Cuba defends world without blockades and inequality at UNESCO

Cuban Ambassador at UNESCO Yahima Esquivel on Tuesday advocated for a world without blockades or unilateral coercive measures, where the right to development prevails over the prevailing unequal economic order.

At the debates of the 217th Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Cuban diplomat warned about the growth of the abyss that separates the rich from the poor and the increase in inequalities and extreme poverty.

She charged, in a challenging scenario, that some countries insist on imposing blockades with devastating repercussions on the enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to development and food, such as Washington’s economic, commercial and financial blockade for more than six decades against Cuba.

“After the Covid-19 pandemic that shook the world and plunged it into a crisis of unprecedented global dimensions, it seemed that we had learned some lessons. However, the world today is a more insecure and unequal place,” she stressed.

According to Esquivel, the structural problems of underdevelopment remain unresolved and multidimensional crises are accumulating.

This was acknowledged by 100 heads of State and Government who met in Havana in September during the G77+China Summit, a forum at which they also insisted that peace is the most urgent priority of the community.

Cuban Ambassador Esquivel affirmed at the UNESCO Executive Council that the entity currently has all the tools to contribute to that peace and the achievement of sustainable development based on the principles of justice, equality, freedom and solidarity.