Cuba reaffirms its support for the Palestinian people and denounces the U.S. blockade at the 80th session of the General Assembly

At the UN General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla denounced the actions of the Israeli regime in Gaza, accusing it of causing widespread starvation among millions. He reiterated Cuba's support for the Palestinian people. Additionally, he criticized the Security Council's ineffectiveness due to the US veto and urged the Assembly to acknowledge Palestine's right to become a UN member state.

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba

Madam President of the General Assembly;

Mr. Secretary-General;

As we deliberate here, 2.2 million human beings in Gaza are doomed to starve due to the acts of genocide, extermination and ethnic cleansing of the Zionist regime, which counts on the military and financial supplies and the impunity guaranteed by the United States government.

On behalf of the government and the people of Cuba, I reiterate the strongest possible solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause in favor of freedom, independence and the end of the Zionist occupation.

If the Security Council is rendered impotent due to the veto exercised or threatened to be exercised by the United States, and is therefore unable to adopt effective measures to end such barbarity, this General Assembly has the duty and the capacity to promote concrete measures without further delay.

It should at least unequivocally declare the right of Palestine to be a member of the United Nations, within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right to the return of refugees.

Madam President;

Eleven million persons, 3 million of them children, die every year from hunger and other related diseases. The climate crisis is destroying nations and lives and devastating communities and economies. A handful of countries and persons accumulate more wealth than the vast majority of all other countries combined. Colossal inequalities hinder sustainable development.

There has been no effective global response to today's serious challenges. There could not be one because the current world order reflects a bygone era, when most developing countries did not even exist as independent States. Eighty years ago, the UN was founded with hardly 51 member States. Today, we are 193.

The most urgent priority is to create a new international order that guarantees peace, the right to development, sovereign equality and the participation and representation of developing countries in global political decisions that provides for common good and prosperity in harmony with nature and ensures the exercise of all human rights by all peoples.

Let us all hope for a new civilized coexistence, in which solidarity, international cooperation and the peaceful settlement of disputes prevail, as alternatives to war, the use of force, aggressions and occupation; as opposed to aspirations for unipolar domination and hegemonism; an order without blockades or unilateral coercive measures, based on multilateralism and with full respect for the United Nations Charter and International Law.

Even despite its limitations, the United Nations continues to be the most representative body of the international community. It is our duty to protect and strengthen its intergovernmental essence. Its democratic foundations cannot be diluted in sweeping agendas that are subject to the whimsical priorities and rules imposed by those who provide the largest funding.

It is necessary to highlight the central role of the General Assembly as its most democratic and representative body.

The primary goal of the "UN80" initiative launched by the Secretary General should be to strengthen the intergovernmental nature of the United Nations and its capacity to better address the pressing challenges of these times.

It is imperative to reject the threatening proposal of a new doctrine called "peace through strength," which means to impose on all of us the arbitrary will of the US imperialism by resorting to the use of threats, coercion and aggression.

It is a doctrine conceived to satisfy the ambitions of an already declining unipolar power and responds also to the interests of large transnational corporations, at the expense of the rights of sovereign nations and their peoples and of the values on which this Organization was built.

The threat of war looms large today over the Caribbean Sea, with an extraordinary and absolutely unjustified naval and air buildup, with landing and assault ships and nuclear submarines.

The United States uses the pretext of combating crime and drug trafficking, a story that no one believes.

The attack and destruction of unregistered or unchartered course speedboats; the extrajudicial murder or execution of civilians; the interdiction of fishing vessels or boats and the aggressive actions of the United States create a dangerous situation that violates International Law and threatens regional peace and security.

We reaffirm our support to the Bolivarian government of Venezuela and the Popular and Military union led by President Nicolás Maduro Moros, and our strong rejection of the threats of aggression against this sister Latin American and Caribbean nation.

We reject the Monroe Doctrine as well as any attempt of militarization, intervention or imperialist domination in Latin America and the Caribbean, declared as a Zone of Peace in January 2014 in Havana, the proclamation of which was signed by the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

The accelerated arms race involves a competition in the realm of death and destruction, with the use of extraordinary financial and material resources that could be used for mitigating poverty, promote development and cooperation.

