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<h1 id="reader-title">Radio Havana Cuba | Speech Delivered by
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at UN General Assembly</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits"><span>27/10/15</span></div>
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<p><strong>STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. BRUNO RODRÍGUEZ PARRILLA
ON THE AGENDA ITEM 42 ENTITLED “NECESSITY OF ENDING
THE ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL EMBARGO IMPOSED
BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AGAINST CUBA” AT THE
SEVENTIETH PERIOD OF SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY. NEW YORK, OCTOBER 27, 2015</strong>.</p>
<p>Mr. President;</p>
<p>Distinguished Permanent Representatives;</p>
<p>Esteemed Delegates;</p>
<p>On December 17 last year, the President of the United
States, Barack Obama, recognized that the economic,
commercial and financial blockade imposed against Cuba
had failed, is obsolete, has not met the originally
envisaged goals and causes damages to the Cuban people
and isolation to the US Government.</p>
<p>Ever since then, the US President has been reiterating
that the blockade should be lifted. He has urged the
Congress of his country to do so instead of standing in
the way of the US citizens who openly support its
termination. He has committed to engage in a debate with
that purpose and use his executive prerogatives to
modify its implementation.</p>
<p>During the recently held 2030 Development Agenda Summit
and at the United Nations General Debate, more than
sixty Heads of States, Governments and Delegations
welcomed and expressed their best wishes over the
announcement of the new course taken by the US-Cuba
relations, including the re-establishment of diplomatic
relations and the re-opening of embassies, and many of
them demanded that the blockade is finally abolished.</p>
<p>Therefore, the interest and expectations raised by
these deliberations and the subsequent vote, which takes
place under new circumstances, are only understandable.</p>
<p>In the face of an almost unanimous claim by the
international community -symbolized by the vote in favor
of 188 member States and Cuba’s participation in the
Summit of the Americas held in Panama-, and the clear
majority of the US society and the Cuban emigration
settled here, the US government has announced a new
policy towards our country.</p>
<p>But the measures adopted by the US Administration,
which entered into force on January 16 this year and
were later on expanded on September 18, although
positive, only modify, in a very limited way, some
elements related to the implementation of the blockade.</p>
<p>Many of them could not be implemented unless others are
adopted that would finally allow Cuba to freely export
and import products and services to and from the United
States; use American dollars in its international
financial transactions and operate accounts in that
currency in third countries banks and have access to
credits and financing from private entities and
international financial institutions.</p>
<p>The problem is not that the Cuban order hampers the
implementation of these measures and therefore it needs
to be modified in order to facilitate this process, as
has been stated by some US officials. The problem is the
implacable and systematic existence of the blockade.</p>
<p>We should not mix up reality with wishful thinking or
good-will expressions. In these circumstances, one can
only judge by facts.</p>
<p>And facts show, crystal-clear, that the economic,
commercial and financial blockade imposed against Cuba
is being fully and completely implemented.</p>
<p>Ten months after the announcements made on December 17,
no tangible, substantial modification has been
introduced in the implementation of the blockade.</p>
<p>Cuba’s removal from the spurious list of States
Sponsors of International Terrorism was the inevitable
rectification of a nonsense, but this has hardly had any
impact on the implementation of the blockade, which is
supported by a far more comprehensive system of
previously established sanctions and laws.</p>
<p>Barely a week ago, a 1.116 billion dollar fine was
imposed on the French bank <em>Credit Agricole</em>,
which adds up to the 1.710 billion dollar fine imposed
on the German bank <em>Commerzbank </em>in March this
year for doing transactions with Cuba and other States.</p>
<p>Only in recent weeks, the secure messaging system SWIFT
cancelled a service contract; the first payment of the
company Sprint to initiate direct telephone calls as
well as several other banking transfers for the
operations of charter flights were withheld.</p>
<p>The exiguous Cuban food purchases in the United States,
one of the few exceptions to the blockade, which were
approved in the year 2000 by the US Congress,
significantly diminished last year because they are
subject to discriminatory and onerous conditions: each
purchase must be authorized by a license; the granting
of credits is not allowed; Cuba is forced to pay in cash
and in advance through banking entities of third
