Paris, October 15, 2026.- Cuba underscored before UNESCO’s Executive Board the importance of ensuring the sustainability of the Organization’s network of field offices, preserving operational capacities, specialized expertise and the Organization’s presence to respond effectively to the needs of Member States.
Speaking during the consideration of agenda item 4.III.B, concerning the sustainability of the network of field offices, the President of the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO, Mirta Granda Averhoff, highlighted the historical and strategic value of the UNESCO Regional Office in Havana, whose establishment was decided upon in 1948.
The Cuban representative emphasized that, for more than seven decades, this presence has contributed to strengthening multilateral cooperation and constitutes an institutional asset of particular importance for the Caribbean, serving a region of 34.2 million people.
She also highlighted concrete experiences demonstrating the impact of its work, including support for educational and heritage recovery following Hurricane Melissa in the insular Caribbean, assistance in coordinating the response and recovery of the education and cultural sectors following the earthquakes recorded in Venezuela in June 2026, and the achievements of the Transcultura initiative, which has promoted training, regional integration and sustainable development through culture and creativity.
The President of the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO also denounced the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, as well as the energy siege to which the country has been subjected in 2026, as part of efforts aimed at breaking the sovereign will of the Cuban people. In this context, she stressed that multilateral cooperation and UNESCO’s effective presence are particularly important in responding to the needs of peoples.
Cuba called for decisions on the sustainability of the network of field offices to be based on transparent criteria and a rigorous assessment of regional needs, with predictable resources and guarantees to preserve technical capacities and emergency response capabilities. It warned that budgetary constraints must not lead to the weakening of an institutional presence whose value has been demonstrated on the ground.
The statement is reproduced below:
Statement by Cuba
Madam President,
Cuba considers the examination of the sustainability of the network of field offices to be of critical importance and believes it is essential that any adjustments preserve UNESCO’s operational capacity, institutional memory and effective presence wherever its Member States need it most.
In this context, we wish to underscore the historical and strategic importance of the UNESCO Regional Office in Havana. The decision to establish it was taken in 1948. It was the first time that the establishment of an office outside UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris had been decided upon.
For more than seven decades, this presence has contributed to strengthening multilateral cooperation and today constitutes an institutional asset of particular importance for the Caribbean, serving a region of 34.2 million people with diverse island and continental realities.
Recent experience confirms the tangible value of this presence. Following Hurricane Melissa, UNESCO supported educational and heritage recovery efforts in eastern Cuba and the insular Caribbean. In response to the earthquakes recorded in Venezuela in June 2026, it contributed to coordinating the response and recovery of the education and cultural sectors. Initiatives such as Transcultura, which brought together Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through culture and creativity, also demonstrate how a regional office can translate the Organization’s mandate into opportunities for training, integration and sustainable development.
For Cuba, this capacity is even more essential in light of the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States and the energy siege to which our country has been subjected this year, through direct and extraterritorial pressure aimed at subduing the Cuban people and undermining their sovereign path.
We therefore urge that decisions concerning the sustainability of the network be based on transparent criteria, an assessment of regional needs and the preservation of technical and emergency response capacities, ensuring predictable resources and preventing budgetary constraints from weakening a presence whose value has been demonstrated on the ground.
Thank you very much.