Havana, February 24 (RHC)—Cuba is advancing on human rights and will continue to cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council, Pablo Berti, Head of the Human Rights and Social Affairs Group at the island’s Foreign Ministry said in Havana.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Havana Cuba, the diplomat stressed that the Cuban delegation to the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, presided by minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, will once again condemn the brutal US blockade on the island, particularly the last string of measures adopted by the Trump Administration.

The island will also denounce the attacks against the medical cooperation that it has with many countries around the world.

Berti recalled that such cooperation had been recognized by the Human Rights Council itself, by many countries, and by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

The Foreign Ministry official added that among other resolutions, Cuba would be presenting at this session one on the right to food, another on the effects of foreign debt on human rights, and a third on cultural rights.

Cuba has served two times as a member of the 47-member Human Rights Council and institution that was created in 2006  to replace the Human Rights Commission notoriously known by its double standards and bias against Third World countries.

Berti said that Cuba has very constructive participation in the Universal Periodic Review mechanisms of the Council, to which it has already been subjected three times.

The diplomat noted that although some Western countries still insist on focusing exclusively on civil and political rights, Cuba insists on the interdependency of all rights.

“For some countries, one needs to have freedom of expression or freedom of association, but they don’t care about the right to food, right to education or right to health,” he said.

Listen here to RHC’s full interview with Pablo Berti,  Head of the Human Rights and Social Affairs Group at the island’s Foreign Ministry.