countries and is not allowed to use its own vessels to
transport those products.</p>
<p>Something similar happens with the imports of the
medicines and the medical equipment that our country
needs, which are also conditioned, since 1992, by the US
law. Cuba is required to report on the final recipient
of the medicines it acquires and is not allowed to make
direct payments, but only through third parties and in a
currency other than the US dollar, which entails
additional difficulties, delays and costs.</p>
<p>Several other examples could be mentioned, such as the
case of the company <em>Elekta</em>, which confirmed,
on September 2 last, that it will not be able to supply
to the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology
or any other hospital in Cuba the radioactive isotope
Iridium-192, which ensures the normal functioning of the
brachytherapy equipment that are indispensable to offer
higher quality and accuracy cancer therapies, because
its purveyor, the US company <em>Mallinckrodt</em> <em>Pharmaceuticals</em>,
refused to sell it to Cuba.</p>
<p>The US company <em>Small Bone Innovation Inc</em>. has
refused to supply wrists and hands joints prostheses to
the "Frank País" Orthopedic Complex which are intended
for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.</p>
<p>In June last year, the US company <em>SIGMA Aldrich</em>
refused to supply to the company <em>Quimimpex</em> the
products, services and technical information which are
indispensable to the chemical industry; and the US firm
Columbiana Boiler Company informed the aforementioned
company that it was not allowed to export the cylinders
necessary to transport the chlorine destined to the
treatment of water.</p>
<p>The blockade is a flagrant, massive and systematic
violation of the human rights of all Cubans; it is
contrary to International Law; it has been described as
a crime of genocide by the Convention for the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 and is
the main obstacle to the economic and social development
of our people.</p>
<p>The human damages it has caused are inestimable.
Seventy seven per cent of all Cubans have been suffering
the blockade since the day they were born. The shortages
and deprivations that it causes to all Cuban families
can not be accounted for.</p>
<p>According to rigorous and conservative calculations,
the economic damages it has caused after more than half
a century amount to 833.755 billion dollars, based on
the price of gold. At current prices, it amounts to
121.192 billion dollars, a figure of enormous
proportions for a small economy like ours.</p>
<p>I hope that the US Representative will not come here
now to tell us that the draft resolution does not
accurately reflect the spirit of dialogue or the kind
attitude of the US government; nor take on a hackneyed
stand saying that the United States is the benefactor
partner of the Cuban people that is only looking for its
empowerment; or inflates the figure of 900 000 dollar
donations by the civil society received in 2015, which
are hampered by the blockade and appreciated by our
people; or refer to the family remittances that are
saved with great effort by the Cubans living here as if
they were government funds; or consider as a commercial
exchange the export licenses that are granted but are
not materialized.</p>
<p>While it is up to the US Congress to adopt the decision
to put an end to the blockade, the President has broad
executive prerogatives to substantially modify its
practical implementation and its humanitarian and
economic impact.</p>
<p>We share the hope that the Congress of the United
States would move on to change an inefficient, cruel and
unjust policy, anchored in the past, and adopt decisions
based on the values and feelings of its citizens.</p>
<p>Mr. President:</p>
<p>Historically, the United States has intended to
establish its domination and hegemony on our homeland
and, since 1959, it has tried to change the political,
economic and social system that our people, fully
exercising the right to self-determination, has freely
chosen.</p>
<p>Some spokespersons from the US Government have declared
that the announced Cuba policy is about a change of
methods, not goals.</p>
<p>Should this be the case, the process towards the
normalization of relations between the United States and
Cuba will face very serious obstacles.</p>
<p>The lifting of the blockade will be the essential
element that will give some meaning to the progress
achieved in the last few months in the relations between
both countries and shall set the pace towards
normalization.</p>
<p>As has been recognized by President Barack Obama, the
lifting of the blockade serves the US national interest
and is the will of the citizens of that country.</p>
<p>Any attempt to condition the lifting or modification of
the blockade to the introduction of internal changes in
Cuba will be in no way acceptable nor productive.</p>
<p>Cuba is ready to accept the opportunities and face the
challenges of a new era in the relations between both
countries, but it will never negotiate its socialist
