<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br><br>
</font>
<img src="cid:6.2.1.2.2.20050316082221.02542230@66.103.156.66.1" width=624 height=217 alt="[]">
<font face="arial" size=2><br><br>
<br>
</font><div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2><b>
STATEMENT DELIVERED BY H. E. MR. FELIPE PÉREZ ROQUE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT OF THE
61<sup>st</sup> SESSION OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS<br><br>
<br>
</b></font></div>
<font face="arial" size=3>Excellencies:<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>The Commission on Human Rights – despite the efforts by those who
honestly believe in its importance and wage a battle to return it to the
spirit of respect and cooperation of its founders – has lost legitimacy.
</b>It is not credible. It allows the impunity of the powerful. It is
handcuffed. In it, there are plenty of lies, double standards and empty
speeches by those who, while enjoying their wealth, squander and pollute,
look the other way and pretend not to see how millions of human beings
endure the violation of the right to life, the right to peace, the right
to development, the right to eat, to learn, to work; in brief, the right
to live in dignity. <br><br>
<br><br>
We all knew that the Commission on Human Rights was victim to the
political manipulation of its work because the Government of the United
States and its allies have used the Commission as if it were their
private property – and have turned it into some sort of inquisition
tribunal to condemn the countries of the South and, particularly, those
who actively oppose their strategy of neocolonial domination.<br><br>
<br><br>
But in the course of the last year, two events took place that change the
nature of the debate that we will hold these days.<br><br>
<br><br>
The first was the European Union’s refusal to co-sponsor and vote in
favor of the draft resolution that proposed to investigate the massive,
flagrant and systematic human rights violations still committed today
against over 500 prisoners at the naval base that the United States
keeps, against the will of the Cuban people, in the Harbor of Guantánamo.
The European Union, that always objected to no-motion actions, was
willing this time to present it in order to even prevent any
investigations whatsoever against its ally. In terms of hypocrisy and
double standards, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. What will
it do this year, after the dissemination of the heinous pictures of
tortures at the prison of Abu Ghraib?<br><br>
<br><br>
The second event was the release of the report presented by the
High-Level Group on Threats, Challenges and Change, set up at the
initiative of the UN Secretary-General. It categorically states that “the
Commission cannot be credible if it is seen to be maintaining double
standards in addressing human rights concerns.” Should we then wait for
the representatives of the United States and its allies to come up with
self-criticisms at this plenary session and undertake to work with us,
Third World countries, to rescue the Commission on Human Rights from
disrepute and confrontation? <br><br>
<br><br>
Mr. Chairman:<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>The guarantee of the enjoyment of human rights today depends on
whether you live in a developed country or not – and it also depends on
the social class that you belong to. </b>Therefore, there will be no real
enjoyment of human rights for all as long as we fail to achieve social
justice in the relations among countries and within countries
themselves.<br><br>
<br><br>
For a small group of nations represented here – the United States and
other developed allies – the right to peace has already been achieved.
They will always be the attackers and never the ones under attack. Their
peace rests on their military power. They have also achieved economic
development, based on the pillage of the wealth of the other poor
countries that were former colonies, which suffer and bleed to death for
those to squander. However, in those developed countries, incredible as
it may seem, the unemployed, the immigrants and the impoverished do not
enjoy the rights that are most certainly guaranteed for the
rich.<br><br>
<br><br>
Can a poor person in the United States be elected Senator? No, they
cannot. The campaign costs, on average, some US$ 8 million. Do the
children of the rich go to the unjust and illegal war in Iraq? No, they
do not go. None of the 1,500 American youths killed in that war was the
son of a millionaire or a Secretary. The poor die there defending the
vested interests of a minority.<br><br>
<br><br>
If you live in an underdeveloped country the situation is worse, because
the overwhelming majority, poor and hopeless as it is, cannot exercise
their rights. As a country, there is no entitlement to peace. It can be
attacked under the accusation of being terrorist, of being an “outpost of
tyranny” or under the pretext that it is going to be “liberated.” It is
bombed and invaded to “liberate it.”<br><br>
<br><br>
Nor can the over 130 countries in the Third World exercise the right to
development. Beyond their efforts, the economic system imposed on the
world prevents so. They have no access to markets, to new technologies;
they are handcuffed by a burdensome debt that has already been paid off
more than once. They just have the right to be dependent countries. They
are led to believe that their poverty is the result of their mistakes. In
those countries, the poor and the indigent, who account for the majority,
do not even have the right to life. For that reason, every year we see
the death of 11 million children under five years of age, a portion of
which could be spared with barely a vaccine or oral rehydration solutions
– and also the death of 600,000 poor women at childbirth. They have no
right to learn to read and write. It would be dangerous for the owners.
They are kept in ignorance to keep them docile. That is why this
Commission should be ashamed of the nearly 1 billion illiterate people in
the world. That is why in Latin America 20 million children endure
ruthless exploitation as they work on the streets instead of going to
school.<br><br>
<br><br>
The Cuban people strongly believe in freedom, democracy and human rights.
