Díaz Canel talks about the Social Communication Law. Photo: Revolution Studios

(Unofficial version)

The Law represents a first step in the process of regulation and organization of the Social Communication System in Cuba, and this is how it should be understood, even if it is the result of a long process of debate and revision.

It is not written in stone, as nothing related to Social Communication can be in the fast age we live in, precisely as a result of the development of the so-called Information and Knowledge Society.

Although the declared objectives and the wording of the articles of this Law have a necessarily regulatory focus, their greatest value lies in the recognition of the potentialities and benefits of communication for the development of the country.

The long period of confrontation and the aggressiveness that characterizes the criminal policy of the U.S. Government impacts all areas of Cuban society and, in particular, in communication, but it is not by far the reason for this Law.

What we are called upon to approve today is, fundamentally, the design of a framework of possibilities that point to the development of the Social Communication System in Cuba, which, in addition, we have conceived as one of the pillars of government management.

If the norm has limits, and it does, it is because it recognizes and expresses the current state in the areas of knowledge and professional practice associated with communication in Cuba. That means that it will necessarily have to continue to be articulated and developed.

Including aspects related to institutional and community communication, and not only media or specifically associated with the press, provides a more comprehensive vision of what communication is.

One of the great challenges imposed on us right now by the new Law derives from the conceptions, visions and interpretation of communication in the digital field and its integration with the rest of the System, due to the complexity of a scenario that evolves at an unprecedented speed, as we mentioned before.

I would like to highlight the importance of recognizing and including the role and place of people in the organizational, media and community spheres, since all those who participate in communication processes, influence, interact, relate, have levels of influence and in sum act directly or indirectly in their logics of operation, decide to some degree the effectiveness of Communication.

On the other hand, these areas only make sense in their interrelation with people, from the actions that are designed for them, with them or taking into account their characteristics and / or needs.

It is fundamental and necessary that together with this Law and in favor of its more effective implementation, education for communication and media and information literacy in people be promoted and promoted.

I speak of the imperative need to provide the population with knowledge, skills and tools for a critical understanding and assessment of the logics of operation of the media, in addition to enhancing and facilitating access to them and to information and communication technologies.

Recognizing and pondering communication education is crucial to assume the new communication processes, which today are manifested above all in the digital space, including those that exist and those that we wish to create or strengthen as a socialist society.

It is essential to understand how much the development of Information and Communication Technologies has impacted the role of the subjects involved in these processes.

It is no longer a simple sender-message-receiver formula. Today a single user can have more impact on any digital platform than the traditional "media", even those with a presence in the networks. Presence does not guarantee visibility.

More than two thirds of the global population now accesses the Internet with some regularity, but this space is increasingly dominated by a small group of transnationals that, through platforms, services, systems, have managed to capture the traffic and attention of practically all users.

This level of concentration of consumption on platforms that are not publicly owned, and that establish restrictions on the practices of users according to their interests (although in the discourse they say the opposite), as well as the mechanisms of filtering information from algorithms, make access to information and communication possibilities are, In short, less and less of public domain and use. Less and less democratic.

As the law is a norm of high strategic impact, because it regulates one of the areas of greatest attack against Cuba, some of the main debates in intellectual and professional sectors have focused on specific aspects of the norm that could favor or legitimize certain manifestations of subversion and impact on national security, in a context of intense media war.

The main elements of debate have had a preventive approach to subversion and point mainly to the character of the media and its ownership; the regulation around the figure of sponsorship and within this patronage.

Based on these concerns, adjustments were made to its articles and statements, seeking to eliminate ambiguities and avoid future interpretations that could contradict the spirit and letter of the Constitution.

In fact, the Law refers to the Constitution at least 20 times and it is recalled in 14 express mentions that it must be governed "in accordance with the laws and other normative provisions in force".

The law recognizes that the information that supports the communication processes must be truthful, objective, timely, updated, verified and understandable. These are basic principles.

As for communication in the organizational field, the Law that we finish discussing today, must become an instrument of permanent work, in order to finish understanding that the purpose is not the message they convey, but the essential usefulness of communication management based on the strategic objectives of the entity.

This legislation must enable us to overcome gaps and overcome institutional inertia. Faced with a given situation that is negatively impacting the population, responsible public servants are obliged to report immediately, from all possible spaces. For its part, it is up to the press to tell first and responsibly, every sensitive information for the people.

It is time to understand and use all the resources of social communication to promote participation, transparency, accountability, to share, that is, to unite all our knowledge in order to extract the best ideas, articulate ourselves, generate consensus.

We live in a structured and organized country, where much work is done to resist the onslaught of hostile and suffocating harassment, always determined to move forward towards greater social welfare.

It is fundamentally the responsibility of Social Communication, to contribute to the construction of the country's image in correspondence with the attributes that identify the nation and the reality we live. That strategic project may be designed by experts, but we all build it, every day.

That truth, of which the people are fundamental protagonists, must be noted every day.

Let us do it without haughtiness or boasts, from responsibility, ethics and virtue, from firmness and coherence, from elegance and moderation, without rhetoric that provokes overwhelm and rejection, with arguments and feelings, from sensitivity.

The Revolution is true dialogue that puts truth and ethics before indecency and perversity, that does not negotiate its existence, does not legitimize mercenaries and acts with security and firmness.

Opposite we have more than one space taken by extremists, fundamentalists, where the anti-Cuban forces, generators of hatred, act in permanent disposition for lynching based on lies, manipulation, distortions, incitement to violence and even military aggression.

One of the most popular musical groups inside and outside Cuba, is suffering right now, the attack of professional haters, encouraged from toxic platforms with a single objective: to provoke the end of the Revolution.

Anyone who defends the truth today is exposed not only to pay the price for his ideas, but to suffer personal disqualification, censorship and hatred.

We are not afraid of the challenge. We assume it with pride and dignity.

But that defense is only part of our sense of nationhood, which has been shaped by the sum of the individualities that we are, united essentially in the efforts to overcome our insufficiencies and in the communion of dreams to be achieved.

One of the experts who has contributed most to the legal text, Dr. Hilda Saladrigas, has summarized a fundamental essence of this law in a sentence with which I would like to conclude: "Cuba, ... In its particularity, it can and must make all practices and social communicative, in a different way, in a revolutionary way".

I would like to express my deep admiration for the young Members who have spoken here today and have offered cultured and committed arguments in favour of the Act.