Meanwhile, most of the meager goals of the 2030 Agenda will not be met; Official Development Assistance commitments are ignored; and funding for combating climate change is declining.

In 1960, before this very Assembly, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution warned, and I quote: "Let the philosophy of dispossession disappear, and the philosophy of war will have disappeared."

Madam President;

Climate change is inexorably and rapidly advancing. The first six months of this year have been the warmest on record. Last year had been already the year with the highest temperatures. From this very podium, science as well as decades of collective work to protect the planet are being put in question. If capitalism’s unsustainable production and consumption patterns are not changed, we will exceed the fateful 1.5 degree Celsius threshold before the year 2030.

The foreign debt of developing countries, which has been paid several times over, continues to grow and record astronomical figures, thus becoming a new form of colonization. It is imperative to implement the commitments entered into by the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, with additional resources and a specific multilateral mechanism for negotiating the debt.

We suffer the consequences of a powerful cultural domination in which digital technology impacts our lives in an increasingly accelerated and comprehensive way. A few transnational corporations impose their operating systems and control the contents that we see, read and listen to and shape our behavior. We suffer a dictatorship of algorithms.

We need to establish common standards in the UN as soon as possible to unleash the transformative potential of new technologies, particularly AI, for the benefit of all, while mitigating risks.

In addition to the challenges Cuba faces, stemming from its condition as a small island developing State, our country is suffering the devastating and cumulative impact of the policy of hostility and economic suffocation imposed by the United States for more than six decades.

The blockade against Cuba persists and has been tightened to the extremes. It is an overwhelming and prolonged economic war aimed at depriving Cubans of their livelihoods and sustainability, of their existence as a fraternal and joyful people.

Anyone claiming otherwise would be lying. The very promoters of this war boast of its destructive impact and its ability to strike at the living standards of an entire people from any corner of the planet.

This aggression has escalated to unprecedented levels in the last 8 years and has included increasingly elaborate, surgical and extraterritorial actions of persecution and economic pressure against third parties. It imposes multiple and extraordinary impediments on production, trade and finances as well as the services and policies that guarantee social justice and life itself.

Cuba today faces an unprecedented situation of prolonged and daily power outages, difficulties in affording food, insufficient availability of medicines, depressed public transportation, limitations on community services and steep inflation that depresses real incomes.

In 1960, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Lester Mallory drafted the memorandum of coercion and economic blockade against Cuba that has guided the conduct of the US government during all these years. That memorandum stated, and I quote: "...every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba...a line of action which...makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government." End of quote.

The Secretary of State is the reincarnation of that macabre subject.

Madam President,

Cuba is a victim of terrorism. For years and still today, terrorist acts against the country have been organized and financed from the United States territory. Well-known perpetrators of horrendous acts of aggression against the Cuban people, resulting in thousands of deaths, maiming and significant material damage, live there peacefully and with absolute impunity.

In compliance with its responsibilities against terrorism and in support of UN efforts against this scourge, the Cuban government has officially shared with the United States government in recent years the names and information about 62 individuals and 20 organizations based in this country which have been responsible for violent and terrorist acts which, from the US territory, continue to participate in actions of this nature against Cuba. No response has been received, and no one knows whether the U.S. authorities have taken any action against any of them.

It is cynical that the United States government labels Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism following political and economic coercion purposes. This is a slander that neither this Organization nor any of its Member States share.

Many national institutions, both banking and financial and commercial, in almost all the countries represented here, are subject to intimidation by this fallacious designation by the United States government. Because of this classification, foreign governments and institutions avoid engaging with Cuban entities, offering credit, supporting the country’s commercial activity or channeling our transfers.

Added to this is the intimidation against citizens of more than 40 countries which the US government threatens with reprisals if, by virtue of their rights, they decide to visit Cuba.

The United States has unleashed a vicious campaign of discredit and persecution against Cuba’s medical cooperation, and of harassment and coercion against the authorities of the countries that receive it. It is a strategy directed by the State Department.

It intends to denigrate that cooperation which has saved millions of lives and, in quite a few cases, it has been the only option of large population groups to access health services. This altruistic and fraternal cooperation is based on absolutely legitimate bilateral agreements and complies with this Organization's international standards for Cooperation.