It took them a lot to achieve them and are aware of its price. It is a
people in power. That is the difference. <br><br>
<br><br>
There cannot be democracy without social justice. There is no possible
freedom if not based on the enjoyment of education and culture. Ignorance
is the cumbersome shackle squeezing the poor. Being cultivated is the
only way to be free! – that is the sacred tenet that we Cubans learned
from the Apostle of our independence.<br><br>
<br><br>
There is no real enjoyment of human rights if there is no equality and
equity. The poor and the rich will never have the same rights in real
life, proclaimed and recognized as these may be on paper. <br><br>
<br><br>
That is what we Cubans learned long ago and for that reason we built a
different country. And we are just beginning. We have done so despite the
aggressions, the blockade, the terrorist attacks, the lies and the plots
to assassinate Fidel. We know that the Empire is chagrined by this. We
are a dangerous example: we are a symbol that only in a just and friendly
society; that is, socialist, can there be enjoyment of all rights for all
citizens.<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>Therefore, the Government of the United States attempts to condemn us
here at the Commission on Human Rights. </b>It is afraid of our example.
It is strong at the military level but weak on the moral front. And
morality, not weapons, is the shield of the peoples.<br><br>
<br><br>
Perhaps this year President Bush will find some Latin American country –
of the few docile ones that are left – to present the notorious
resolution against Cuba. Or perhaps it will return to an Eastern European
government like the Czech, which enjoys as nobody else its condition of
satellite of Washington and Trojan Horse within the European Union. Or
perhaps it will be presented by the very Government of the United States,
which is now blackmailing, threatening and counting endorsements to know
if Cuba’s condemnation can be achieved. <br><br>
<br><br>
Everybody in this hall knows that there is no reason to present a
resolution against Cuba at this Commission. In Cuba, there is not a
single – and there has not been ever in 46 years of Revolution – an
extrajudicial execution or a missing person, not even one! Let anyone
come up with the name of a Cuban mother who is still looking for the
remains of her murdered son or daughter! Or a grandmother searching for
her grandchild handed over to another family following the parents’
murder! Let anyone here come up with the name of a reporter killed in
Cuba – and 20 of them were murdered in Latin America only in 2004! Let
anyone come up with the name of a prisoner vexed by his keepers, a
prisoner ordered down on his knees, prey to terror, in front of a dog
trained to kill!<br><br>
<br><br>
Excellencies:<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>President Bush has a plan for Cuba, but we Cubans have a plan of a
different sort. </b>We Cubans have a clear idea about our course. And
nobody will move us away from it. We will build an even more just, more
democratic, more free and more cultivated society. In brief, more
socialist. <br><br>
<br><br>
And we will do so although President Bush threatens us with aggressions,
to return to colonized Cuba, to oust Cubans from their homes, their land
and their schools to turn them over to the former Batista-style owners
who would come back from the United States. We will do so despite his
plan to privatize health and turn our doctors into unemployed beings; we
will do so despite the plan to privatize education and make it accessible
only to the elite, as it was in the past; we will do so despite the plan
to auction off our wealth and the heritage of all the people to US
transnational corporations. Despite the plan to remove the rewards from
our retirees and pensioners to force them back on a job, according to the
so-called Plan of Assistance to a Free Cuba.<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>The Cuban people are entitled to defend themselves from aggression and
they will. </b>And I must say it clearly: in Cuba, we will not allow the
establishment of organizations and mercenary parties financed by and at
the service of the US Government. We will not allow newspapers and TV
networks funded by the US Government to uphold its policies of blockade
and its lies among ourselves. In Cuba, the press, the radio and the TV
are owned by the people and serve and will serve their
interests.<br><br>
<br><br>
We will not cooperate with the Representative of the High Commissioner or
with the spurious resolution behind her. Why is it not such a prestigious
lawyer appointed Special Representative of the High Commissioner to the
Guantánamo Naval Base? Why is she not asked to investigate the flagrant
violations of the rights of five courageous and pure Cuban youths
imprisoned in the United States and their families? Because it cannot be
done. Because it is about the human rights violations committed by the
United States and they are untouchable. It can be done against small Cuba
but not against the United States.<br><br>
<br><br>
But Cuba will not give up on its fight, Excellencies. Nor will it
surrender. Nor will it make concessions or betray its ideals.<br><br>
<br><br>
And we will see if a free, cultivated and united people can be defeated!
We will see if they can overthrow a government of the people, whose
leaders walk among them with the moral authority derived from the total
absence of corruption and the full dedication to their duties!<br><br>
<br><br>
We will see if they can deceive everybody all the time!<br><br>
<br><br>
Excellencies:<br><br>
<br><br>
The Commission on Human Rights before us today is illustrative of the
unjust and unequal world in which we live. There is no longer nothing
left in it from the friendly and respectful spirit that brought its
founders together after the victory over fascism. <br><br>
<br><br>
Therefore, the Cuban delegation will cease to insist that we must
transform the Commission. What we have to change is the world, go to the
roots. A Commission on Human Rights without selectivity, politicization,
double standards, blackmail and hypocrisy will only be possible in a
different world. <br><br>
<br><br>
Cuba does not consider that to be a dream, but a cause well worth
fighting for. That is why it fights and it will continue to do
so.<br><br>
<br><br>
Thanks. <br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3> <br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>