New York, October 13th, 2023.- Ambassador Gerardo Peñalver, first deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, warned today, in this multilateral organization, that ignoring the real threat represented by the existence of nuclear weapons could cause the extinction of the human species.
During a debate on “Nuclear Weapons” in the 1st Committee of the General Assembly, Gerardo Peñalver said that it is unjustifiable that there are still approximately 13,000 nuclear weapons, which are more than enough to destroy the planet.
He explained that the States that possess these weapons continue to modernize their arsenals, adding to the repeated failure of the latest Review Conferences of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which further distances the objective of a world free of nuclear weapons.
In this context, the Cuban Permanent Representative explained that his country is proud to belong to the first Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in a densely populated area, later proclaimed as a Zone of Peace.
Likewise, he ratified Cuba's rejection of the imposition of unilateral coercive measures, which limit or restrict, in a discriminatory manner, the legitimate right of all States to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. “We condemn the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, which constitutes an example of this,” he added.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations