Cuba will host the upcoming Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit, continuing a long-standing history of defending justice and sovereignty internationally
Cuba is a small country, with limited economic resources, but has maintained, over the last 55 years, a foreign policy of global scope and influence based on revolutionary values and principles.
Chávez and Fidel created with ALBA a new type of strategic regional alliance.
This opinion is shared by its few – though powerful – adversaries, who have not been able to prevent the expansion and diversification of the relations Cuba has forged with governments and peoples around the world.
Within the country’s very essence, within its nature as an island and its multi-ethnic composition, lie several of the keys to understanding Cuba’s active interest in maintaining international relations throughout its history.
Strategically located in the Caribbean Sea, a region Dominican Juan Bosch described as an imperial border, the country has long been subject to attempted domination by great powers, from Spain and Great Britain, to the United States.
Under these circumstances, the country’s principal concern, beyond specific conjunctural issues, has been, and is, to guarantee our national sovereignty, independence and self-determination.
The triumph of the Cuban Revolution, January 1, 1959, made possible the realization of these objectives, deferred for years by the neo-colonial republic’s dependence on the United States. The decision to undertake the construction of socialism, just 90 miles from the shores of the world’s most powerful capitalist country, has made the consolidation of an effective foreign policy a question of life or death.
ANTI-IMPERIALISM, INTERNACIONALISM, ANTI-COLONIALISM
Cuban combatants and collaborators have made great efforts in Africa.
The United States could not tolerate the example Cuba represented for Latin America, the Caribbean, and countries throughout the Third World. Its aggressive policy was directed toward eliminating the new government by any means available.
In Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1962, the United States convened member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) to impose its policy of isolating the Cuban Revolution. There, the majority of Latin American governments led by national oligarchies surrendered to U.S. interests.
“The OAS was revealed as what it is; a ministry of yankee colonies,” Fidel said, delivering the Second Declaration of Havana to the thousands gathered February 4, 1962, in the city’s Plaza de la Revolución.
“We are going to have on our side the solidarity of all liberated peoples of the world, and we are going to have on our side the solidarity of all honorable men and women of the world,” he affirmed.
Cuba was obliged to look thousands of kilometers to the east to find allies in the construction of a new, more just type of society, based on solidarity, a project which had as its starting point an underdeveloped, single-crop economy.
Cuba’s collaboration with the Soviet Union led to the first trip into space by a Latin American astronaut, Arnaldo Tamayo.
For political, economic and security reasons, Cuba’s relations with the socialist camp, principally the Soviet Union, came to play a central role in the country’s foreign policy.
Nevertheless, efforts to improve relations with Latin American and Caribbean countries – an even the United States – were never abandoned. In fact, over the following decades, as military dictatorships and right-wing governments committed to U.S. interests gave way to less reactionary forces, the Revolution was able to create important opportunities for dialogue within this natural geographic context.
Neither did Cuba turn its back on the rest of the Third World, playing an important role as a founding member of the Non Aligned Movement, serving as the organization’s president from 1979 through 1983, at the height of the Cold War.
Cuban combatants and collaborators, from the very beginning, offered their disinterested support to several nations struggling for independence, principally in Africa and Latin America, as clear evidence of the Revolution’s anti-imperialist and anti-colonial principles. Tens of thousands of doctors, teachers and civilian advisors of various types collaborated on social and economic development projects in countries of the South.
The independence of Angola and Namibia, the beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa, the training of thousands of professionals who educated, saved lives and constructed these new countries, are but a few of the successes of this period.
Cuba’s foreign policy, just like the Revolution itself, was guided by ideals. This reality was recognized, albeit much later, even within enemy ranks.
Henry Kissinger, U.S. secretary of state under Nixon, described Fidel in his memoirs as perhaps the most genuine revolutionary leader in power at that time.
BREAKING THE SIEGE
During the early 1990’s, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp was a heavy blow to Cuba, which lost its principal market and supply of essential products overnight. Thinking that the Cuban Revolution’s final days were at hand, the most extreme anti-Cuban forces in the U.S. tightened the blockade, approving the Torricelli Act in 1992, and the Helms Burton in 1996, while at the same time, appropriating millions of dollars more to subversion and the attempt to create an internal ‘dissident’ movement.
Defying all predictions, Cuba was not only able to resist, but emerged stronger on several fronts.
Relations with countries of the South, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa took a turn for the better. Cuba’s ideals and efforts in international organizations were reinforced and the search for peace, regional integration and collaboration prioritized.
The aggressive, extraterritorial policies of the U.S. were so arrogant that their rejection was almost unanimous on an international level. Expressions of solidarity with Cuba reached new proportions, even within countries traditionally allied with the United States.
This was evidenced by the increasing support Cuba received in the United Nations General Assembly in votes against the U.S. blockade. In 1992, 59 countries voted to approve the resolution calling for an end to the blockade, three against, and 71 abstained. In 1997, one year after approval of the Helms-Burton Act, 143 voted in favor, three against and 17 abstained.
Despite economic difficulties, Cuba’s international solidarity was expanded. During the most trying years of the Special Period, Cuba did not hesitate to make its human capital, and its meager resources, available to the world’s peoples. Medical help was offered to several Central American countries devastated by Hurricanes George and Mitch in 1998. The country’s schools remained open not only for Cubans, but for thousands of foreign students who shared the hard times, to become engineers, teachers and professionals in many other fields.
NEW SUCCESSES & CONTINUED THREATS
Millions in more than 30 countries have recuperated their vision as a result of Operation Miracle.
The first decade of the 21st century began with an event which shook the country: the struggle for the return of Elián González, a small boy illegally held in the United States. This time the Cuban people took foreign policy into the streets, with massive demonstrations which did not cease until Juan Miguel González, landed on Cuban soil with his son in his arms.
The decade brought new threats, as well. For eight years, the world was obliged to endure the Republican administration of George W. Bush, who initiated one of the darkest periods of U.S. foreign policy.
Preventative wars, collateral damage, secret prisons, torture of prisoners became common during Bush’s mandate. The attack on the World Trade Center in New York was used to unleash a paranoid war against a new, elusive enemy: terrorism.
The war policy implemented was a direct threat, given that Cuba was added to the list of more than 60 countries which constituted the ‘dark corners’ of the world, accused of sponsoring terrorism and, therefore, open to attack as part of a preventative war.
The argument was ludicrous. More than 50 years of aggression against the Cuban Revolution were evidence enough to demonstrate that the United States systematically practiced state terrorism in the pursuit of its objectives.
Moreover, self-proclaimed terrorist organizations were sheltered and protected on U.S. territory, along with criminals who caused death and destruction in Cuba, such as Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosh, among many others.
Rather than arresting and prosecuting these terrorists, U.S. authorities imprisoned a group of Cubans seeking to gather information on these criminal activities which threatened the security of U.S citizens, as well as Cuba.
Since that time, Cuba has waged a battle for the release of five national heroes, the Cuban Five, a battle which has become central to the historic conflict between the two countries and a priority on Cuba’s international policy agenda.
The international campaign to free these anti-terrorists, ongoing for more than 15 years now, has garnered expressions of solidarity from around the world, including the United States.
On another front, Cuba’s leadership among Third World countries was reaffirmed when the country again assumed the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2006.
Throughout the 1990’s the country achieved important successes internationally, including overwhelming opposition to the U.S. blockade as evidenced by repeated United Nations General Assembly votes.
After the elimination of the Human Rights Commission, Cuba was elected to the new Human Rights Council, on which the United States does not have a seat, revealing the vacuous nature of arguments used to justify the country’s aggressive, subversive policy toward Cuba and the real objectives of U.S. interest in human rights.
AN END TO THE LONG NIGHT OF NEOLIBERALISM
During the first ten years of the 21st century, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a radical transformation in the relationship of forces, dominated until that time by the right and neoliberalism.
Over this time period, as Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has said, an end was put to “the long night of neoliberalism” which had condemned the great majority to poverty, while a few privileged layers accumulated more wealth.
The election of Hugo Chávez as President of Venezuela in 1999, and the subsequent government victories of progressive movements in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Nicaragua, among others, created a new environment of cooperation and dialogue between countries in the region.
In November 2005, in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata, an event took place, very indicative of this new environment. At a meeting of the OAS there, the free trade agreement proposed by the U.S. to be implemented across the continent was defeated.
Some months later, another landmark event promoting the unity of Latin American peoples occurred. In December 2004, President Hugo Chávez and the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, issued a Joint Statement to create the Bolivarian Alternative for the People’s of Our America, ALBA, and the organization’s first summit was held in Havana.
Shortly thereafter, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Ecuador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and Honduras joined the alliance. This last country left the group in 2009, after constitutional President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown by a coup d’etat.
“We affirm that the cardinal principle which must guide ALBA is broad solidarity among the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, based on the thinking of Bolívar, Martí, Sucre, O’Higgins, San Martín, Hidalgo, Petión, Morazán, Sandino, and many other forerunners, without narrow nationalisms which reject the objective of building a Greater Homeland in Latin America, as the heroes of our liberation struggles dreamed,” the founding document stated.
SOLIDARITY: PRINCIPLE AND GOAL
In this new environment and after leaving behind the most serious economic difficulties, the scope of Cuba’s internationalist cooperation became an example of what can be accomplished when a country is guided by the principle of justice.
The Comprehensive Health Program emerged, in an effort to extend medical care to some 100 countries, fundamentally in Africa and Latin America. The project included the training and development of human resources in the countries where Cuban medical professionals worked, as well as within Cuba. During the 1999-2000 academic year, the Latin American School of Medicine had an enrollment of 3,000 students from 23 countries, redoubling its commitment to train youth from humble backgrounds to become doctors in their own communities.
In 2005, the serious flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in the United States, motivated Cuba to organize the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, given this name by Fidel in honor of a New York doctor who participated in Cuba’s war of independence.
The brigade, rejected by U.S. authorities, was deployed shortly thereafter to Pakistan, devastated by a powerful earthquake, the worst natural disaster ever experienced in that country which caused 80,000 deaths and affected a total of three million persons.
The Henry Reeve Brigade has undertaken more than a dozen missions to support the victims of earthquakes, floods and other disasters in Guatemala, Pakistan, Bolivia, Indonesia, Belize, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, China, Haiti, El Salvador and Chile.
If in fact medical care has been the flagship of Cuba’s international cooperation, in other areas such as education, the country’s contribution has been equally important. More than a million adults around the world have learned to read and write through Cuba’s literacy instruction program Yo sí puedo (Yes, I can), developed by the country’s pedagogical experts.
Additionally, as ALBA member countries, Cuba and Venezuela have worked jointly on several international missions, including Operation Miracle which has proposed performing six million surgeries over a ten year period, to address a variety of ophthalmological problems and return or improve vision. The plan was first implemented in Venezuela and has gone on to treat patients in some 30 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.
Cuban health professionals also contributed to missions in Venezuela which have changed the face of that country, such as Barrio Adentro, a community medicine program which makes health care available to millions of previously underserved citizens.
Without abandoning the principles of solidarity which have always guided Cuba’s international cooperation, the country’s work is being transformed to become part of a system of collaboration between countries of the South which is mutually beneficial to all.
AN HISTORIC SUMMIT
The second summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), set to take place January 28-29 in Havana, will be an historic event. Coming to an end will be Cuba’s one-year pro tempore presidency of this organization which includes the 33 independent nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, without the tutelage of any external power.
In 2008, in response to a call made by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the countries which are now CELAC members met in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil.
There they decided to include Cuba as a member in the Río Group and agreed to create a unifying organization for Latin America and the Caribbean, without the United States.
Cuba actively participated in the discussions leading to the creation of what we now know as CELAC, which had its founding summit in Caracas, in December of 2011.
Its establishment was described by Fidel Castro as the most important institutional event of the last 100 years, indicative of the region’s readiness to achieve a new paradigm of integration based on social inclusion, not commercial interests. The fact that Cuba was the second country chosen to assume the presidency is no accident, but rather recognition of the validity and relevance of the principles, values and objectives of Cuba’s foreign policy, as it has been implemented for over 50 years.
