Avilanian University Students Simulate Global Diplomacy Challenges at Mundávila 2026
A new edition of Mundávila has begun at the University of Ciego de Ávila (UNICA), the United Nations model that each year turns a group of students into delegates of 20 countries. Young people from Law, Tourism, Pedagogy and Engineering, from first to fourth year, swap their notebooks for the delegate’s folder for a few days.
They debate the agendas of blocs ranging from Asia to the Americas, with the strict rules of multilateralism, and do not lose sight of defending Cuba’s position on each issue discussed.
In this first session, a resolution consolidating international cooperation on human rights and their protection was approved by a vote of 15 in favour and 3 against. All this under the intellectual protection and specialised knowledge of the UN Charter and the Vienna spirit of justice.
Getting to that table is not automatic. Kevin Marcos Galbán Pérez, Secretary-General of the model, explained that after the call for participants, interested students go through weeks of preparation and several evaluations that filter out those who best handle oratory, negotiation and political argumentation. Few reach the final session without having passed through that process.
This year, the commissions revolved around central organs of the United Nations system. The first day closed with debates of the Human Rights Council and the Economic and Social Council. A General Assembly simulation is being prepared for the closing, where the represented blocs will attempt to negotiate and approve joint resolutions, as happens, on a different scale, in New York.
The Avilanian model was born in 2021 and is now part of a national circuit of twelve active models, with venues at universities in Havana, Pinar del Río, Artemisa and Las Villas. Each year, the model loses delegates due to graduation and gains new ones. Even so, the organising group has managed to maintain the method and the pulse of the event from one edition to the next, something that is not always easy with so much turnover.
Between sessions, there was also space to breathe. This year, the organising committee added the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS) in Ciego de Ávila as one of the event’s sponsors, alongside the University Student Federation (FEU). Between the two organisations, they scheduled evenings of entertainment and artistic performances: the same student who minutes before was defending a resolution on human rights ended up singing or dancing with their «diplomatic colleagues» from another delegation.
The presence of the AHS is not a minor detail. The association brings together the province’s young creators, and its approach to an event like Mundávila opens a direct pathway between the university world and the Avilanian artistic movement, two circuits that often walk separate paths.
According to statements by Alejandro Quiñones, president of the AHS in the province, this working alliance is also part of the celebration of the AHS’s 40th anniversary, as well as the possibility of joining forces between university and artistic youth in pursuit of justice in a better world.
The Polichinela puppet theatre actor adds: «The university has also contributed creators and artists who, over time, have been part of this organisation and have grown within it thanks to this alliance that enables activities, gatherings, concerts, community actions, both at the academic headquarters and at the Casa del Joven Creador. For us, it is motivating that Avilanian young people with artistic attitudes and a body of work feel that the AHS can also be their home, their vital space, and that is also what we work for.»
In addition to the artistic vanguard, young entrepreneurs from the province, such as Hanny, el arte de imprimir; Gloriari, Islazul, Aquávila, among many others, also join the diplomatic gathering.
