Cuba's ambassador to Unesco, Yahima Esquivel, denounced today at a forum on cultural diversity the harassment, aggressions and campaigns against artists and intellectuals of the island, which she considered unacceptable.
"In recent days, prestigious Cuban artists and intellectuals have been the target of aggressions encouraged, promoted and carried out by elements of the transnational extreme right in certain European countries," she warned while speaking at the general debate of the Ninth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity.
The diplomat pointed out that the most recent examples of the anti-Cuban crusade took place in Spain, where the Buena Fe duo toured, and in Paris, where the Poetry Market withdrew the status of honorary president from the renowned poet, writer and essayist Nancy Morejón, yielding to external pressures.
Esquivel described as condemnable and unpunished the harassment suffered in some Spanish cities by musicians Israel Rojas and Yoel Martinez, and described as ignominious the revocation applied to Morejon, winner of the 2001 National Literature Prize and recipient of several distinctions in her country and internationally.
"These manifestations of hatred and discrimination are not new. A few decades ago, the Cuban people and the world witnessed a scandalous act of vandalism against the work of renowned artist Manuel Mendive, burned in the streets of Miami, and attacks against those attending a major concert by the Los Van Van orchestra in that city, which they were unable to prevent," she stressed.
The Cuban ambassador strongly repudiated in Unesco acts that she considered of a fascist nature against the culture of the Antillean nation.
She also rejected the strong pressures, intimidation and blackmail to which businessmen, cultural promoters, owners of establishments and entities that organize and host tours and presentations of artists from the island are subjected.
Solidarity, peace and commitment to art will continue to be the premises of our artists in the face of the prevailing violence, impunity, fascism and cultural colonization, insisted Esquivel, who recalled that Cuban culture also suffers the consequences of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.
In her speech at the general debate of the Ninth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity, the diplomat ratified the commitment of the largest of the Antilles to that instrument approved in 2005.
It also took note of the actions taken by Unesco to ensure the implementation of the 1980 Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist, in particular with regard to artists from developing countries, as well as measures to prevent harassment and hate speech against artists and creators on social networks.