Cuban civil society denounces its exclusion from international forum

 

HAVANA, Cuba, July 7 (ACN) The Cuban Association of United Nations (ACNU by its Spanish acronym) condemned today, in Havana, the possible exclusion of civil society organizations of the island in the forum for these purposes to be held at the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU).

Norma Goicochea Estenoz, president of the ACNU, said at a press conference that six dates before the deadline for registration for the event, scheduled for July 17 and 18 in Brussels (Belgium), are still awaiting responses to accreditation requests made by the Cuban side, the main panelists are not known, not even the final program of the meeting.

In this way, she highlighted the lack of transparency in the management of the space, which she also described as exclusive, since its conceptualization is not organized by EU structures, but by platforms of organizations specialized in Development Policy issues.
Goicochea Estenoz explained that in clear ignorance of the CELAC and the social and regional integration structures, they divided the modality of the meeting to the online and face-to-face format, which will be attended only by representatives of about 250 entities, which seriously limits the spectrum of participation, without duly communicating to all the groups involved beforehand.

The diplomat also warned in the draft presented to serve as the agenda of the conclave, the avoidance of the serious problems faced by the people of Latin America and Europe after the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic recession generated by the prevailing unjust international economic order, to position other positions more in line with the ideology of the free market.

She also pointed out the refusal to accredit reporters from the public and alternative media to cover Cuba's participation in the meeting, which, according to Lazaro Manuel Alonso, journalist of the Cuban Television Information System, will be rebroadcast online for users, probably on platforms not available for the Caribbean country.The highest representative of the civil society of the Caribbean nation pointed out that only some of the proposals presented were accepted, but this will not prevent the denunciation of the policy of hostility adopted against the Caribbean archipelago, also to the detriment of the European community, and the resolution to fight to be taken into account.

Goicochea Estenoz considered as unacceptable the prerogative to decide whether or not to include entities without exchanging with them, and the intention to present the report of the conclusions of the debates at the Summit of Heads of State and Government held at the same time.