I confirm, once again, that Cuba will honor its commitments to all countries with which it has signed bilateral medical cooperation agreements and programs, and will remain willing to expand them with all governments ready to develop such cooperation based on International Law and their national legislations, in the interest of the well-being of their peoples.

Since 1963, 605 000 doctors and specialists have performed, among others, 17 million surgeries and assisted more than 5 million child deliveries. Right now, more than 24 000 healthcare professionals are currently providing their services in 56 countries.

The aggression against Cuba is being reinforced by a powerful destabilization machine that, from the US territory and financed by that country's federal budget, imposes an offensive aimed at disrupting public peace, promoting acts of violence, misleading the population and discrediting our country.

This is an unconventional warfare strategy that combines emotional manipulation with information poisoning to impose a climate of hopelessness and political demobilization.

In the face of such an asymmetrical onslaught, the resolve of our people is strengthened. We are aware of the great challenges that we face and the need to achieve, with creativity and the participation of all, economic recovery and strengthen social policies.

On July last, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said, and I quote: “We are not an accident of history; we are the logic consequence of a history of resistance and rebelliousness against abuse and injustice”, end of quote.

We will not cease in our efforts to build our dreams of a better and more prosperous socialist country for all, based on the constitutional order chosen by our people, which guarantees sovereignty, national and cultural identity and reflects the dream of José Martí, summarized in his memorable phrase, and I quote: "The cult of Cubans to the full dignity of man and the search for all the justice", end of quote.

We have designed a realistic economic recovery program, adapted to the very peculiar and extraordinary conditions of our country, aware that we must overcome the devastating impacts of the economic blockade, overcome the deficiencies inherent to the current economic structure and “change everything that needs to be changed”. We avoid deluding ourselves, but results are already beginning to be evident at the macroeconomic level, although the people have not yet perceived them nor are they reflected in the daily life of Cuban families.

Cuba is a nation of peace. Despite all the harm the United States has caused to us, we have always been willing to have a dialogue, without pre-conditions, and attempt to achieve a respectful and civilized relationship with that country, without subordination or limits to our sovereign prerogatives.

Both peoples would benefit from this opportunity. A considerable number of Cubans live in the United States, many of whom today feel threatened, since the politicians who have made careers and enriched themselves by supposedly representing them, particularly in Miami, have betrayed them.

By continuously sowing hatred and political manipulation, they are currently supporting, out of opportunism, the xenophobic, racist and repressive measures of intimidation and retaliation unjustly applied against them.

So is the case, particularly, at the State Department.

No one should forget that a significant number of Cubans have been coming to this country for more than 60 years. They were pushed by the conditions caused by the economic blockade and lured by the privileges granted by politically motivated laws and practices that encourage, admit and protect them, regardless of whether they migrated legally or not.

Madam President,

We reaffirm our commitment as a BRICS partner country.

We reject the application of unilateral coercive measures seeking to subjugate the sovereign will of peoples. We express our support to Belarus, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Russia, and other nations that are victims of these measures.

We ratify our solidarity with the Government of National Reconciliation and Unity of Nicaragua.

We reiterate our support to the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence.

The sister nations of the Caribbean deserve fair and differentiated treatment, as well as reparations for the horrors of colonialism and slavery.

The international community has a great responsibility to the Haitian people. We maintain our modest cooperation in the area of health with this brotherly people and Cuba will join any international effort to support it based on respect for its sovereignty, without impositions or military interventions.

We support Argentina’s legitimate and sovereign right over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas.

Cuba remains committed to peace in Colombia.

Africa, the cradle of humanity, will always be able to count on Cuba and the solidarity of the Cuban people. We support their just claim for reparations for the damages caused by colonization.

We reaffirm our solidarity with the Sahrawi people and their right to self determination.

We reaffirm the “One China” principle.

We oppose the aggressive military and nuclear doctrines of NATO.

We strongly believe, without considering it a utopia, that a better world is possible. We believe in the duty to fight and work to achieve it.

Allow me to reiterate the words expressed by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, from this podium, in September, 2015:

“The international community will always be able to count on Cuba's sincere voice in the face of injustice, inequality, underdevelopment, discrimination and manipulation and for the establishment of a more just and equitable international order that is truly focused on human beings, their dignity and well-being.”

Thank you, very much.