to produce, to resist, to innovate, and to refuse surrender
En las tierras de Cienfuegos, Cuba reunió a sus campesinos para conmemorar sesenta y cinco años de organización colectiva y el centenario de Fidel Castro, recordando que la tierra no es solo sustento sino también identidad y resistencia. El vicepresidente Salvador Valdés Mesa presidió un acto que fue tanto político como cultural, donde la voz de una joven agricultora de Aguada de Pasajeros resonó como símbolo de una generación que elige quedarse y producir. Detrás de la celebración, sin embargo, persiste una realidad material severa: el embargo estadounidense priva a los agricultores cubanos de semillas, maquinaria y tecnología, convirtiendo cada cosecha en un acto de voluntad tanto como de trabajo.
- Una joven campesina de Cienfuegos tomó la palabra ante altos funcionarios del Partido Comunista y convirtió su testimonio personal en un llamado colectivo a producir y resistir.
- El presidente de la ANAP cifró en millones las pérdidas anuales que el embargo estadounidense impone al agro cubano, cortando el acceso a insumos básicos que ningún sistema agrícola puede ignorar.
- Las provincias de Matanzas y Sancti Spíritus fueron reconocidas como destacadas, mientras Cienfuegos recibió el título de vanguardia nacional, marcando una competencia interna que busca estimular la producción.
- El gobierno definió cinco direcciones estratégicas —entre ellas seguridad alimentaria y transición energética— como respuesta estructural a las presiones externas e internas que enfrenta el campo cubano.
- Poetas y cantores de música campesina compartieron el escenario con los funcionarios, recordando que la identidad rural cubana no se reduce a cifras de producción sino a una cultura viva que también resiste.
El 17 de mayo, Cienfuegos fue el escenario de la celebración nacional del Día del Campesino y el 65 aniversario de la ANAP, la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños. El vicepresidente Salvador Valdés Mesa presidió el acto junto a altos dirigentes del Partido Comunista, pero el momento más significativo lo protagonizó Ailén Amador Sánchez, una joven agricultora de Aguada de Pasajeros que habló en nombre de los trabajadores del campo de Cienfuegos. Su discurso, enraizado en la tierra roja del interior, invocó el legado de Fidel Castro —cuyo centenario también se conmemora este año— y planteó una pregunta que ella misma respondió: producir, resistir, innovar y no rendirse ante las presiones del embargo estadounidense.
Félix Duarte Ortega, presidente de la ANAP y miembro del Consejo de Estado, ofreció un balance que combinó historia y urgencia. Describió con precisión el costo del bloqueo: millones en pérdidas anuales, imposibilidad de acceder a semillas, repuestos, maquinaria, fertilizantes y tecnología. Cada carencia se traduce en menor producción, menor eficiencia y menor capacidad exportadora. Frente a ese cuadro, el gobierno ha trazado cinco prioridades estratégicas —acordadas días antes en una reunión con el presidente Díaz-Canel— que abarcan desde la defensa nacional y la seguridad alimentaria hasta la transición energética y el fortalecimiento organizativo de las cooperativas rurales.
La ceremonia no fue solo un acto político. Poetas y músicos campesinos, entre ellos el conocido como El Jilguerito, tocaron el tres y el laúd y cantaron la vida de quienes trabajan la tierra. Ese contrapunto cultural subrayó que la ANAP no es únicamente una estructura administrativa, sino parte de una tradición viva. El acto cerró con un reconocimiento a las organizaciones campesinas e indígenas internacionales que han expresado solidaridad con Cuba, y con la afirmación de que los agricultores cubanos, pese a todo, no están solos.
In Cienfuegos on May 17th, Cuba's Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa stood before a gathering of the country's small farmers to mark Peasant Day and a milestone that carries weight in Cuban political life: sixty-five years since the founding of ANAP, the National Association of Small Farmers, and one hundred years since Fidel Castro's birth.
The ceremony drew senior Communist Party officials—José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz from the party's Secretariat, and Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, a member of the Central Committee and vice prime minister. But the day belonged to the farmers themselves, and to a young woman named Ailén Amador Sánchez, who spoke on behalf of the agricultural workers of Cienfuegos. She came from Aguada de Pasajeros, from the red earth of the countryside, and she had made a choice that shaped her life: to stay on the land and make it produce. When she spoke, she spoke not only for herself but, as she said, for Fidel's legacy and vision.
Her words carried the weight of the moment. She asked what Fidel would ask of young farmers today, and answered her own question: to produce, to resist, to innovate, and to refuse surrender in the face of pressures and coercive measures from the world's most powerful empire—a reference unmistakable in its directness to the decades-long U.S. embargo. The provinces of Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus received recognition as outstanding performers; Cienfuegos itself was named the national vanguard.
Félix Duarte Ortega, president of ANAP and a member of Cuba's Council of State, closed the ceremony with a recounting of peasant struggles and an accounting of damage. The embargo, he said, costs Cuban farmers millions each year. It cuts them off from seeds, spare parts, machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, animal feed—the basic inputs that any agricultural system requires to function. Without access to these materials, farmers cannot adopt new technologies. Production falls. Efficiency drops. The land yields less. Exports suffer. Foreign currency dries up. The entire economy feels the weight.
Duarte Ortega outlined five priorities the government had defined just days earlier in a meeting with President Miguel Díaz-Canel and a delegation of farmers. These directions span national defense, food security, energy transition, and the creation of a political movement capable of solving the concrete problems facing rural communities and the cooperatives that work within them. The language was bureaucratic, but the intent was clear: agriculture is not a sector to be managed from a distance. It is central to survival.
The ceremony itself carried the texture of Cuban rural tradition. Poets and folk singers—including one known as El Jilguerito—took the stage with tres and laud, instruments that have accompanied Cuban country life for generations. They sang the story of the men and women who work the furrows, turning their labor into verse. It was a reminder that this was not merely a political event, but a cultural one, rooted in the life of the countryside itself.
Duarte Ortega closed with gratitude to the peasant and indigenous associations that have offered support and solidarity, a gesture toward international networks of rural movements. He thanked everyone who has backed the organization over its sixty-five years, and everyone who labors under the sun to make the earth produce. The ceremony ended as it had begun: with the assertion that Cuba's farmers are not alone, even as they face pressures that no small nation should have to bear.
Citas Notables
When she speaks, she speaks also for Fidel's work and thought— Description of Ailén Amador Sánchez's remarks
The embargo prevents greater access to new technologies and limits contributions to industrial processes, affecting exports and the foreign currency that impacts the economy— Félix Duarte Ortega, ANAP president
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Cuba hold this ceremony every year? What does it actually accomplish?
It's partly commemoration, partly mobilization. You're gathering the leadership and the farmers in the same room, making a public statement that agriculture matters, that the government sees you. But it's also a moment to articulate what the government wants from the sector—in this case, five specific priorities. It's how you align people around a direction.
The young woman who spoke—Ailén—she made a point about staying on the land. Is that unusual in Cuba?
It matters enough that they put her on stage. Rural exodus is real everywhere, including Cuba. Young people leave for cities. So when someone says "I chose to stay and make the land produce," that's a statement. It's also a statement about sacrifice, about choosing hardship over easier options.
The embargo came up repeatedly. Why is that central to a ceremony about farming?
Because it's not abstract to farmers. They can't get fertilizer. They can't get spare parts for equipment. They're trying to produce food for a nation with one hand tied. It's not a political talking point for them—it's their daily reality. When Duarte Ortega lists what they can't access, he's not making an argument. He's describing their working conditions.
What are these five priorities actually asking farmers to do?
Defend the nation—that's ideological, but it also means stay, don't emigrate. Produce food—that's survival. Transition to renewable energy—that's long-term sustainability. And create political movements to solve local problems—that's asking farmers to organize themselves, to be agents, not just workers.
The folk singers at the end—was that just entertainment?
No. It was saying: this is your culture, your tradition, your story. The tres and laud are instruments of the countryside. By bringing them to a state ceremony, you're saying the government honors not just your labor but your way of life. It's a form of legitimacy.