When Washington persists in its intention to suffocate and distance the Antillean nation from the international community, heads of State and Government, senior officials and leaders from more than 100 countries traveled to Havana to demonstrate their support for the group’s role in the global context, proclaim their national concerns, but also their rejection of the White House’s attitude against Cuba.
Made up of 134 countries and territories, the largest council of nations raised the voice of the global South for two days in Havana, in favor of multilateralism and against neoliberal and discriminatory strategies that, far from improving the situation, increase economic differences between rich and poor.
The alarm sounded here again from the mouth of the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who warned about the great challenges facing humanity, including climate change and the deep existing inequalities.
“At the same time, developing countries are in an extremely difficult situation. Many have debts impossible to pay, they do not have access to the funds necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he pointed out.
Guterres gave the example of Africa, which pays more in debt service than in education and health budgets, in exclusive statements to Prensa Latina.
Aligned with the harsh international contingencies was the speech of most of the dignitaries who spoke: the world cannot endure any more crises, global sustainability is not a cure, it is the lifeline.
“The countries of the South can no longer bear the weight of all the misfortunes and the only valid path is to walk together in solidarity,” said the Cuban head of state and pro tempore president of the G77 and China, Miguel Díaz-Canel, at the inauguration of the conclave on Friday.
In these two days, the meeting in defense of the interests of the largest conglomerate of flags with seats in the UN General Assembly showed the urgencies of a sick planet, in need of seriously returning to the path of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, not as a plea of occasion and concern that will be addressed by the SDG Summit, scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday at the United Nations.
The promise of UN member countries to “leave no one behind”, the basis of the agenda, is in serious trouble since, despite some progress, widespread gaps have emerged over the years in the implementation of its 17 goals, from poverty, hunger and gender equality, to access to education and clean energy.
According to the United Nations, an evident decrease in public interest in achieving these goals, combined with geopolitical frictions and, above all, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, has made a global rescue plan for the SDGs necessary.
With nearly 80 percent of the world’s population and two-thirds of the United Nations member countries represented at the conclave, the meeting in the Cuban capital was undoubtedly the prelude to what could be the priorities and challenges that arise, once again, at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
And although the meeting here was focused on the “Current Challenges of Development: Role of Science, Technology and Innovation”, in their words the dignitaries proclaimed a large cluster of demands that went beyond the central issue and that can only be resolved through the unity of forces and, above all, with the involvement of the richest and most powerful countries.
Among them, the voice of the South was heard loudly again in rejection of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba, as a prelude to what will happen in the coming days in New York, the same thing that since 1992 the majority of the world has been refuting as a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations.
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