Cuba ratifies its commitment to the elimination of racism

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 9 (ACN) The Cuban State and civil society are committed to the anti-racist cause, to honor our African roots and the Cuban color, raised by the national poet Nicolas Guillen, ratified Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, at the opening today of the International Conference Cuba 2024 for the Decade of Afro-descendants.

Five years ago, the Council of Ministers approved the National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination, Cuban Color, a political will of the country's leadership to eliminate all forms of discrimination and promote inclusion, integration and respect for identities, led by first secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and president of the country, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez.

From the beginning, the scientific basis, the diagnosis, the criteria of experts and activists, and the careful study of the Cuban population laid the foundations for the work of the Program, in pursuit of eradicating a scourge that, although from the very moment of the triumph of the Revolution it was the determination of the nascent Government to fight it, the reality is that some people still persist in prejudiced manifestations around the color of their skin, he added.

According to the head of the sector, the Color Cubano Program has a commission made up of representatives from 19 ministries, three national entities, 18 civil society organizations and 55 social activist groups.

Actor Danny Glover and intellectual James Early said that in the humanist principles and ideals of redemption, equity and social justice, no other country has done more or achieved as much as the largest of the Antilles, and denounced the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.

Speeches by Philemon Yang, president of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Togo and Carla Natalie Barnett, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, reflected how slavery and colonialism continue to destroy lives and opportunities, preventing billions of people from fully enjoying their human rights and freedoms.

The opening of the International Conference was attended by Ines Maria Champán, Cuban deputy prime minister, Anayansi Rodriguez, deputy minister of foreign affairs, Martha Bonnet, president of the Cuban Writers and Artists Association, and Miguel Barnet, president of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation.

The 2024 International Conference for the Decade for People of African Descent will have a broad program divided into a plenary session and four working commissions where 22 panels will be presented on the preservation of historical memory, education in the value of anti-racism, confronting discriminatory behavior, the work of the media, scientific research, employment policies, access to health, legal framework and social activism.