Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Every December 10, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris in 1948. However, although the text served as the basis for the adoption of important international legal instruments, humanity remains indebted to the principles expressed then.
The XXI-century planet faces enormous challenges that threaten life on Earth itself. Genocides are occurring, broadcast live through the media and digital networks, such as the one perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people. Inequality and poverty prevail due to the unjust international order marked by neoliberal globalization; the effects of climate change are becoming more visible; hatred, xenophobia, and intolerance against minorities are exacerbated; and politicization, selectivity, and manipulation are employed in the treatment of human rights.
Similarly, dangerous neo-fascist tendencies are emerging, attempting to revive the violence and most despicable practices that humankind has endured. Technologies and media continue to serve spurious interests that respond to the logic of transnational capital.
Peace also suffers constant imperial threats, such as those looming today over the Caribbean region and, specifically, against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, under the pretext of combating drug trafficking. Extrajudicial executions are carried out, in total disregard for international law, while attempts are made to justify the ruthless wave of persecution against immigrants.
In this complex scenario, Cuba defends the full dignity of its citizens and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all people, with its interdependent and indivisible nature, as enshrined in its constantly evolving legal and institutional framework.
It is worth recalling that, after being submitted to a referendum, the Constitution approved in 2019 stipulates in Article 41 that “The Cuban State recognizes and guarantees to every person the inalienable, imprescriptible, indivisible, universal, and interdependent enjoyment and exercise of human rights, in accordance with the principles of progressivity, equality, and non-discrimination. Their respect and guarantee are mandatory for all.”
The extensive achievements that the Island can demonstrate in this area rest upon these values, despite the genocidal blockade policy imposed by the United States government, the main obstacle to the development of our people, as Alena Douhan, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council, recently observed during her visit to Cuba.
According to Douhan, the US coercive measures limit the State's capacity to develop public policies, violate the rights to food and a dignified life, hinder academic exchanges, affect the supply of energy, drinking water, and medicines, and violate the right to life in general.
Despite this maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the human rights of an entire people, Cuba does not renounce the construction of an independent, sovereign, socialist, democratic, prosperous, and sustainable nation. Among its strengths for achieving this are the proven capacity for resilience, the participation, and the creativity of millions of its sons who are currently contributing ideas to the Government Program, with the aim of overcoming the current complex situation without abandoning the path of socialism. This process of analysis and debate is an example of popular participation in decision-making on the fundamental issues of the country.
As a founding member of the Human Rights Council, the Caribbean nation reaffirms its commitment to the struggle to establish a more just, democratic, and equitable international order that dismantles the barriers hindering the well-being of the majority. And, guided by the principles of solidarity and internationalism, it is prepared to share with other countries its experiences of more than six decades in human development, in areas such as health, science, education, culture, and others in which it has been universally recognized.
In that purpose, beyond December 10, the ideal of José Martí constitutes daily inspiration: I want the first law of our Republic to be the worship of Cubans to the full dignity of man, and also that maxim of Fidel in the fervor of January 59: The Cuban Revolution can be summarized as an aspiration for social justice within the fullest freedom and the most absolute respect for human rights. (Text and photo: Granma Digital)
