Ratification of Cuban Executive Order to Eliminate Racism | News

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel ratified Wednesday during the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly that the victory of the revolution in 1959 brought about radical transformations that destroyed the structural foundations of racism and forever eradicated institutionalized racial discrimination.

Read also:

Urging the United Nations to address racism and structural injustice

Speaking at the high-level meeting commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, two reference documents in the fight against racism and discrimination, the Cuban leader emphasized that his government had the will to achieve full social justice.

He specified that the Cuban Constitution provides for equality between people and the enjoyment of the same rights, freedoms and opportunities. He added that to counter the prejudices that still exist, the National Plan to Combat Racism and Discrimination was approved in 2019, allowing to deepen the liberation work of the revolution.

He also noted that thousands of Cubans supported the liberation movements in Africa, particularly against the apartheid regime, or participated in educational and health missions in other countries, thus also contributing to the eradication of racism.

The head of state expressed the prevalence of structural racism at levels classified as worrying, and questioned the amplification of hate speech “on social networks and other communication platforms,” ​​he said.

She regretted that the agreements contained in the Durban Declaration and Program of Action had not been reached to address “all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”.

In this regard, he denounced the lack of political will in the advanced capitalist countries to make these commitments a reality. He added that these countries, with a demagogic discourse, continue to try to evade their “historical responsibility in crowning and continuing these pests and their debts to the peoples who were subjected to the slavery to which they were subjected.”