[News] "The blockade is an act of economic war in peacetime."

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez 
Parrilla, in the General Debate of the High Level Segment of the United 
Nations General Assembly. New York, September 21, 2022

"The blockade is an act of economic war in peacetime."

Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, Bruno 
Rodríguez Parrilla, in the General Debate of the High Level Segment of 
the United Nations General Assembly. New York, September 21, 2022

Click Here for the full speech transcription in Spanish 
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English transcription below:

Delegates:

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed, as never before, the 
true essence of the unjust and unsustainable prevailing international order.

Humanity never had this formidable scientific-technical potential, nor 
this extraordinary capacity to generate wealth and well-being, and yet, 
never before has the world been so unequal and inequality so profound.

Eight hundred and twenty-eight million people, 10% of the world's 
population, suffer from hunger, and about 50 million children suffer 
from wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition.

Unemployment will affect 207 million people in 2022, 21 million more 
than in 2019. In the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, 773 
million human beings do not know how to read or write.

About 6.5 million people have died due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Vaccines to deal with it are inaccessible to a billion people in 
low-income countries. In 2021, pharmaceutical transnationals earned 
$84,588 million.

The foreign debt has been paid several times, but it multiplies. 
Paradoxically, global military spending is growing rapidly and exceeds 
two billion dollars for the first time.

There is no justification for humanity to continue to be threatened by 
the existence of almost 13,000 nuclear weapons. We advocate for the 
universality of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

How much more could we do if these resources were used to promote health 
and development? How many deaths from COVID-19 and other causes could 
have been avoided? How many children would be saved from hunger and 
preventable or curable diseases?

Mr. President:

Greenhouse gases recorded record concentrations in 2021, and it will be 
the same in 2022. The average sea level has reached a new high. The last 
seven years are the warmest ever registered.

We can't continue ignoring the alarms that warn about the imminent 
climate catastrophe. We have only one Earth, the only home of all, rich 
and poor. We have to act without further delay.

The "philosophy of war and dispossession," and the irrational patterns 
of production and consumption of capitalism, denounced by President 
Fidel Castro, will lead to catastrophe.

International relations are on a very dangerous path. The American 
offensive aimed at subjugating States through economic, military and 
political-diplomatic threat and coercion, to subject them to an order 
based on their capricious rules, together with the expansion of NATO and 
the development of an aggressive doctrine and the fifth-generation 
unconventional war, inevitably lead to a climate of tension and 
conflict, the consequences of which are unpredictable.

Mr. President:

Cuba, a small island developing state, has paid a high price for 
defending its legitimate right to exist as a sovereign and independent 
nation.

For more than six decades we have resisted a ruthless and unilateral 
economic, commercial and financial blockade that has intensified to 
extreme extent, at unprecedented levels since 2019 and during the pandemic.

Thirty years after the first resolution of this Assembly against the 
blockade, the Government of the United States continues to ignore the 
almost unanimous demand of the international community to cease its 
illegal and cruel policy against Cuba.

The effort persists to generate material shortages, scarcity, suffering, 
sow discouragement, dissatisfaction and cause damage to the Cuban people.

The Government of the United States reinforces the pressures on 
governments, banking institutions and companies around the world 
interested in interacting with Cuba, and obsessively pursues all sources 
of income and entry of foreign currency into the country, to provoke 
economic collapse.

As a result, the Cuban economy has experienced extraordinary pressures, 
which are manifested in industry, the provision of services, the 
shortage of food and medicine and the deterioration of the level of 
consumption and general well-being of the population.

The human damage that this policy generates for all Cuban families, 
impossible to quantify, is enormous, cruel and immoral.

The blockade is an act of economic war in peacetime.

The current Government of the United States maintains the most 
aggressive pressure measures against our country adopted by President 
Donald Trump's government.

The unjustified inclusion of Cuba in the arbitrary and unilateral list 
issued by the State Department of countries that are supposed to sponsor 
terrorism continues.

This slanderous rating imposes a stigma on our entities and 
institutions, and makes financial and commercial transactions extremely 
difficult, and the possibilities of payments and credits.

Cuba, which has been a victim of state terrorism, never promotes and 
will never promote terrorism. On the contrary, we condemn it in all its 
forms and manifestations.

The United States Government deals with opportunism with high 
sensitivity issues such as terrorism, religion, democracy, justice, 
corruption and human rights.

Double standards, incoherence, selectivity, political manipulation, 
damage the cause of human rights.

The previous speech of the Czech Foreign Minister, who does not dare to 
mention the crime of the blockade of Cuba, is a sad example.

We have clearly warned the Government of the United States that the 
factors that encourage irregular migration and cause loss of life must 
be solved, such as the failure, on its part, since 2017, of its 
obligation, according to the bilateral agreements in force, to grant no 
less than 20,000 visas per year for migrants; the existence of the Cuban 
Adjustment Act, privileged treatment with political motivation, 
restrictive pressures on regular transit countries and the reinforced 
economic blockade.

Today's announcement that the processing of migrant visas will return to 
the United States Embassy in Havana, is a positive step.

