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</font><img src="cid:6.1.2.0.2.20040924162657.03824218@66.103.156.66.1" width=612 height=166 alt="253b6de.jpg"><font face="arial" size=2><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3><b>STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. FELIPE PÉREZ
ROQUE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE
59<sup>TH</sup> SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. NEW YORK,
24 SEPTEMBER 2004.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>Mr. President:<br><br>
<br><br>
Every year at the United Nations we go through the same ritual. We attend
the general debate knowing beforehand that the clamor for justice and
peace by our underdeveloped countries will be ignored once again.
However, we persist. We know that we are right. We know that one day we
will accomplish social justice and development. We also know that such
assets will not be given away to us. We know that the peoples will have
to seize them from those who deny us justice today, because they underpin
their wealth and arrogance on the disdain for our grief. But it will not
be always like this. We say so today with more conviction than ever
before.<br><br>
<br><br>
Having said this and knowing – as we do – that some powerful ones, just a
few, present here will be chagrined, and also knowing that they are
shared by many, Cuba will now tell some truths:<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>First:</u> <b>After the aggression on Iraq, there is no United Nations
Organization, understood as a useful and diverse forum, based on the
respect for the rights of all and also with guarantees for the small
States.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>It is living through the worst moment of its already forthcoming 60
years. It pales, it pants, it feigns, but it does not work.<br><br>
<br><br>
Who handcuffed the United Nations named by President Roosevelt? President
Bush.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Second:</u> <b>US troops will have to be withdrawn from
Iraq.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>After the life of over 1,000 American youths was uselessly sacrificed
to serve the spurious interests of a clique of cronies and buddies, and
following the death of more than 12,000 Iraqis, it is clear that the only
way out for the occupying power faced with a revolting people is to
recognize the impossibility of subduing them and to withdraw. In spite of
the imperial monopoly over information, the peoples always get to the
truth. Someday, those responsible and their accomplices will have to deal
with the consequences of their actions in the face of History and their
own peoples.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Third:</u> <b>For the time being, there will be no valid, real and
useful reform to the United Nations.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>It would take the superpower, which inherited the immense prerogative
of governing an order conceived for a bipolar world, to relinquish its
privileges. And it will not do so.<br><br>
<br><br>
Since now, we know that the anachronistic privilege of the veto will
remain; that the Security Council will not be democratized as it should
or expanded to include Third World countries; that the General Assembly
will continue to stand ignored and that at the United Nations there will
be more actions driven by the interests imposed by the superpower and its
allies. We, as non-aligned countries, will have to entrench ourselves in
defending the United Nations Charter – because, otherwise, it will be
redrafted with the deletion of every trace of principles such as the
sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and the non-use or the
threat to use force.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Fourth:</u> <b>The powerful collude to divide us.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>The over 130 underdeveloped countries must build a common front for
the defense of the sacred interests of our peoples, of our right to
development and peace. Let us revitalize the Non-Aligned Movement. Let us
strengthen the G-77.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Fifth:</u> <b>The modest objectives of the Millennium Declaration will
not be accomplished. We will reach the fifth anniversary of the Summit in
a worse situation.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>·</font><font face="arial" size=2>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>We endeavored to halve by 2015 the 1.276
billion human beings in abject poverty that existed in 1990. There had to
be a yearly reduction of 46 million poor people. However, excluding
China, between 1990 and 2000 extreme poverty rose by 28 million people.
Impoverishment does not decline, it grows.<br><br>
<br><br>
·</font><font face="arial" size=2>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>We wanted to halve by 2015 the 842
million starving people recorded in the world. There had to be a yearly
reduction of 28 million. However, there has barely been a reduction of
2.1 million hungry people per year. At this rate, the goal would be
attained by 2215, two hundred years after what was envisaged – and only
if our species survives the destruction of its environment.<br><br>
<br><br>
·</font><font face="arial" size=2>
</font><font face="arial" size=3> We proclaimed the aspiration to achieve
universal primary education by 2015. However, more than 120 million
children, 1 in every 5 in that school age, do not attend primary school.
