United Nations Recognizes Cuba's Struggle Against Racism

A group of Cuban women pledging to defend the revolutionary nation and state from U.S. imperialism and its allies. The revolution celebrated its 52nd anniversary on Jan. 1, 2011., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Havana. June 17, 2011

UN recognizes Cuba’s struggle
against racism

Joel Michel Varona

HAVANA—United Nations bodies have acknowledged here Cuban advances in fighting racial discrimination, thanks to a state policy directed at benefiting all sectors of society.

Rolando García, auxiliary representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), stressed that the country’s achievements are an example to the world and currently head Latin American efforts in relation to equality of opportunities for citizens.

These advances are the result of inclusive policies of citizens’ participation promoted by the national leadership, which is now involved in consolidating those policies, said García, who is taking part in the Cuba and peoples of African descent in the Americas seminar.

In the case of Cuba, we could say that it has solved the principal problems of discrimination and has largely succeeded in incorporating African descendants into society, García noted, speaking at the Juan Marinello Cultural Research Institute in the capital.

Juan José Ortiz, UNICEF representative in Cuba, affirmed that none of the thousands of children of African descent in the region affected by poverty and its all its secondary effects are Cuban, thanks to the political will of the government.

He stressed that Cuba and Norway are the countries with the lowest infant mortality rates in the world, but it is impressive that the island has achieved these results without having the development and wealth of the European nation.

Bárbara Pesce, UN resident coordinator in Cuba, said that Cuba is an example of struggle in the context of racial discrimination. (PL)

Translated by Granma International