Cuba reiterates its willingness to move towards a better understanding 
with the Government of the United States, and to develop civilized and 
even cooperative relations between the two countries, on the basis of 
mutual respect, sovereign equality, and without prejudice to our 
independence and
sovereignty, despite profound differences.

We highlight the valuable commitment and recent demonstrations by Cubans 
and descendants of Cubans in all latitudes and in this country, of 
respect for Cuba's sovereign rights, and the rejection of the ruthless 
aggression of the United States, in particular the economic blockade.

I also deeply appreciate the statements of Heads of State and Government 
in this general debate, the historical support of this Assembly and the 
expressions of solidarity with Cuba by governments, personalities, 
political organizations and solidarity, social and popular movements 
around the world.

Today, that solidarity and support are still essential.

Mr. President:

Despite the enormous challenges, the Cuban people and government have 
not ceased in their efforts to advance in the construction of a more 
just, democratic, prosperous and sustainable socialist society.

We defeated COVID-19 with resources, our own vaccines, and the strength 
of our Public Health and science system. We were able to collaborate 
modestly with the sending of 58 medical brigades, at the worst moment of 
the pandemic, to 42 countries and territories.

We work to recover the economic and social life of the country; support 
the transformation of our communities, and sustain and expand social 
programs.

We continue to improve our legal system, of our socialist state of law 
and social justice, to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights for 
all Cuban women and men, and to enrich the social justice system that 
several generations have enjoyed.

On September 25, after an extensive process of participation and popular 
consultation, the legislative referendum on a novel and inclusive 
Families Code will take place. It will be an exercise of genuine direct 
democracy and effective power of the Cuban people.

Mr. President:

The "unity in diversity" proposed by then President Raúl Castro, is 
possible in the countries of the South and the Community of Latin 
American and Caribbean States, which is becoming increasingly 
strengthened, and is creating the conditions for our region to move 
towards higher forms of integration and cooperation, based on the 
postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a 
Zone of Peace.

We appreciate the dignified position taken by several countries in our 
region in the face of arbitrary exclusions in hemispheric forums.

We renew our support and solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of 
Venezuela, its constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro Moros, and the 
civic-military unity of its people, in the face of attempts to 
destabilize and subvert the internal order of that sister country. We 
reject the application of unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela.

We denounce the imperialist attempts to destabilize the Government of 
Reconciliation and National Unity of Nicaragua. We reiterate our firm 
support for the sister Nicaraguan people and its president, Daniel Ortega.

We stand in solidarity with the Caribbean sisters and support their 
legitimate demand for reparation for the harmful effects of colonialism 
and slavery. They need and deserve to receive fair, special and 
differentiated treatment.

We reaffirm our historic commitment to self-determination and 
independence of the people of Puerto Rico.

Haiti needs a special contribution from the international community for 
its reconstruction and development. Humanity owes a debt to that 
founding Republic.

We support the legitimate claim of President Alberto Fernández and the 
people, of the sovereignty of the Republic of Argentina over the 
Falkland Islands, South Sandwich and South Georgia, and the surrounding 
maritime spaces.

We express our total solidarity with the Argentine vice president, 
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who, victim of unjust and unfounded 
judicial and media harassment, recently suffered a vile assassination 
attempt.

We reiterate our firm commitment to peace in Colombia. The manifest 
readiness for peace of the current President Gustavo Petro, and the 
parties concerned, deserve the support of the region and the 
international community.

The necessary resources must be provided to support the Agenda 2063 of 
the African Union, which sets out the road map for the development of 
that sister continent.

We advocate the search for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the 
imposed situation on Syria, and we demand the cessation of external 
interference and full respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We support a just, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Middle 
East conflict, which guarantees the real exercise of the inalienable 
right of the Palestinian people to build their own state within the 
pre-1967 borders, with their capital in East Jerusalem, and the end of 
the Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories.

We reaffirm our invariable solidarity with the Saharawi people.

We reject the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Islamic 
Republic of Iran.

We condemn the imposition of unjust unilateral economic measures against 
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and external interference in 
its affairs.

We oppose interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Belarus.

We reaffirm our rejection of the imposition of unilateral sanctions 
against the Russian Federation.

We condemn the unfounded campaigns of discredit against the People's 
Republic of China and the attempts to damage its territorial integrity 
and sovereignty. We reiterate our unwavering support for the One China 
principle.

We advocate a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to 
the current war in Ukraine, by peaceful means and in accordance with the 
rules of international law, which guarantees the security and 
sovereignty of all.

Mr. President:

Cuba will continue to raise its voice to reject domination and hegemony, 
unilateral coercive measures, genocidal blockades and the intention to 
impose one culture and one model on the world.

We will never renounce the defense of the independence, sovereignty and 
self-determination of peoples, without foreign interference or intervention.

For our glorious past, for the present and future of the new generations 
of Cubans, with the leadership of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, we will 
resist creatively and fight tirelessly until we achieve our dreams of 
peace and development, with equity and social justice for Cuba and for 
the world.

Thank you very much.











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