers and professors. We didn't have enough
teachers at the beginning of the revolution. Many of them were in the capital.
Not all of them were willing to go to the countryside, to live in the
mountains, in rural areas. None of these problems exist today.

13.  There were no technological schools at the triumph of the revolution.
There were not enough secondary schools and, needless to say, not enough
pre-university schools.  Thousands of schools had to be built to solve all
kinds of problems. Technological schools, teachers' schools, schools for
physical education teachers, vocational schools, rural schools. All these
problems have been solved. These are problems of the past. We have over 1
million students on scholarships. I do not know the figure. I do not know the
current exact number of students with scholarships among the boarding and
semiboarding students. [Education Minister Jose Ramon] Fernandez, who should
know, says it is 1.1 million. This is a fantastic figure. No country in the
world has this figure. I am not speaking of a Latin American country. No
country has educational opportunities up to the university level. There are
already over 200,000 university students. Strict requirements have had to be
established to enter higher education.

14.  We have fulfilled all these stages. What do we have ahead of us? We have
quality, the matter of quality. What is quality? Quality is to introduce
computer training into all university level education. This is the first thing
we have done over the last few years. Quality is to bring computers into all
preuniversity schools, all technological schools, in all schools for teachers,
in all secondary schools in the country. This is quality. This is the quality
we have been introducing over the last few years. Next year, everyone, even
secondary-level students, will have computer training. This is very important.

15.  It is not a sport, although it could turn into a sport. Many people have
fun working with those machines and making computations. Entertainment is
introduced into some of them.

16.  However, an architect or an engineer who does not know about computers
cannot use many machines or many programs that would allow them to increase
their productivity tenfold. Sometimes a calculation needs to be made on the
metal structure of a 10- or 15-story building.  They could spend 60 hours
making calculations. They can make the same calculations with a computer and a
program in 3 hours. This is to cite just an example. An architect or an
engineer in any specialty area who knows about computers can increase his
productivity by many times and do things with more accuracy. There are even
machines and programs that design. Humanity has progressed a great deal in this
field.

17.  We now have programs to teach architects and engineers who did not learn
about computers when they went to the university. The planning front has
received resources and has organized programs so that all engineers who did not
have the privilege of learning about computers can now learn and master them.
This is quality.

18.  Quality is when a program is perfected, is improved, is more efficient.
This is why there is a systematic and continuing education program. Quality is
when our teachers have more experience, when they master educational techniques
better. Quality is when there are audio-visual resources. Quality is when there
are facilities. I can cite the example of the Jose Antonio Echeverria Higher
Polytechnical Institute, ISPJAE--it used to be CUJAE [expansion unknown]--which
has been under construction for many years. Students had difficulties in
studying. Now, we have created a contingent. Contingents do solve problems
wherever they go.

19.  A contingent will complete in a short period of time a building that has
been under construction for over 20 years. It is ready to go there. We have
created another contingent to complete another project that was sleeping an
eternal sleep.

20.  Quality is to create adequate facilities for students.  Quality is to have
adequate laboratories. Many medical students studied in the midst of noise and
dust created by the construction around them. Magnificent installations for
medical studies are now being completed. We have seen the one in Sancti
Spiritus. Who would have dreamed of this? That installation is fantastic, as is
the one in Camaguey, which was recently inaugurated. They are excellent
installations. Logically, students can develop better with installations of
this kind. They can assimilate things better. They have more facilities.

21.  As I have said before, the worst thing was when there was no dust and
noise because nothing was being built. A few holes and some columns were made.
Work is being done in all those schools and they are being completed. All of
this is quality, but this is not the only thing quality entails.

22.  Quality is to have a child care center where children can begin learning
at a very early age. They are taught music, their reflexes are developed, their
intelligence is developed.  Intelligence! In other words, a child increases his
capabilities. It is said that much advantage is taken of intelligence but
little advantage is taken of the brain's potential.

23.  If pedagogy is greatly developed, if this science is boosted, the
percentage of grey matter each human being has in his brain that is used will
also increase. Child care centers are important because they develop potential. 
This potential is developed until a child reaches a certain age. After that
age, his potential and his actual capabilities reach the same level. The best
thing an individual can do is to attempt to fill his mind with information and
knowledge, but he will not have more capability--that is, he can acquire a
great deal of information but he will not be more intelligent because of this.
He will be more knowledgeable.