It also constitutes a clear message of unity within the region, a rejection of the U.S. aggression Cuba has faced. It is the United States which has been left totally isolated, as a result of its policies of blockade and subversion.
The realization of a strategy
At times, the pace of our daily lives does not allow us to see what is happening in front of our very eyes, within the society where we function every day.
This seems to have been the case in 2013. The Cuban Revolution has reached its 55th anniversary and experienced a year during which it has inconspicuously reinvented itself. It has been a year in which a series of measures have been implemented which should allow 2014 to be of critical importance to the updating of the economic model we are building.
Marino Murillo Jorge, a Council of Ministers vice president and head of the Implementation and Development Permanent Commission charged with making a reality of the Policy Guidelines approved by the 6th Party Congress, has said that, over the next two years, we will face the most complex and difficult tasks required to update the Cuban economic model.
Since November 8, 2010, when the proposed Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution were first presented, their strategic nature, as opposed to tactical, was established. Their gradual implementation was to be, and is, the basis upon which our economic model is being updated, through both short and long term projections.
This conception was evident throughout 2013, as the focus was kept on how to develop the country, not on just one measure or another, but on implementing government and state enterprise policies in a comprehensive fashion.
The central goal of policies being implemented is to unencumber society’s productive forces, in both state and privately operated sectors.
The brief sampling of policies launched in 2013 (see below), makes clear that this strategy was followed, laying the foundation for more substantive changes in 2014 directed toward generating wealth for the economic and social development of the country, making possible a future increase in workers’ income.
Among the 2013 changes meant to unfetter the productive forces were modifications in the process of establishing state enterprises’ social objectives and responsibilities to the state. State enterprises were also authorized to purchase products and services directly from individuals and cooperatives.
The new distribution and commercialization system for agricultural products, launched as an experiment in December in the provinces of La Habana, Artemisa and Mayabeque, should stimulate food production and expedite the entire production-transportation-sales process.
The initiation of a timeline for the unification of the country’s two currencies, beginning with the implementation of provisions for incorporated economic actors, which should promote an increase in efficiency and more accurate measurement of economic performance, was one of the year’s most important announcements.
During the National Assembly’s December session, it was reported that, in January 2014, the first container terminal would be inaugurated in the Mariel Special Development Zone, expected to become in an important pole of attraction for foreign investment and new technology, contributing to increased exports and the substitution of imports. The government of Brazil has provided financing for the project.
Additionally, the establishment of non-agricultural cooperatives was authorized; the wholesale market restructured; state enterprises were given more autonomy, including the opportunity to retain a greater portion of after-tax earnings, to support re-capitalization and improve wages and working conditions. New regulations have been promulgated to facilitate individual access to credit for a variety of purposes.
Since April 18, 2011, when the 6th Party Congress approved the Guidelines, which ultimately included 313 proposals, discussed by millions of Cuban men and women who submitted more than 180 modifications to the original draft, an intense effort has been undertaken to ensure their implementation, in a carefully planned fashion, “without haste, but without pause,” as President Raúl Castro has said. The perfecting of central state administration and other national entities continues, with the objective of making these more efficient and separating government functions from those of state enterprises.
During 2013, progress was made in the organization and functioning of provincial and municipal administrations in the new provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque, including the clear delimitation of the responsibilities of People’s Power Assemblies from those of local administrations.
Other measures taken during the year had significant repercussions throughout society, including the updating of the country’s migration policy in January; expanded access to the Internet with the establishment of more than 100 points across the country in June; and the reorganization of the transportation sector.
It is clear that this is a complex task which will require time, and above all, continuing study and evaluation of decisions made, so that any implementation errors or missteps can be rectified in a timely manner.
Reiterating the same strategic view emphasized on other occasions, President Raúl Castro Ruz closed the December, 2013, National Assembly saying, “We are leaving behind the short term vision, conditioned by emergencies and the unforeseen; We are now in a position to project development through 2030, based on solid information and confidence in the future, an issue to which we will devote the attention required in 2014.”
