Cuban Association of the United Nations (ACNU) President Norma Goicochea. Photo: Prensa Latina/file photo.
Several civil society organizations of Cuba denounced a lack of transparency and exclusions from a social forum prior to the CELAC-EU Summit that will take place in Brussels on July 17-18.
On Friday, July 7, the Cuban Association of the United Nations (ACNU), which represents these civil society organizations, condemned the lack of timely information and the exclusion of participants of Cuban civil society, youths and local authorities from the forum, convened by the European Union (EU) during July 13-14.
At a press conference held in Havana on Friday, ACNU President Norma Goicochea criticized the proposed format for not suiting the decision made by the foreign ministers of the EU and the CELAC at a meeting held in Buenos Aires on October 27, 2022.
Goicochea explained that the forum is not organized by the EU but by a platform of organizations, which is against the rules. The forum also includes a debate on national and local governments without the consent of all Latin American social stakeholders.
President Maduro Calls on CELAC to Build a Latin American Bloc With ‘Its Own Identity’
The new proposal ignores the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and its social position based on an integrationist, supportive and social justice approach for the Latin American and Caribbean region, the ACNU president pointed out.
She dceried that the proposed forum lacks topics that address the serious problems that the countries are facing after the COVID-19 pandemic and the current profound economic crisis. The forum also avoids discussing the need to reform the current global financial architecture and economic order.
Moreover, the forum would host a limited in-person participation, which reduces the participation of a varied and broad spectrum of civil society organizations from Latin America, Goicochea pointed out.
She also condemned the forum’s denial of accreditations to some alternative media outlets such as the Cuban News Channel, represented by journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso, who was denied credentials with laughable excuses.
Just six days before the beginning of the forum, the identity of the panelists and the online platform that will be used for the virtual option are still unknown, and Cuban civil society members hope that Zoom will not be used, as Zoom follows the US blockade against Cuba and cannot be accessed from there.
This restriction is a direct result of the economic, financial and commercial blockade to which Cuba has been subjected by the United States government.
The ACNU also condemned the intention of presenting the conclusions of this forum to the official CELAC-EU Summit of Heads of State, due to a lack of transparency and the prevailing inequality.
Goicochea announced that the individual and collective associates of the ACNU will have representatives at the People’s Summit, which will take place in parallel to that of the CELAC-UE Summit of Heads of State, and that will constitute a plural, participatory democratic exercise from a bi-regional approach.
(Prensa Latina – English) by Juan M. García