24.  I have always said that child care centers are important because they
develop a child's intelligence. They increase his capabilities. Afterwards, he
can increase his knowledge endlessly. Pedagogy is precisely the science of
teaching the maximum amount of knowledge. However, it is not only this. Above
all, it teaches the individual to think. As the material he has in his brain
gets better, the more intelligent individual will better be able to think.

25.  Therefore, I could say that the child care center program is a solution
for working mothers and, also, it enables children to develop more
intelligence. These children are preparing for the future. Child care centers
improve the quality of education. This is quality.

26.  Who knows how those children who attend child care centers will turn out.
We believe that a day will come when not only the children of working mothers
will go to child care centers. We hope that there will be a day when we have
enough child care centers and resources so that all children can attend these
centers. If not, the child that attends a center will have more capabilities
than the one who does not. It is better for the country if all the children
develop their intelligence to the maximum.

27.  I have been citing some examples of quality. Everybody thinks that all
children are exactly the same. However, this is not the case. There are
children who have hearing impairments. They were born with the problem.
Fortunately, nowadays we have equipment to find out if a child has a hearing
impairment within 24 hours. Much can be done even in cases in which a child has
a hearing impairment. Nowadays, there are technical solutions even for those
who have total hearing loss so that these children can have normal intellectual
development. If the problem is not detected and the child is not educated, the
child's mental development is slowed down. His intelligence quotient drops
because he cannot hear.

28.  Today, there is the possibility of not only implanting some gadgets that
can help some of these children to hear, but there are also methods to teach
these children.  In many cases, the problem can be solved. Few cases suffer
from total lack of hearing. They may have 50-, 30-, 40-percent hearing loss. It
varies. Those children need special schools. They cannot be sent to regular
schools.

29.  There are children who have vision problems. They are not blind but they
have various vision problems. They can lose their sight if they are not
treated. If they are given the right treatment they can recover their vision
totally or to a great degree. Special schools for those children are needed.

30.  There are children who have physical limitations. They have them because
they were born with them or because they got them because of some disease or
accident. Those children cannot carry out a normal life in any school.  They
need a special school.

31.  There are children who are behind in their psychological development. They
cannot be sent to any school. We inaugurated four of those schools today. They
cannot follow the rest of the class. The rest are left behind if attention is
given to them alone. If attention is given to the rest, they are left behind.
They finally drop out of school. You know the consequences when a child drops
out of school and goes to the school of the streets.  Anyone can understand
what kind of future this child will have whether the child is a boy or a girl.

32.  There are children who have very serious family problems. These children
develop certain problems. They develop behavioral problems. Those children
cannot be in other schools and they cannot be abandoned. They need special
schools.

33.  There are children who have irreversible mental retardation. However,
those children need to be educated.  What are you going to do with a child who
is mentally retarded? Leave him out there? Send him to a regular school? He is
still retarded, he drops out of school, and what happens later? I think a lot:
What happens to those children in capitalist countries? They are educated in
these special schools. They are taught, they are given a trade, they are
trained so that they can live normally even though they are mentally retarded.

34.  What can society expect from one of these creatures who grows abandoned to
his own fate, without education, without anything? What will happen to them in
capitalist countries? Capitalist countries don't care. How many people, how
many children suffering from physical abnormalities, are there begging?
Sometimes they are seen crawling because they had a bone disease that was not
treated. These are other problems, but what do mentally retarded children do?
Was this their fate because they were children of a poor family who ended up
begging or in prison? Who knows where they end up.  Every society needs these
kinds of schools. In general, societies do not have these kinds of schools.

35.  The revolution has been creating these schools in places that have been
adapted for these purposes. It has had 40,000 of these students. Nevertheless,
there was a need for special schools for 80,000. This is why when the
mini-brigade movement reappeared, when we had the manpower, resources had to be
found. We reached the conclusion that this problem had to be dealt with so that
100 percent of the children with these problems could have a school. We had to
create room for 40,000 students in the entire country. This is what we are
creating.

36.  This movement began in Havana. This is why Havana has all the schools it
needs. There exists 80 schools of various sizes--but they are schools that can
function-- and 24 new ones. Room for almost 5,000 new students was created.
This increases the available space to 60 percent. Is this not so? Is the
comrade not around here?  Space is increased by over 60 percent. How many
students were enrolled in the capital? How many did we have? Eight thousand?

