Havana, November 11 (RHC)-- Cuban Culture Minister Julian Gonzalez said in Havana that culture has been a common element and a tool for Cuba to guarantee its citizens' freedom and peace which are fundamental human rights.

In statements to Prensa Latina news agency, the minister stressed the activism developed by the Cuban state and government to achieve those goals through peaceful means such as dialog.

Minister Gonzalez recalled that Latin America and the Caribbean were declared a peace zone at the most recent Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. It is an example of how culture was a crucial element in that meeting and one of the main results of Cuba in the international arena.

But the declaration in that regional meeting also unleashed other potentials to set up a forum and cultural action plan focusing on the aspirations contained on the human rights agenda, not only at a continental level.