JANUARY
TAX SYSTEM LAW 113
Tax System Law 113, approved by the National Assembly in July 2012, entered into effect, along with relevant regulations included in Decree No. 308, to align new taxes with the updating of the country’s economic model. Established were norms related to the payment of taxes, rates and contributions to the State Budget, as well as the obligation of all income-earning individuals and incorporated economic actors to pay taxes. The new tax law promotes a more equitable redistribution of state income. Guidelines 56 through 65 addressed.
FEBRUARY
BROADER ACCESS TO BANK CREDIT
Individual access to credit was expanded, with the option of offering as collateral possessions which have not previously been considered appropriate by banks. A state enterprise may now serve as a guarantor for a self-employed worker renting one of its properties. Agricultural Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCS) may create guarantor funds to back members’ credit applications. Important to the implementation of Guidelines 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16 and 50-53.
APRIL
MODIFICATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY STATE ENTEPRISES TO NATIONAL BUDGET
The Council of Ministers approved that, in accordance with Guideline 19, once state enterprises had met their tax obligations and commitments to the state, earnings can be used to create development funds, make capital investments and provide workers with incentives. Enterprises may retain up to 50% of after-tax earnings, which can be additionally used for research, training and increased wages linked to production. They will cease to contribute depreciation and amortization, as of 2014.
MAY
EXPANSION OF INDIVIDUAL SUBSIDIES FOR HOME REPAIR & CONSTRUCTION
Council of Ministers Agreement 7387, along with resolutions from the National Housing Institute and the Ministry of Finances and Prices, modified policies governing the awarding of subsidies to individuals for home repair or construction. Benefits were expanded and the new policies should allow for a greater number of people to qualify. The amount which may be awarded was increased and costs related to the acquisition of technical documentation and license may now be covered. In addition to owners of houses, those who own or rent apartments may also now apply to cover the costs of repairs. More products may now be purchased with subsidies, including P-350 cement which is only available in CUC. Guideline 299.
MORE FLEXIBLE SOCIAL OBJECTIVES FOR STATE ENTERPRISES
Resolution No. 134 from the Ministry of Economy and Planning, published in Official Gazette No. 14, introduced new measures guiding the definition of the social objectives for which state enterprises are responsible. Advancing in accordance with Guideline 13, these companies were afforded more independence, in order to increase production and efficiency. The economic activity assigned to an enterprise as its social objective may be offered to any incorporated entity or individual and the company’s management may make decisions about secondary activities related to the principal responsibility. Companies now have the authority, after meeting state obligations, to sell any surplus production at market prices.
JUNE
REORGANIZATION OF WHOLESALE MARKET
Resolution 242 was published in Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 17, outlining new provisions for wholesale distribution of food items, other consumer goods and intermediary prime materials, as well as services. These measures were developed in accordance with instructions approved by the Council of Ministers in November of 2012, when the reorganization of wholesale distribution was proposed, to guarantee better supplies around the country, to both authorized individuals and incorporated entities, including cooperatives and budgeted institutions. Guidelines 304 and 307.
JULY
NON-AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES
Some 124 cooperatives in various economic sectors began operations. Cooperative management of economic activities, which had not been efficiently undertaken by state enterprises, was launched, to allow the state to withdraw from arenas which are not critical to the country’s development. Cooperatives are to be based on the associates’ efforts and constitute a source of employment in sectors of direct interest to the population, creating a positive impact within the community. Currently there are approximately 200 cooperatives functioning, an additional 270 have been authorized and 228 are under consideration. Guidelines 2 and 25-28.
RENTING OF REAL ESTATE ADMINISTERED BY STATE BODIES
Legal norms were approved to allow the renting of state-owned dwellings and other properties to Cuban individuals resident in the country, with the objective of making these available for residential purposes, as well as for the establishment of stores, warehouses and offices. Guideline 297.
SEPTEMBER
COMMUNITY CENTERS AND REST HOMES FOR THE ELDERLY
The Council of Ministers approved measures to improve Casas de Abuelos community centers and elder care homes known as Hogares de Ancianos, as proposed in Guideline 144 which calls for the implementation of strategies to address population aging. Capacity will be expanded in these facilities during the period 2013-2015.
