It is October 15, International Day of Rural Women, declared by the United Nations, and the roosters weave the dawn with their merry song, the sun rises with rays of clear light across plains, valleys and mountains; female voices are heard in the countryside of the western Holguin municipality of Calixto García.
Hundreds of peasants and farmers including Mercedes Velázquez Velázquez, from the CPA "July 26, prize" To the Creativity of the Rural Woman ", paint the land with their work every day.
Omara Velázquez, a peasant leader. The outstanding woman, the only one in the territory who holds the stimulus that the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians delivers, adds 40 years to her productive work in the countryside, first at home, then in the lands, the same of her grandparents, turned to cooperative areas since the decade of the seventies of last century.
Proud Mercedes smiles and lets out all the splendor of the brown skin, of her blackened hair, and of an inner being made of daily sacrifices to offer solidarity samples to fellow workers and the neighborhood.
In the CPA "26 de Julio" the unrelenting activity of Mercedes, can be found in the elaboration of fruits and vegetables of the Mini-Industry, the pigs development plans, the agricultural module and areas dedicated to the planting of viands , grains and vegetables, among other activities that contribute to the popular food.
Mercedes Velázquez, in the peasant entity of the farming community of Las Casimbas, promote knowledge management, activity in which she is championed by applying organic fertilizers and using results biological means, which promotes always as a stimulus to creativity of Rural Women.
Many women like Mercedes occupy the vanguard in the fields of the municipality of Calixto García: Sofía Parra Blanco, in Mir; in Jagüeyes; Miriam Yero Cruz and Omara Velázquez Carralero; in Las Guásimas, Gisela Carralero González, and in the Jíquima, Martha García Velázquez, who, together with the rest of the peasant women's movement of the municipality of Calixto García, arrives today 15th October the recognition for the International Day of Rural Women.
