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Cuban lawmakers spotlight need to preserve national identity

Xinhua, July 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cuban congressional committees this week wrapped up three days of debate on key policy issues, including closing the housing gap, attending to an aging population, and "the need to defend the nation's identity."

The question of preserving cultural identity may be gaining urgency as Cuba prepares for greater opening up to the West, especially the United States and its strong pop cultural influences.

The debates ended a day before the National Assembly of People' s Power, or congress, opened its fifth session Wednesday to review the progress of government programs and policies in the first half of 2015, which saw Cuba and Washington restore diplomatic ties after half a century of animosity.

This is the first congressional session following the restoration of ties with the United States.

State daily Granma reported on Wednesday that the Education, Culture, Science, Technology and Environment Committee held "a wide-ranging, critical and timely discussion ... on the cultural policies of public spaces and venues. The need to defend the nation's identity, and promote the consumption of quality cultural products, was emphasized by deputies as essential to the nation's sovereignty."

It provided no details of the debate or committee recommendations to the legislative session.

The committees also discussed "Cuba's aging population and measures being taken to improve group homes for the elderly and community senior citizen centers," Granma said.

"With one of the oldest populations in the region, 19 percent of Cuba's population is over 60 years of age, a figure that will reach 30.8 percent by 2035," the daily said.

Life expectancy in Cuba has surpassed 78 years, making Alzheimer's and other diseases of advanced age more prevalent, requiring the state-run health services to adapt to the new demographic reality, lawmakers recommended.

While the housing program is making progress, with 30,000 new housing units to be completed by the end of this year via government and homeowners' efforts, "progress is still considered insufficient in expanding housing," the daily said.

Also Wednesday, Granma said the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party agreed to hold its Seventh Congress on April 16, 2016, to assess the implementation of decisions taken at the Sixth Congress in April 2011, and of the First National Conference of the Party, in January 2012.

The Seventh Congress will serve to "define the path forward to continue perfecting Cuba's economic and social model, and elect members of the Central Committee."

The party congress is held every five years and will coincide with "the 55th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution and the date the party was founded."

It will be the last congress presided by Cuban Communist Party Secretary General and President Raul Castro, 84, whose term ends in 2018.

The Sixth Congress focused on introducing the economic, social, and political reforms spearheaded by Raul Castro to modernize the country's socialist system. Endite