The main lobby of the United Nations headquarters in New York hosts from this Tuesday an exhibition with a disturbing title: Cuba, a sustained commitment to all human rights for all. paintings of the Cuban visual artist Yosvany Martínez alternate with works by other photographers from the Island in an exhibition organized to promote Cuba’s re-election as a member of the Human Rights Council, a mandate that expires on December 31.
“The Cuban people are masters of their own destiny, exercise full power and control over the life of the country, and actively participate as the main actor in an effective system of socialist democracy and social justice that they support and endorse,” reads the text of the triptych presentation of the sample, signed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba and Permanent Representative to the UN, Gerardo Peñalver Portal.
The document aims to highlight the importance of “the protection of human rights and international cooperation” for Cuba’s policies. “With humility, but with an important record of performance in this sphere, with tangible results enjoyed by our people and internationally recognized,” the message continues, mentioning, as was to be expected, that everything has been achieved “despite a tough blockade of more than 60 years”.
The exhibition contains photographs of Cuban doctors on international missions at a time when discredit is total
The text continues glossing those that once functioned as promotional pillars of the regime but that are now visibly deteriorated, namely: health, education, sports and science.
To illustrate this, the exhibition contains photographs of Cuban doctors on international missions at a time when the discredit is total and various organizations, including the one that hosts the exhibition, have denounced the exploitation of professionals, who receive only 15% of the wages that the countries for which they work pay for them. To this must be added the fact that their documentation is withdrawn to prevent them from traveling, they are forced to show their adherence to the Government or they are prevented from relating to the population of the countries of destination.
Nothing better can be said in the case of athletes, whose leaks are counted by several dozen annually; or teachers, who left their jobs causing a chronic teacher shortage in recent years.
Another of the photographs exhibited by the exhibition is the one that claims the three nationally invoiced vaccines against covid-19, although three years later Cuba has not yet received the endorsement of the World Health Organization for its emergency use.
The authorities show their chests, as seen in the posters of the sample, of other alleged achievements. One of them is the fight against racism, despite the fact that official surveys systematically show that the black and mulatto population have worse jobs, lower salaries, higher poverty rates and less institutional representation, among other adversities.
The authorities show their chests, as seen in the posters of the sample, of other alleged achievements. One of them is the fight against racism
There is also an apparent protection for people with disabilities that few would subscribe to.
The most striking thing, however, is the poster that proclaims the benefits of the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Law and other reforms that “guarantee due process” in the field of the administration of justice, a matter that is difficult to believe in a country that, already as a member of the Human Rights Council (the election is for three years and dates back to 2020) imprisoned more than a thousand people for the demonstrations of July 11, 2021, imposing sentences of tens of years on some of them them for “sedition”. The illustration that accompanies the text is not far behind and shows a unanimous vote in the National Assembly.
The artists who gave life to the exhibition are “formed entirely by the Revolution, totally free, like all those born after 1959”, adds the presentation text, which follows: “This exhibition reflects our progress in economic, social and cultural, in the sphere of political and civil rights”.
Peñalver, who attended the inauguration this Tuesday along with Yosvany Martínez, invited the permanent and rotating members of the Council to enjoy the exhibition. “I hope you enjoy it and understand the pride of being Cuban,” closes the text.
Cuba was elected a member of the Council in October 2020 amid the discontent of many countries that indignantly welcomed its entry, which occurred along with China and Russia. The members are directly elected every three years by regional quotas –Latin America has eight seats– and cannot repeat after two consecutive terms, so the Island tries to win what would be its last opportunity in the short term, for 2024-2026 .
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