Under the slogan “Youth and BRICS: Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance,” the event, which brings together young delegates from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and the bloc’s new member countries—including Cuba as an associate—is a hotbed of ideas, projects, and demands.

With determination and precision, Rachel Dominguez, representative of the National Committee of Cuba’s Young Communist League, told Prensa Latina that the platform for this eleventh edition of the BRICS event will highlight the troubles of young Cubans under the longest economic siege in contemporary history.

“We come to speak with our heads held high, not only about our dreams, but also about the unlawful obstacles that surround them. The United States blockade,” Dominguez said, “is not only an unjust punishment, it’s a daily attack on our rights as young people: to study, research, create, undertake, live with dignity.”

Beyond the denunciation, the Cuban delegation carries with it a positive message. “We come not only to demand justice, but also to build alliances,” as BRICS youth can become a decisive player in the new multipolar order being formed from the South, Dominguez asserted.

Cuban participation, although symbolically new in the BRICS youth arena, carries historical weight. It represents the continuity of a diplomacy that, from the southern trenches, advocates for multilateralism, people’s sovereignty, and social justice.

“We are children of the blockade, but also of internationalism. They tried to isolate us, and here we are, with the BRICS, with Latin America, with Africa, with Asia. They will not silence us,” Dominguez emphasized. The Cuban voice resonates. Young, firm, and with no permission to give up.

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