According to UNICEF, at the current rate the goal will be accomplished
after 2100.<br><br>
<br><br>
·</font><font face="arial" size=2>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>We endeavored to reduce by two-thirds
the mortality rate in children under five years of age. The reduction is
symbolic: out of 86 children who died per 1,000 live births in 1998, now
the figure is 82. Every year, 11 million children continue to die of
diseases that can be prevented or cured, whose parents will rightfully
wonder what our meetings are for.<br><br>
<br><br>
·</font><font face="arial" size=2>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>We said that we would pay attention to
Africa’s special needs. However, very little has been done. African
nations do not need foreign advice or models, but financial resources and
access to both markets and technologies. Assisting Africa would not be an
act of charity, but an act of justice; it would be tantamount to settling
the historical debt resulting from centuries of exploitation and
pillage.<br><br>
<br><br>
·</font><font face="arial" size=2>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>We undertook to put a halt to and start
reverting the AIDS pandemic by 2015. However, in 2003 it claimed nearly 3
million lives. At this rate, by 2015 some 36 million people will have
died of this cause.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Sixth:</u> <b>Creditor countries and the international financial
agencies will not seek a just and lasting solution to the foreign debt.
<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>They prefer to keep us in debt; that is, vulnerable. Therefore, even
though we have paid off US$ 4.1 trillion in debt service over the last 13
years, our debt increased from US$ 1.4 trillion to US$ 2.6 trillion. It
means that we have paid three times what we owed and now our debt is
twice as much.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Seventh:</u> <b>We, as underdeveloped countries, are the ones that
finance the squandering and the opulence of developed
countries.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>While in 2003 they gave us US$ 68.400 billion in ODA, we delivered to
them US$ 436 billion as payment for the foreign debt. Who is helping
who?<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Eighth:</u> <b>The fight against terrorism can only be won through
cooperation among all nations and with respect for International Law, and
not through massive bombings or pre-emptive wars against “dark corners of
the world.” <br><br>
<br><br>
</b>Hypocrisy and double standards must cease. Sheltering three
Cuban-born terrorists in the United States is an act of complicity to
terrorism. Punishing five Cuban youths who were fighting terrorism, and
punishing their families, is a crime.<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Ninth:</u> <b>General and complete disarmament, including nuclear
disarmament, is impossible today. It is the responsibility of a group of
developed countries that are the ones that most sell and buy weapons.
<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>However, we must continue to strive for it. We must demand that the
over US$ 900 billion set aside every year for military expenditures be
used on development; and<br><br>
<br><br>
<u>Tenth:</u> <b>The financial resources to guarantee the sustainable
development for all the peoples on the planet are available, but what is
lacking is the political will of those who rule the world.<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>A development tax of merely 0.1% on international financial
transactions would generate resources amounting to almost US$ 400 billion
per annum.<br><br>
<br><br>
The cancellation of the foreign debt incurred by underdeveloped countries
would allow these to have available for their development no less than
US$ 436 billion on a yearly basis – money which is currently used to pay
off the debt.<br><br>
<br><br>
If developed countries complied with their commitment to set aside 0.7%
of their Gross National Product as ODA, their contribution would increase
from the current US$ 68.400 billion to US$ 160 billion per
annum.<br><br>
<br><br>
Finally, Excellencies, I want to clearly express Cuba’s profound
conviction that the 6.4 billion human beings on this planet – who have
equal rights according to the United Nations Charter – urgently need a
new order in which the world is not left in suspense, as is the case now,
awaiting the outcome of the elections in a new Rome in which only half
the voters will participate and nearly US$ 1.5 billion will be
spent.<br><br>
<br><br>
There is no discouragement in our words, I must say so clearly. We are
optimistic because we are revolutionaries. We have faith in the struggle
of the peoples and we are certain that we will accomplish a new world
order based on the respect for the rights of all; an order based on
solidarity, justice and peace, resulting from the best of universal
culture and not from mediocrity or gross force.<br><br>
<br><br>
About Cuba, which cannot be detoured from its course by blockades,
threats, hurricanes, droughts or human or natural force, I will not say
anything. <br><br>
<br><br>
Next 28 October, for the 13<sup>th</sup> time, this General Assembly will
debate and vote on a resolution about the blockade imposed against the
Cuban people. Once again, morality and principles will defeat arrogance
and force.<br><br>
<br><br>
I would like to conclude by recalling the words spoken right here 25
years ago by President Fidel Castro:<br><br>
<br><br>
“The noise of weapons, of the menacing language, of the haughtiness on
the international scene must cease. Enough of the illusion that the
problems of the world can be solved by nuclear weapons. Bombs may kill
the hungry, the sick and the ignorant, but bombs cannot kill hunger,
disease and ignorance. Nor can bombs kill the righteous rebellion of the
people…”<br><br>
<br><br>
Thank you very much.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
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