Lartiza Brizuela López, a rice producer from Contramaestre

“As long as there are women,
the story never ends,
here we have examples.
It is Laritza as long as she alive remains,
an example in the community,
an example that already lasts
and it can be seen on the earth,
is the fruit of her life.”

Martha Cardoso Milanés, nothing is alien to her when it comes to writing verses. On this occasion inspired by Laritza Brizuela Lopez, a member of the Clodomira Acosta Ferrals delegation of Block 11 in the Lumumba neighborhood of Contramaestre, what is so special about Lartiza that motivated the poet?
“Rice producer of the Cooperative of Credits and Services “Ruta Invasora”. I started two years ago with two hectares of rice sowing, I already have almost fourteen and 10 are ready for sowing, six of them are already sown”.

“She gives us her behavior,
She can cooperate with Cuba,
help us to progress,
She looks at the countryside with pride,
of those who know how to cooperate,
with the necessary grain,
to feed the people”.

With the support of the Federation of Cuban Women, the government, this locality and her family, this producer who graduated in accounting at the Ramón Méndez Cabezón polytechnic in Contramaestre has been able to count on. She is a native of Granma province from a family also dedicated to the production of rice and beans. That is where her attachment and knowledge come from to carry out this work with good results.

“I was motivated because I used to sow vegetables and I never had a good production until one day I said, I’m going to try with two hectares of rice. I had a good yield and I kept expanding rice planting”.
Laritza has faced many obstacles in her endeavor. The first is the fact that she is a woman because some people think she is not capable of taking on a job, considered for men only.

“I have my mother who is the horcón . She is the one who gives me strength every day. She stays there on the farm with me. I have my son who is my right arm in the field and five coworkers who are the ones who are there in the fight. Even the youngest child is six years old because I am not only a producer; I am a mother and a wife and sometimes it is difficult because even our husbands do not understand the sacrifice, nor the work we have on the land and we have to be strong, demonstrate and impose ourselves because they say don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do the other …. well look, we can do it”.

The work and perseverance of this young and stubborn woman have made her worthy of recognition, being selected as a direct delegate to the Eleventh Congress of the Federation of Cuban Women to be held in Havana from March 6 to 8.

This selection is endorsed by opinions such as those of Marulys Árevalo Arroyo, who is the president of the CDR where Laritza lives and Elena Castillo Rodríguez , president of the Federation of the FMC in Santiago de Cuba province, who expressed in the delegation to which Lartiza belongs, congratulations to this empowered woman from Contramaestre .

“Good neighbor, activist in everything. She has helped her neighbors with everything she produces on her farm. She has cooperated with salads, rice and food. She has done activities for children with cancer. We have no complaints about her, she is a good companion, a good harvester and a good neighbor”.

“Of all the women who are here in this municipality, one of them is Laritza, who will participate, along with others from the province that will represent the municipality of Contramaestre , therefore congratulations for her and for you who trusted that she could represent all of you”.

This young, enterprising and enterprising woman has other projects such as: the production of cassava to support the feeding of schools and other institutions. Another project, a little more ambitious but not impossible, occupies Lartiza’s mind and it is the breeding of fish in rice.

She is motivated because she is sure that the results will be very well received by the inhabitants of this town.