United Nations, New York, 17 September 2026 – Cuba reaffirmed before the United Nations that promoting dialogue and tolerance among religions and cultures is indispensable to building peaceful, inclusive, and just societies, in an international scenario marked by profound divisions, conflicts, and intolerance. Cuba's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, made this statement at the Global Conference on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech.
The Cuban diplomat said that cultural, religious, and belief diversity should be recognized as a richness of humanity and never used as a tool for division and confrontation. He stressed that opposing hate speech requires much more than simply condemning it; it requires addressing its root causes—including discrimination, racism, xenophobia, exclusion, inequality, misinformation, and intolerance—through education, respect for human dignity, and genuine spaces for dialogue.
Soberón Guzmán added that, for Cuba, the promotion of a culture of peace must be inextricably linked to respect for the United Nations Charter, international law, the sovereignty and independence of States, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. He warned that it is not possible to promote dialogue and tolerance while violence, war, policies of domination and coercion, and unilateral coercive measures—which directly affect the living conditions of peoples and their prospects for development—are normalized.
In this context, the Permanent Representative reiterated Cuba's strongest condemnation of the unprecedented, multidimensional war that the U.S. government is waging against the country, and denounced its strategy of regime change and collective punishment of the Cuban people. He indicated that the extreme tightening of the blockade, including a brutal energy siege, aggravates its impact on the population, and rejected the public threats of direct military aggression made under false pretexts.
The Ambassador stated that a military adventure against Cuba would have disastrous consequences not only for the country and for the United States, but also for hemispheric and international peace, security, and stability. He highlighted that such actions are incompatible with the spirit of dialogue, cooperation, solidarity, and peaceful coexistence that the Conference promotes, and stressed that the defense of these principles cannot be applied selectively or depend on political expediency.
Cuba reaffirmed its commitment to multilateralism and international cooperation as indispensable means for addressing common challenges. Likewise, it called on the international community to reject hate speech against any people, religion, culture, or nationality, and to allow all peoples to freely decide their own destiny and develop free from external interference. The Cuban delegation reiterated its commitment to a culture of peace that turns confrontation into understanding, imposition into cooperation, and hatred into solidarity.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations