Mr. President,

Socio-economic transformations carried out by the Cuban Revolution since 1959 have favored the design and implementation of a development strategy which harmonizes economic growth and social development.

This work policy is quite in contrast with the one that existed in Cuba before 1959.

As regards employment, the development strategy has been aimed, since the first moment, at attaining employment with a decent income for each citizen that is ready to work.

During the early 90s, after losing the main trade partners of Cuba, the dropping of 34,8% of the GDP between 1989 and 1993 and the brutal strengthening of the US economic blockade against Cuba, which included the adoption of extraterrestrial acts, such as, the Torricelli and the Helms Burton Acts, a significant deterioration of the country’s economic situation was registered, reaching in 1995, 8,3% of unemployment.

Nevertheless, the Cuban population did not lose basic services and social rights, for since 1959 all the medical and stomatological assistance up to the tertiary specialized level, as well as, education from primary to university studies are free-of-charge and universal.

After the economic recovery beginning in the second half of the 90s, the employment policy was oriented, among other issues, to diminish unemployment.

Cuba reached its full-employment condition, according to the concepts and indicators o international bodies, when registering a rate of 2,3% in 2004 and of 1,9 % in January, 2005.

Within this context, new social programmes emerged, which already add up to 167 and some of which establish the novel conception of study as employment, among them, the Course of Comprehensive Upgrading for Youngsters (CSIJ) who had quit studying and did not work. This option currently benefits 107,923 youths, out of which more than 30 thousand have enrolled in the university.

Other social programmes resulting in a new revolution in education, healthcare and culture have enabled the training and employment of tens of thousands of youths in high social and human sensibility services during the last 3 years.

Thousands of disabled people have also joined work throughout an employment programme aimed at them.

As regards female employment, Cuba carries out a National Plan of Action as part of the follow-up to the agreements of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).

Study as a form of employment has also benefited tens of thousands of workers of the sugar-cane sector, as an indispensable part of the re-structuring of this economic branch, caused by the low sugar prices in the world market and the disappearance of the traditional preferential markets.

From 1996 on, the development of urban agriculture adds up to the aforementioned, generating around 326 thousand new employments.

To sum up, after the second half of the 90’s; 1, 288,973 new jobs have been created.

The main obstacle the full employment policy of the Cuban Revolution has had to face during 45 years is United States’ illegal and genocidal blockade against Cuba which has caused direct damages accounting for $ 79,325 million

The US blockade has made the Cuban economy’s development slower and more difficult and posed a negative impact on the growth of employment sources and on the population’s income levels.

The most dangerous threat on the continuity of full employment in Cuba is the accelerated implementation by the US Government of the numerous measures against our country, contained in the so-called Report of the Commission for “Assistance to a Free Cuba”, adopted by President George W. Bush, on 6 May 2004.

Among the new anti-Cuban measures under implementation for Cuba’s re-colonization are the promotion of actions in Third Countries to disencourage tourism towards Cuba. These criminal measures are aimed at undermining even more important income sources for the Island, particularly those linked with its main industry: tourism, which has become the driving force of development, hence, of employment, in other important economic branches.

Among the measures proposed by Washington, if it ever took possession of Cuba again, are the privatization of basic social services, the elimination of the current National Security System and Social Assistance of universal coverage and the dismantling of important branches of the economy.

If all these neoliberal recipes that keep billions of human beings in developing countries under poverty and hopelessness were implemented in Cuba, millions or, at least, hundreds of thousands of Cuban workers would be thrown out to the streets without any social protection.

To sum up, shielded under their arrogance and power, Washington plans the total destruction of all the social systems in Cuba which have reached comparable and higher rates, in some cases, to those reached by developed countries and which constitute an illusion for the majority of the peoples in the world.

Thank you very much.