• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 06 / 17 / 2011

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2011.06.17 - 13:20:46 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. HAVANA, Cuba.- Representatives of the United Nations recognized on Thursday the efforts and advances of Cuba in the struggle against racist discrimination thanks to a State policy that benefits all the sectors of society.

Rolando Garcia, assistant representative of the United Nations Population Fund, told Granma newspaper that, regarding the existence of equal opportunities for all citizens, Cuba is the leading country in Latin America.

“These advances match the inclusive and participatory policies promoted and implemented by the Cuban State,” he added.

“We can affirm in the case of Cuba that it solved the main problems of discrimination and managed to integrate everyone into society,” said Garcia, who is participating in the seminar “Cuba and Afro-Descendant Peoples in the Americas”, which concludes on Friday at Havana’s Juan Marinello Cultural Research Institute.

In this regard, the representative in Cuba of the UN Children’s Fund, Juan Jose Ortiz, said that thousands of Afro-descendant children in the region suffer extreme poverty and its consequences. “However,” he noted, “thanks to the political will of the Cuban government, none of them lives in Cuba.”

He also highlighted that Cuba and Norway are the countries with the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, but he particularly extolled the results attained by the Caribbean nation in this regard, considering that it does not have the same development and riches as the European country.

In addition, Barbara Pesce, resident coordinator of the United Nations System in Cuba, pointed out that Cuba is an example in the struggle against racial discrimination.
(ACN)