“I visited a public primary school in Havana with Marta del Carmen Mesa Valenciano, a member of the National Assembly and president of the National Commission on Education, Culture, and Science,” Isezaki wrote on his X account.

  The Japanese lawmaker highlighted the “serious impact” of U.S. economic sanctions on the education of Cuban children—measures that affect the availability of teaching materials and supplies, as well as electricity and transportation.

  “Despite severe transportation restrictions, the school is working hard to maintain in-person classes,” added Isezaki, who also serves as Secretary-General of the Asian nation’s Parliamentary League for Humanitarian Diplomacy.

  In the same message, Isezaki described the children at the school as being full of energy and enthusiasm.  “When I asked them, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’, hands went up one after another, and I heard answers like ‘doctor’ and ‘teacher’,” he recounted.

  The politician highlighted how those children, even amidst current difficulties, “spoke of wanting to help others in the future.”

  The day before, the Japanese lawmaker was received by Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly of Cuba, to discuss the work and cooperation between the two parliaments.

  Isezaki, a professor at the Graduate School of Global Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, is a specialist in conflict prevention.

jdt/mem/tfp