Above photo: Alberto Núñez.
During the 11th Parliamentary Forum of BRICS, a bloc initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and recently expanded, Cuban deputy Alberto Núñez strongly rejected Washington’s blockade against the island, which he described as a “suffocating economic war.”
At the beginning of his speech, Núñez conveyed the gratitude of the island’s Parliament to the organizers and reiterated that Cuba’s participation as an associate country of BRICS represents an opportunity to build a more just multilateral order based on solidarity and cooperation among States with different levels of development.
The vice president of the International Relations Committee of the National Assembly and the Council of State of Cuba presented his country’s health model as a concrete and effective alternative.
He recalled that the Constitution of the Republic recognizes health as a fundamental human right and that the Cuban system is based on free access, universal coverage, primary care, and community participation.
He highlighted as one of the recent achievements the approval of the new Public Health Law in December 2023, conceived as an updated, ethical, innovative, and deeply inclusive norm.
One of the strongest moments of his speech was his condemnation of the impact of the US blockade on the Cuban health system.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba faced extreme difficulties in accessing fuel, medical supplies, and external financing. “And yet we prioritized life,” Núñez said.
Proof of this was the dispatch of 56 medical brigades from the Henry Reeve Internationalist Contingent to more than 40 countries, including members of the European Union.
“The BRICS have a strategic role to play in promoting sustainable, equitable, and inclusive development in health,” he said.
He suggested advancing parliamentary dialogue to promote integrated public policies and coordinated responses to future epidemiological emergencies.
“The right to health of future generations requires structural policies today,” he said, adding that poverty, underdevelopment, the unjust global economic architecture, and exclusion are structural causes that prevent the full exercise of that right.
The Cuban proposal, in the midst of a global scenario marked by health crises, deep inequalities, and geopolitical tensions, resonates as an ethical and political call to place health at the center of cooperation among peoples.