37.  [Unidentified speaker says: ``There were slots that did not exist'']

38.  There were slots that did not exist. Of course. In addition to the slots
that did not exist, we had a total of....

39.  [Unidentified speaker continues to talk but words are indistinct]

40.  How many old ones? How many were there before?

41.  [Speaker says: ``We used to have 7,000''] . Seven thousand. And how many
are we going to have now? Over 12,000. Eight by four, four by two, eight. I
have 5,000.  And 8 times 24 is 192. Don't you think I have a computer here.
[laughter] We have 5,000 new slots.  Because it [not further identified] said
208 but I saw one that said 213, or a little more, slots. So, there are 13,000
slots. If someone had a computer he could figure out the percentage of increase
but, according to my figures, there is over a 60-percent increase: 7 by 8 is
56.... [Speaker says: ``Commander, the program including the 24 schools enables
us to replace 23 that are in poor shape''] Oh, they replace some that are in
poor shape. This is why there is not a net increase. The net increase then is
4,000--50 percent. Four thousand is half of 8,000--50 percent. [all figures in
paragraph as heard] This is a notable increase.

42.  The most notable thing is that we can say that the need is completely
fulfilled in the area of special education schools. I know some of these
schools. I have visited the school in Guanabacoa, which is for visually
impaired children, two or three times. That school is marvelous.  What the
children learn there is marvelous. What they learn is not the most important
thing. I believe it is important, but there is something that is more
impressive. It is to see how a child with a patched eye and with other problems
works in some laboratories the school has. Children are cured in the school.
Instead of remaining blind, they acquire normal vision. It is a school and a
hospital at the same time.

43.  What would happen to those children if they didn't have these schools? We
are building two of these, aren't we?  One will be here, in this municipality.
There is another for the physically disabled that is being built in Boyeros. 
Children in wheelchairs are not left without teachers because teachers go to
their homes to give them classes.  However, that child does not have contact
with other children. He does not have a social life. That school is complex in
its design but it is being built.

44.  The country needs about three of them. There is one for the western part
of the country, another one will have to be built in the center of the country.
Is this not so, Fernandez? Another one will have to be built in Oriente.  How
many schools for physically disabled children are needed in the country?
[Fernandez response indistinct] Only two. One here and another one in Oriente.
He says there is little experience with this. Right?

45.  However, I believe that what we have explained helps in understanding the
importance of these schools, helps in understanding the importance of creating
room for 80,000 students. We are already working on this throughout the entire
country. The one in Havana will be finished first. Think of the peace it will
bring to each family. The ideal thing would be for no child to have problems,
but who can be certain that a child is not going to have problems?

46.  Of course, nowadays there are techniques for the early detection of some
diseases, some life-threatening congenital abnormalities. We already have those
services throughout the entire country. Tests are conducted now for all
pregnant women. If there is information that there is a serious problem....
[changes thought] Not all problems can be predicted. Who can predict sight or
hearing problems? Perhaps science is far away from detecting them early on.
[sentence as heard] People can be born with vision problems which are later
resolved.

47.  Some are born with heart problems that are resolved.  Some cannot be
resolved but most of them can. We have our children's cardiovascular surgery
center. I was told yesterday, when I went to the William Soler Hospital because
of the accident, that they had operated on over 1,200 children since that
center was inaugurated and that they had had excellent results. What I want to
say is that these schools signify quality education.

48.  We visited six of these schools and the students were there. We talked to
six directors and tens of professors and teachers. We visited at least 20 to 25
classrooms. We saw the children there. There are doing very well in those
schools. Some are residential facilities such as the ones for the emotionally
disturbed. Children recover totally and become normal. This does not mean that
they are going to stay there for 6 years. They can stay an average of 1, 2, or
3 years and completely recover. This is different from the cases of mental
retardation. An individual who is mentally retarded is helped a great deal in
the school, learns a lot, and turns into a useful citizen.  However, some of
these problems are irreversible in contrast to emotional disorders, which are
reversible.  See how important this is? The school turns into a hospital. We
inaugurated four of these schools today. I believe that of the 24 [planned] 11
have been built. What would families do with those children if there were no
such schools?

49.  The one we inaugurated is for behavioral problems, as it is called. These
children have great intellectual potential.  They are totally normal, they have
normal intelligence.  Some of them are very intelligent. I remember when we
inaugurated the first one that is called Cuito Cuanavale.  The one we
inaugurated in Guanabacoa today--it was inaugurated today but it began
operating a few months ago--is a terrific school. The children are very well
organized there. They are educated well there. A musical group from the Cuito
Cuanavale School was already there. It was an excellent musical group.

50.  Now we come here to this school.... [Castro changes thought] It has been
operating for some time, it was inaugurated today but it has been operating for
a few months. What a great impression any visitor gets from this school!

51.  They have planted a vegetable garden. They have 1 and ½ hectares to
produce vegetables, tubers, and some other things, but especially vegetables
for the school. Over there are the agricultural facilities. They raise sheep on
the premises. The sheep graze but are also taken care of on the premises. They
breed rabbits, produce eggs, produce poultry meat on the premises. How
impressive are those children on the premises! They rotate the carrying out of
these productive activities. They develop a great enthusiasm. I saw the
adolescents and children there--they are mostly adolescents--they looked like
laborers. They looked like men. They mastered what they were doing. They liked
carrying out these activities.  We saw the space they had and recommended they
expand one of the buildings for egg production and another one for poultry
meat. They are almost self-sufficient. They would be totally self-sufficient
with two poultry meat buildings and another one for egg-producing hens. If they
had two buildings for each, they would not only be self-sufficient, they would
also be able to supply another school.

52.  You can see there the pedagogic importance of these facilities. We do not
do it for economic purposes because in the end they have to devote time to
school. Many of the raw materials have to be imported. We do not see the
economic aspect of the children or adolescents producing part of their food; we
see the pedagogic effect. I talked to some of them and they told me they were
going to study veterinary medicine, others were going to do something else. The
vocation for those activities is being created in them. Agriculture is
something very important and should not be forgotten. If everyone wants to be
something other than a farmer, agricultural producer, I ask myself: How is the
population going to be fed?

53.  This is so important. I was so happy to see some of the children from La
Lisa and El Cerro thinking about becoming farmers. The phenomenon is reversed.
It doesn't mean all they are going to be is farmers. They can be laborers with
various skills, in industries, construction, everything. However, it is good
that some children.... [Castro changes thought] It is very satisfying for them
to be able to be self-sufficient, to help produce what they use. Of course, it
helps to have a guaranteed supply source. Those people will never be lacking in
eggs, poultry, or rabbit meat. Not only will they never lack these things, but
also they will be able to give to someone else. They have a hydroponic garden.
I was telling them that 100 percent of the space was not being used. They were
also going to put some vertical plants on the left.  They may extend a little
toward the right. They can put the [word indistinct] at the other side of the
fence. In sum, they have made a great impression. The children have made a
great impression.

54.  These schools have their own producing workshops.  These schools have
their own producing agricultural areas. They help with their self-sufficiency
and they help other schools. I was saying that this school is worth visiting.
Any foreign visitor can be taken to any of them.  I remember that when the wife
of the French president came to Cuba, I took her to the school for the visually
impaired children. That school is also very impressive, in a different sense.
You can see the organization, the efficiency, and the teaching methods used
there.

55.  It is important that we are opening the school year by inaugurating six
schools--as I said, they are not the only ones--six special education schools
in the capital. I repeat, they are being built throughout the entire island. 
They are the idea of the quality we are looking for. When I was talking about
quality, I did not mention vocational schools of various types and, especially,
the exact sciences vocational schools. Some 40,000 students are enrolled in
them in the country.

56.  All of this is turning our country into an educational power. This is very
important. This is why we later see science research centers. We see results.
We see the anti-meningitis type b vaccine, which is solving a lot of problems
in our country and in other countries. We see it in the skin growth treatment,
which is being applied to those who were burned in the accident. It has already
been applied for some time. Its production is being increased quickly. We see
the results in the operations we perform for eyesight diseases. I can't
remember the exact name. [Unidentified person says: ``retinitis pigmentosa'']
What?  Retinitis pigmentosa. This is a serious disease. It causes people to
lose their sight.

57.  Tens of millions of people in the world suffer from this disease. They
first begin to lose their sight. They have limited vision and later tunnel
vision, until finally nothing is left. Total darkness. A doctor in the country
has developed a technique to cure this disease. This is the only country in the
world with this technique. We need to develop it quickly.

58.  Progress is being made in nerve cell transplants. We are ranked among the
top countries in this area because of the work of Comrade Hilda Molina and a
group of scientists.

59.  We begin to see the people's training when our country begins to stand out
with innovations that do not exist in other countries. This quality is going to
translate into a great future for our fatherland. We are encouraging scientific
research and the application of science to production and agriculture. The
people working in these fields do miracles. We can say that the construction of
engineering systems in rice fields almost doubles production per hectare. Of
course, we need a number of years to apply this system. We are seeing it in the
sugarcane fields; the plot drainage considerably increases production per
hectare.

