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<font size=3><br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3><b>ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR.
RICARDO ALARCON DE QUESADA, SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE'S
POWER OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA AT THE HIGH-LEVEL PLENARY MEETING OF THE
60<sup>TH</sup> SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY. NEW YORK,
SEPTEMBER 16, 2005.<br><br>
</b> <br><br>
<br><br>
Mr. Chairman, <br><br>
<br><br>
This meeting was called for the purpose of reviewing the progress that
has been made “towards the commitments articulated in the UN Millennium
Declaration” and “in the implementation of the outcomes and commitments
of the major UN Conferences and Summits”. This aim, however, been
completely distorted. <br><br>
<br><br>
Eight objectives and 18 goals had been set, most for the year 2015. They
were far from immodest. To reduce poverty and hunger by a half, make
primary education accessible to everyone, encourage gender equality and
the empowerment of women, reduce infant mortality, improve the health of
mothers, combat HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases,
guarantee environmental sustainability and develop global alliances for
development. <br><br>
<br><br>
Very little has been done to reach these goals. In many of these areas,
we have actually moved backwards. <br><br>
<br><br>
That was what we needed to discuss here, today, to undertake resolute and
urgent actions which would allow us to move forward. That was our
obligation as participants in this Summit. <br><br>
<br><br>
What we witness, instead, is an unforgivable sham. This meeting was
hijacked through tortuous manipulation. Those who fancy themselves the
world’s owners do not even want to remember those promises and the
hypocritical fanfare that came with them. <br><br>
<br><br>
What is worse, they seek to impose alleged reforms in the UN which only
seek to subjugate the organization completely and transform it into an
instrument of their global dictatorship. <br><br>
<br><br>
They would have war and hegemony become norms the world must accept
unquestioningly. Along the way, with the help of submissive coryphaei,
they tear the Charter to shreds, seek to reduce the Secretariat to a tool
for their designs and insult the Assembly and the world that it, and only
it, represents. <br><br>
<br><br>
In the name of what? A might whose limits their ignorance keeps them from
seeing? A phony war on terrorism which massacres entire populations and
takes thousands of young Americans to their death? A policy that, all the
while, hypocritically protects a convicted and confessed terrorist like
Luis Posada Carriles and, in violation of US law itself, keeps five
innocent people in prison, punishing them because they <i>did</i> combat
terrorism? <br><br>
<br><br>
Greed, egoism and irrationally will bring catastrophe upon us, and those
who refuse to accept the possibility of a different world, born of
solidarity and justice, will not be spared. <br><br>
<br><br>
A world without hunger or poverty, which offers everyone a healthy life,
education and dignity, a world free of oppression and discrimination,
without wars or genocidal blockades, where the exploitation of the
weakest has been done away with. <br><br>
<br><br>
The powerful can pretend they do not believe this, but poor nations have
the right to development and shall continue to fight for it. <br><br>
<br><br>
They shall continue to strive for it beyond these walls, outside of this
room. In spite of the blockade, the harassment and threats, the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas emerges as a result of the
historical leadership and generosity of President Hugo Chávez Frías,
whose speech pronounced here yesterday, echoed the voices of peoples in
his condemnation, which we fully support. The Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas is an example of solidarity among peoples,
returning hope to many, working towards true integration and development
, and announcing a different world that all of us can build. The
Alternative, a new dawn, spreads to the world from the South. <br><br>
<br><br>
Thank you, very much.<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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