Minutes earlier, Valdés Mesa had first contact with the Cuban diplomats and spoke about difficulties, achievements and challenges to come.

Valdés Mesa acknowledged that 2022 was a very difficult year for Cuba due to the tightening of the U.S. blockade, the attempted application of 243 measures that have been implemented since the Donald Trump administration, the Covid-19 pandemic, climatic phenomena, technological accidents, the lack of resources for the maintenance of the country´s grid power plants.

In spite of these difficulties, Valdés Mesa explained the country’s willingness to fight and to face challenges in order to move forward.

In this regard, he praised actions taken to control the pandemic and the country´s national vaccination campaign effectiveness that led 98% of Cubans to get vaccinated against Covid-19 with homegrown candidates.

Valdés Mesa also talked about domestic inflation and the pressing need to solve this scourge with supplies and constant production of goods.

He praised Cubans´ spirit of resistance and predicted this 2023 will be much better than the previous one.

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