New York, February 1, 2019. Cuba attended today the High-Level Event of the United Nations General Assembly to mark the launch of the International Year of Indigenous Languages. The Deputy Permanent Representative of the island to the organization, Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, highlighted Cuba's commitment to indigenous peoples, having actively participated in the process to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and equally supported the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its seventy-first and seventy-third sessions, relating to the proclamation of 2019 as the "International Year of Indigenous Languages".
Rodríguez Abascal, on behalf of her country, demanded respect for the enormous diversity of indigenous languages which are part of the identity and culture of millions of speakers in the world. She likewise ratified the right of indigenous peoples to exist in accordance with their own worldviews and histories, to speak their own languages and live according to their self-determination.
She recalled that at the end of 2018, Cuba held the Third International Colloquium of Studies on Native Cultures of America –in which the "Declaration of Havana on Indigenous Languages" was adopted- as a sign that the Caribbean nation will continue supporting the just claims of these peoples to achieve the full enjoyment of their traditional rights, including the right to use their own language, preserve their culture and defend their identity.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations