UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

de las Comisiones Nacionales y las Cátedras UNESCO se contribuirá a la atención más efectiva de los programas
priorizados por cada uno de los países.
6.10 Quiero expresar, en nombre de mi Gobierno, nuestro más profundo agradecimiento al Dr. Federico
Mayor, quien ha desarrollado con un alto sentido humanista su función caracterizada por su honestidad, sabiduría
y entusiasmo, y ratificar el apoyo de Cuba a la gestión del nuevo Director General.
6.11 Señoras y señores delegados: Cuba luchará por el fortalecimiento de esta Organización, que tanto puede
aportar a lograr un verdadero desarrollo humano, en contraste con el insostenible mundo que se nos quiere
imponer, y a que se convierta en un lugar idóneo para hacer del próximo siglo, como propuso el Presidente de los
Consejos de Estado y de Ministros de Cuba, Fidel Castro, el siglo de la manifestación de la cultura. Muchas
gracias.
(6.1) Mr GÓMEZ GUTIÉRREZ (Cuba) (Translation from the Spanish):
Madam President, representative of the Director-General, distinguished delegates, it is a tragic reality that
the noble objectives pursued by UNESCO since its foundation and the programmes and goals approved in favour
of the progress of education, science and culture, run the risk of not being fulfilled for the overwhelming majority
of humanity. But nothing else is to be expected of an economic order in which the fortunes of the 225 richest
individuals on this planet are equal to the annual income of the 2,500 million poorest people in the world.
Furthermore, the pledge of the richest countries to donate 0.7% of their GDP as international development aid has
not been kept since their contribution barely exceeds 0.2%.
(6.2) It is calculated that providing universal access to basic education for all would cost $6 billion every year.
Yet, quite inexplicably, the arms race is continuing and the astronomical figure of $780 billion is invested every
year in arms, i.e. many times more. This economic order burdens the poor countries with a foreign debt of
$2,000 billion, a figure constantly on the increase, and forces us to devote nearly a quarter of our increasingly
under-remunerated exports to servicing that debt.
(6.3) It is these economic conditions that lead to a world with nearly a billion illiterate people, an indeterminate
number of people suffering from functional illiteracy and 130 million children (21% of children) in developing
countries not attending school. Since, on the one hand, poor countries lack the resources to fund scientific activity
and, on the other hand, so many of our scientists and technicians are lured away by better offers in the more
developed nations where they emigrate in search of better prospects, most of our peoples have no prospects in this
field. The mechanism is so effective that even top athletes are concerned.
(6.4) Furthermore, there is still a tendency to homogenize cultural criteria and concepts and systems of values
through control of the information and communication technologies. Half of the films made and screened
throughout the world originate in the United States, as do 75% to 80% of television series, 60% of world networks,
three quarters of the information found on the Internet and half of all communication satellites. Yet in the United
States foreign films account for a mere 3% of the market. This is an attempt to impose a “single culture”, the most
modern and advanced culture, one characterized by values that overlook the rich diversity of our nations’ and
peoples’ cultures, their best traditions and their history, one intended to impose irrational consumer patterns that in
the long run destroy the environment to the extent of actually threatening humanity with extinction.
(6.5) We must raise awareness in order to fight this globalization that advocates the free flow of capital while
restricting that of persons, fomenting racial discrimination and the resurgence of xenophobia. It is a globalization
that makes indiscriminate market forces the backbone of all social activity, instilling personal success at any price
as a supreme value and encouraging negative individualism. The globalization that our peoples need is that of
solidarity.
(6.6) UNESCO must be constantly committed to promoting a culture of peace founded on unrestricted respect
for the principles of international law and a rejection of so-called humanitarian military intervention and the
growing attempts to impose just one type of human rights model as the standard, a model running counter to that
cultural and political diversity which is truly one of the great assets of humanity and part of its heritage. The
sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations and their equality, the right to self-determination and noninterference
in internal affairs, are all inviolable principles in which our peoples should be reared.
(6.7) Over the past 40 years, Cuba has made huge efforts in the fields of education, science and culture. We
have eradicated illiteracy and guaranteed access to and permanent attendance at school by all children of school
age, including those with special education needs. Hundreds of thousands of high-level professionals have been
trained; dozens of scientific research centres drawing on that potential have been founded, with ground-breaking
results at world level. Cuba safeguards its culture as one of the most precious facets of its heritage and thousands of
graduates from its art schools and institutions have helped to preserve and enhance it. The results would be a lot
better were it not for the genocidal economic war which, over the past 40 years, has been waged against our people,
our tiny country, by the strongest power ever known to humanity.
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