60.  The population grows but land does not. To the contrary, there is always a
little less land because we need to build an installation, hospital, factory,
railroad, or a road. The population grows and the land's productivity needs to
be increased. Science alone can do this. This is why the quality of education
is so important. It is so important that our country is becoming an educational
power in the same way as it has already become a medical power.

61.  I can assure you that no capitalist country has this. It has some schools
for rich people. No highly developed capitalist country has the special
education school system we have or the child care center program we have or are
creating for the entire population. Only part of the population has it in
capitalist countries and the rest gets stuck. If a family has a problem with a
child with a physical disability and needs one of those schools, or has any
type of problem, or can have the behavioral disorders that are multiplying in
that society.... [Castro changes thought] I am not talking about Third World
countries. Unfortunately, no Third World country has these institutions. Rich
and developed countries do not have these institutions.

62.  If we educate our children and our youth, undoubtedly our fatherland will
have a great future. We have to recognize the efforts the mini-brigade members
have made in these programs. Mini-brigade members have accumulated many
accomplishments. They are mainly boosting this social development. The
Construction Ministry [MICONS] is building other installations, industrial and
other kinds of installations, large dams, communication centers, large
industries. However, the mini-brigade members are boosting this social
development.

63.  They have completed the 110 child centers program.  They are completing
the 20 polyclinics program, which should be completed this year. They are
building the special education schools program. They are beginning to build
primary and secondary schools to create the conditions I talked about. They
have already built the first primary prototype school, and are going to build
the secondary school prototype. They are going to build hundreds of those
schools in future years. They are boosting the housing program extraordinarily.

64.  They are boosting and carrying out the bakery program which consists of
almost 100 bakeries so that the people can have warm bread and an oven almost
around the corner from their homes. It was demonstrated that the large
industrial production of something as traditional as bread did not guarantee
quality. [Speaker: words indistinct] Why are you telling me this? I already
know this.  [laughter] So you are using me for your propaganda? Let me do it.
[laughter] He thought I had forgotten about the rest of the things, but, well,
just in case. What you did was to make me lose track of what I was saying about
something else. [Crowd member says: ``bakeries, bakeries''] I was talking about
bakeries, about our warm bread program, as we call it, which consists of 95,
100, or 105 bakeries. Mini-brigade workers are building them.

65.  Mini-brigades have helped in the construction of important hospitals.  For
example, the intensive and intermediate care room of the Salvador Allende
Hospital will soon be inaugurated. This is an important installation.  They
have built many hospital installations, expansions in hospitals.

66.  They built EXPOCUBA, which has already received some 1 million visitors.
It has become a recreational and educational center.

67.  As Maximo was saying, afraid they would be forgotten, altogether there
will be thousands, and hundreds every year of family doctor house/offices. The
doctors' and nurses' house/offices are being built. The construction of these
offices is important: 400 of them are being built.

68.  The mini-brigades are now helping out in a colossal work for the
Pan-American Games. This is a large project that will also enrich the social
resources of the capital: sports, recreation. It will make it possible for our
capital to honorably host an important sports events. Above all, the some 2
million residents in the capital--our people, our youth--will have magnificent
installations.

69.  The mini-brigades are helping in the construction of central markets. This
is a new program. There will be four large markets. One of them is not far from
here and one is being constructed. They will make the distribution of produce
in the capital more efficient. Four large central markets, which are under
construction, will surround the capital. Over 150 farmers markets will also be
built. Work is being done on them at this time. They will be ready in a few
months. We have asked the mini-brigades to help with these new programs.

70.  The bus terminal program: Three were being built; eight were needed. The
five others were scheduled to be built in 1990 and 1991. Well, we are building
all of them now to help in the transportation area. In this way, the
mini-brigade movement is making a great effort in the capital, and it will have
to continue doing so, especially in regard to constructing houses and repairing
houses.  There are mini-brigades who build houses and mini-brigades who repair
houses.

71.  Maximo, did I forget anything? Do you have anything else?  There is always
something. I don't know, a service center, and perhaps even a movie theater.
When new houses are built, buildings for social activities need to be built.

72.  I wanted to acknowledge the effort the mini-brigade movement is making. Of
course, this acknowledgement is not totally gratuitous. I hope they fulfill
their plan, their promise to complete the 24 schools this year. I hope we will
be able to inaugurate them in January with students and all. I hope they will
complete the polyclinics that are left so that we can inaugurate all of them in
January. I hope that they do not lower their guard, that they do not lose
heart, that their morale does not weaken, and that they do not become soft. All
the new things we could not do before are being done thanks to the
mini-brigades.