MARIEL SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE
The Council of State approved the Mariel Special Development Zone Decree-Law which described the project as critical to the country’s present and future, as a response to Guideline 103 which proposes, “The creation of Special Development Zones which allow for increased exports; the effective substitution of imports; high-tech and local development projects; while contributing to the generation of employment.” The Mariel Special Development Zone regulatory framework includes the Decree-Law, related regulations and seven complementary resolutions which went into effect November 1. A container terminal will be the first facility completed within the zone, expected to become the country’s principal foreign trade port, receiving and dispatching products.
COMPENSATION POLICY FOR ATHLETES & COACHES
The Council of Ministers approved a new compensation policy for athletes, coaches and specialists, intended to improve sports; generate sources of income; promote competitiveness; gradually increase salaries and assure than everyone is compensated in accordance with their work and effort. (Guidelines 143, 162, 170 and 171). This will be especially true for those achieving outstanding competitive performances. The policy defines a high performance athlete as one who assumes the practice of a rigorous sport and full-time training, with all related tensions, physical and psychological demands, in a disciplined fashion, with dedication and a sense of patriotism. After fulfilling national commitments, athletes have the option of signing contracts with teams abroad, under the protection of Cuba’s sports institute, INDER, to ensure that they are not treated as simple merchandise. Individual prizes won will be retained in full by the protagonists, 80% for the athlete; 15% for coaches and 5% for support specialists. A secure retirement will be provided all high performance athletes.
OCTOBER
TIMELINE FOR CURRENCY AND EXCHANGE RATE UNIFICATION INITIATED
The Council of Ministers agreed to initiate the implementation of the first policies contained in a timeline designed to lead to the unification of the country’s two currencies, which is essential to the re-establishment of the Cuban (CUP) peso’s value and its functioning as a currency, as a unit of accounting, a means of payment and savings.
In conjunction with other policies directed toward updating the country’s economic model, this measure will promote the ordering of the economy and more accurate measurement of performance. The principal changes, during this first stage, will affect only incorporated economic actors, and are intended to promote increased efficiency; more accurate evaluation of economic activity; and to stimulate production, substitution of imports and the export of goods and services. It was reiterated that persons who have obtained income legally, held in cash or as bank deposits, will not be affected. Subsidized retail prices on certain basic products and individual subsidies will continue as long as economic conditions within the country require. Guideline 55.
NOVEMBER
RESPONSIBILITIES OF STATE ENTERPRISES MODIFIED
In an effort to strengthen management within state enterprises, changes were experimentally made in the conception of such companies’ responsibility to the state. Executive leaders of several enterprises attached to the Ministry of Industry and that of Construction, Energy and Mining were authorized to make direct sales to other incorporated entities, once they have fulfilled all contracts with the state. This should contribute to expanding the wholesale market and allow enterprises to increase earnings, to fund capital investment and better workers’ compensation. The change will be gradually extended to other sectors. Guidelines 1, 2 and 13.
SOCIAL OBJECTIVES OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES BROADENED
Ministry of Agriculture Resolution 673 approved the updating of the social objectives of Units of Cooperative Agricultural Production (UBPC), Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPA), as well as Credit and Services Cooperatives (CCS). Authorized activities now include the provision of services and retail sales, in addition to production. Cooperatives may purchase products from other cooperatives and small farmers – both landowners and those who are working land in usufruct – to sell this produce in retail outlets. Guideline 13.
DECEMBER
NEW SYSTEM FOR SALES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
Regulations permitting the experimental implementation of new policies governing the sales of agricultural products in the provinces of La Habana, Artemisa and Mayabeque went into effect. Policies which created obstacles were eliminated and the process of commercialization was simplified and streamlined with the intention of improving the network of both retail and wholesale outlets, making it more accessible to both producers and consumers. Different forms of agricultural production will operate within the same framework, requiring all to be competitive. In accordance with Guidelines 181, 183, 186, 304 and 312, these changes should contribute to reducing losses of products due to poor management of distribution and provide more direct links between producers and consumers.
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