system or its internal affairs, nor will it allow any
blemish on its independence, which was conquered at the
price of the blood of its best sons and daughters and
after the huge sacrifices made by many generations since
the beginning of our independence wars in 1868.</p>
<p>As has been reiterated by President Raúl Castro Ruz,
both governments must find the way to coexist in a
civilized manner, despite their profound differences,
and advance as much as possible for the benefit of the
peoples of the United States and Cuba, through a
dialogue and cooperation based on mutual respect and
sovereign equality.</p>
<p>There is no enmity between the peoples of the United
States and Cuba. The Cuban people expressed its
solidarity at the time of the terrible terrorist actions
of September 11, 2001, or the devastating impact of
hurricane Katrina.</p>
<p>We appreciate and recognize the progress achieved
recently with the re-opening of embassies, the visits
paid by the Secretaries of State and Commerce and the
exchange of delegations; the functioning of a Steering
Committee; the expansion of the areas of dialogue and
cooperation, particularly in the filed of air and
aviation safety; the combat of drug-trafficking, illegal
migration and traffic in persons; law enforcement,
environmental protection and health, among others.</p>
<p>We are really interested in developing fruitful
relations; offering our hospitality to the US citizens
who enjoy the freedom of traveling to Cuba; expanding
enriching, cultural, sports, scientific and academic
exchanges; promoting a multifaceted cooperation in areas
of common interest, trade and investments.</p>
<p>We have initiated a human rights dialogue with a
reciprocal character and despite our huge differences.</p>
<p>For all that we have been guided by the principles
contained in the Proclamation of Latin America and the
Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by the Heads of
State and Government of the Community of Latin American
and Caribbean States in January of 2014 in Havana, as
well as the principles and purposes enshrined in the UN
Charter.</p>
<p>This could also be a modest contribution to the quest
for a new way in which human beings and nations can
relate to one another in this era marked by global
crisis, the inevitable impact of climate change, the
non-conventional wars that unleash atrocious conflicts,
new forms of terrorism, the existence of huge nuclear
arsenals, extraordinary arms spending and the risk of
pandemics.</p>
<p>As was stated fifteen years ago in this very hall by
Fidel Castro Ruz, the historic leader of the Cuban
Revolution, "Humanity should be aware of what we have
been so far and what we can not continue to be.
Presently, our species have enough accumulated
knowledge, ethical values and scientific resources to
move towards a new historical era of true justice and
humanism. There is nothing in the existing economic and
political order that can serve the interests of
Humankind. Thus, it is unsustainable and it must be
changed."</p>
<p>Mr. President:</p>
<p>Twenty three years after this resolution was first
adopted, we have achieved a remarkable progress in 2015.</p>
<p>It has been a reward for the indefatigable resistance,
selfless efforts, the firm convictions of our people and
the leadership of the historical generation of the
Revolution headed by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and
President Raúl Castro.</p>
<p>We are deeply grateful to all the governments and
peoples, parliaments, political forces and social
movements, representatives of the civil society,
international and regional organizations that,
particularly in this United Nations General Assembly,
have contributed their voice and vote, year after year,
to support the fairness and urgency of the elimination
of the blockade.</p>
<p>We have made it all the way here thanks also to the
majority and ever-growing support given by the US people
to this lofty purpose, to whom we also convey our
gratitude.</p>
<p>We know that the way ahead is long and difficult. We
will continue to present this draft resolution for as
long as the blockade persists.</p>
<p>The Cuban people will never renounce its sovereignty or
the path that is has freely chosen to build a more just,
efficient, prosperous and sustainable socialism. Neither
will it give up in its quest for a more equitable and
democratic international order.</p>
<p>Mr. President:</p>
<p>Distinguished Permanent Representatives:</p>
<p>Esteemed delegates:</p>
<p>We have presented a new draft resolution that
recognizes the reality of the rigorous and oppressive
implementation of the blockade against Cuba and also
welcomes and recognizes, in the new preambular
paragraphs, the progress achieved in the course of last
year.</p>
<p>On behalf of the heroic, self-sacrificing and fraternal
people of Cuba, I ask you to vote in favor of the draft
resolution contained in document A/70/L.2. :"Necessity
of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo
imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
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