73.  Yes, Maximo, there was something else. The mini-brigades have helped
extraordinarily in the building of construction material industries. You see?
My computer has more data. [laughter] They have helped to build various kinds
of tile factories. Of course, we cannot make progress without materials. What
stops us is the lack of materials, but we are producing more and more. We just
invested $15 million to increase capabilities, to modernize, remodel, or
rebuild the Artemisa cement factory.

74.  Next year, the Artemisa cement factory will have to close for over a month
because of all the equipment that is needed, and a great contingent will have
to do everything that needs to be done within 2 months. That monster cannot
close for over 2 months or else we will all come to a standstill. The Artemisa
factory is making a great effort and producing more. It will be expanded in the
future. It will produce 400,000 more tons with this investment, this great
investment; $15 million are $15 million of convertible currency.[as heard] We
will have more cement.

75.  Sand and stone quarries are being completed. La Molina is being built. A
brigade is building it. A contingent brigade did the earthwork. A MICONS
enterprise is doing another one. They are being built quickly to get 600,000
more cubic meters of stone and sand. El Purio stone mill has already begun to
produce. A contingent built it in record time. The trains that will transport
the sand are already being prepared.

76.  Work is being done in Victoria Cuatro, southeast of the capital, for
300,000 more cubic meters of sand. A large brick factory is being completed.
Perhaps it will be able to produce up to 50 million bricks, maybe tens of
millions of bricks. The construction material industry continues to be boosted.
Progress is being made at Antillana de Acero. We will have more steel.

77.  However, there is something more important. Progress is being made in the
saving of cement. There has been a world of progress since 1965 to date. From
over 700 kg of cement per cubic meter of concrete, we are now around 450.
Almost 300 cubic meters of cement are being saved per cubic meter of ton
[corrects himself] 300 kg of cement per cubic meter of concrete. This means
that today we almost make 2 cubic meters of concrete with the cement that we
used to make only 1 cubic meter.  It is harder. It is not the cement that makes
it hard. Too much cement affects the concrete's quality. It should have the
right proportion. This is very important.

78.  By saving, we have products that require new cement production lines. In
addition, we are getting new cement production lines. We are building them. We
will continue to expand our cement industry.

79.  We used to produce 28 cubic meters of wood, [corrects himself] 28 cubic
meters of concrete per cubic meter of wood. The wood was chopped off
everywhere. By saving, preserving wood, using boards, the MICONS has already
reached 45 cubic meters. I don't know how the mini-brigade members are doing.
We may get to 90. If 100,000 cubic meters are turned into 300,000 cubic meters
of wood, we can now do with 100,000 what we used to do with 300,000. This is
very important because it is very difficult to get additional amounts of wood.
We have to stretch it out by saving, multiply the productivity of wood in
construction.

80.  Our country is also going to produce some tens of thousands of additional
cubic meters of wood from the trees the revolution planted. Now we have to
multiply each cubic meter of wood by three. So, construction will continue to
increase.

81.  We can carry out all the ambitious plans we intend to carry out. The
contingents are multiplying. There are 30,000 men working in contingents with
great productivity.  Contingents do twice as much as was traditionally done in
our country with half the people. They also do it quickly. They complete
projects. They execute them with quality. So, construction will continue to
increase considerably and we will be able to have the houses we need in a
certain number of years. We will be able to have all the schools and all the
installations we need.

82.  Construction is essential for the development of the country, essential
for industries and agriculture, and for economic and social development. This
school needed a certain amount of cement, stone, sand, wood, steel, furniture,
equipment, everything. We had to build it. We need it very much. I am sure that
our construction capability will increase considerably in the next few years
and our people will be able to receive the benefits of this huge effort.

83.  This capability needs to be improved even more. It should be even more
efficient. I use the word Zoilo [not further identified] used. Teachers should
work with the contingent spirit. The idea is the contingent spirit.  Working in
this way, we can accelerate our development a great deal.

84.  All that is left for me is to congratulate today all the education
workers, all the students, all the families that have had the pleasure of
sending their children to the various types of schools, to congratulate our
young students. Let's hope that next year we do not only talk about six new
schools, about eight new schools--which is what we have--but that we can soon
talk about 24 special education schools and about all of the ones that are
being built in the rest of the country.

85.  Fatherland or death, we will win! [Crowd shouts: ``We will win!'']
[applause]
-END-


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