HAVANA, Cuba.- The new generations of Cubans will celebrate August 12, International Youth Day, as a day of joy and also of reflection, reaffirmation and struggle.

In a world in crisis, where poverty, violence and exclusion show no mercy with children and young people, Cuban youngsters have, however, ample reasons for happiness, asserted in a press conference on Tuesday Osnay Miguel Colina, member of the National Bureau of the Young Communists League (UJC).

Colina stated that millions of voices will rise from Cuba in defense of a dream that is possible and can’t be postponed, that of a better world, the dream of all those who struggle in this planet for rights as basic as free and quality public education for all.

The celebration will include all kinds of actions, reforestation, digital forums and talks about public policies and youth rights, popular marathons and meetings on history, camping, mountain climbing, excursions, sport-recreational festivals, cantatas, galas, exhibitions, dancing, presentations of community cultural projects, and joint actions of the Hermanos Saiz Association and the “Jose Marti” Brigade of Art Instructors.

All this and more will take place until Monday at squares, parks, pioneer children’s facilities, popular councils, recreational centers, sport courts, cultural institutions, computer clubs and even on the streets, specified the member of the National Bureau of the UJC.

International Youth Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999, at the suggestion of the World Conference of Ministers for Youth Affairs, held the previous year in Lisbon, Portugal.