Por Redacción TV Yumurí 
Called to update their work methods according to the new times, to modify the base structures and incorporate the new generations to this work in the community, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) arrive at the assemblies prior to their X Congress.
About the progress of this process in Matanzas, its characteristics and objectives, and the challenges facing the leadership of this mass organization today, we spoke from the Girón newspaper with Norlenis Serpa Santos, provincial coordinator of the CDRs in Yumurino territory.
—What activities focus the attention of the CDRs in Matanzas in view of its 63rd anniversary?
—We are immersed in the assemblies for the X Congress. In them, as in the process of revitalization and strengthening, we are interested in contextualizing our function from the base, looking inside ourselves and considering the need to consolidate ourselves according to the current times.
“We are talking about more than 9,900 structures that are taking over the debates at the CDR level and at the level of the 1,100 zones throughout the Matanzas territory. To date, five municipalities have concluded this balance with the Municipal Assembly: Martí, Unión de Reyes, Ciénaga de Zapata, Perico and Calimete.
“In these spaces, the process of revitalization and strengthening of the organization at present was analyzed in depth, and there has been a debate on how to temper the fundamental mission and the principles that govern the CDRs (revolutionary popular surveillance, defense of the revolution, the recovery of raw materials, blood donations, etc.), to the new demands of the Cuban context, including work with young people, an issue that is a priority for us”.
—What is the focus of this strategy for working with young people?
—This is one of the significant changes that we are already implementing, precisely because their incorporation into the direction of our structures represents a priority, not only for their strengthening and the energy and renewed ideas that they always contribute, but also to make them gain commitment, because they are a generation that did not live through the early stages of CDR development, and we are aware that many do not know this history.
“In Matanzas we have around 78 CDR youth detachments, with a presence in each of the popular councils. These groups are made up of about 30 members, and represent an important potential that has helped attract reserves to lead the organization, which has also modified its structures from within and has varied the number of members in the direction from the base.
“Another of the significant changes is the modification of the incorporation of young CDR members into the ranks of the CDR, which occurs at the age of 16, not at 14 as determined before. The purpose of this transformation is to integrate membership lists with the list of voters and Identity Card procedures. We are also interested in rescuing the children’s CDRs, including in the curriculum the training of children about our organization and promoting, in a general sense, those traditions that have always accompanied us”.
—Matanzas is one of the provinces with the best results in the movement of urban agriculture. In this sense, what are the main challenges facing the tenth congress?
—Yes, this work has been recognized on several occasions as a national reference, for what we have achieved in terms of food production from the neighborhood. It is an initiative that promotes the possibility that all the neighbors from their patio, from their balcony, grow food for their consumption and that of the population.
“We have more than 92,000 patios declared through the Cultiva tu pedacito popular movement, which undoubtedly contributes to minimizing the effects of the Blockade with the production of our own food. There are very good experiences in several people’s councils of the provincial capital itself which, since their management, support and encourage this type of initiative, and more and more people are calling us to join this movement every day.
“That is why it constitutes one of the priorities that we have been developing together with urban agriculture. In this sense, and with a view to the 63rd anniversary, we propose to add 63 patios with this condition”.
—What changes have you managed to implement based on the organizational needs and the characteristics of Cuban society today?
—The missions of the CDRs do not vary but the demands today are different. For example, with respect to the CDR guard, we are aware of the high level of population aging, and that there are neighborhoods where many elderly people live alone or have some type of illness that prevents them from maintaining revolutionary vigilance as we had conceived.
“That is why the guard is not being asked to be carried out 24 hours, but according to the particular characteristics of the different places. It’s probably not at night, but at least during the day. Or, if in the CDR there are economic objectives such as warehouses, schools or hospitals, we must try to preserve those resources and encourage the importance of this task, especially now that so many criminal acts are being committed.
“However, we intend to look for alternatives and increase the combativeness of the neighbors, because we cannot lose that sense of belonging to the neighborhood, that tradition that has always accompanied us in the defense of the Homeland.
“We have to ask people how they want our activities, especially young people, so that they feel part of and reform this movement, and with it the big house. This is the organization of Cuban families, and the main goal in the midst of so many changes is that those stories behind the soups of September 27, the movements of the pioneer guard or the decoration of the neighborhoods by their own inhabitants, become a reality and not the anecdotes of parents or grandparents”. (ALH)
Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon