Statement by the Permanent Delegation of Cuba to UNESCO on the march against the blockade and Cuba's presence on the list of States that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
Paris, December 21, 2024. The Cuban people turned a new page of dignity and rebellion this Friday, December 20, when more than 500,000 citizens of the capital marched along the Havana Malecón to demand an end to the genocidal blockade and the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States government against Cuba.
At the head of this mass mobilization were the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who, accompanied by the Commander of the Rebel Army, José Ramón Machado Ventura, and other leaders of the Party, the State, the Government, the political and mass organizations and the armed forces, guided this tide of people in their march for justice, for life, for dignity.
In his speech before the assembled people, the Cuban leader stressed that “the attempt by the United States to undermine the dignity of this people, by means of the club, has been destroyed today, with this concentration and combative march, which demonstrate how high the honor of our Homeland continues to be.”
In this context, the Cuban leader recalled that, just one month after leaving the White House, President Biden has done nothing to move away from the line of reinforced blockade and economic suffocation of Cuba that was left to him as a legacy by the Republican administration that returns to the Oval Office in January. “With the application of the 243 additional measures and the maintenance of Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, Biden has complied in a disciplined and cruel manner with the policy that Trump approved during his term,” declared the Cuban president.
Cuba has been the victim for more than 60 years of the application by the United States government of an economic, commercial and financial blockade that constitutes the main obstacle to its economic and social development and that represents a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of an entire people. Added to this is the unjust inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, drawn up unilaterally by the State Department, which only seeks to inflict greater harm on the Cuban people.
But Cuba is not alone. Numerous voices around the world, and within the United States itself, are standing alongside the Cuban people to demand an end to this hostile and inhumane policy. Recently, the United Nations General Assembly became, for the thirty-second consecutive time, an international forum for the end of the blockade and the exclusion of Cuba from this arbitrary and immoral list.
Adorned with the flags of the Lone Star, marching with a firm and sure step to the rhythm of revolutionary slogans, the Cuban people demonstrated their unity, their unequivocal support for the Cuban Revolution and their unwavering determination to continue advancing in the construction of a socialist, just, democratic and sustainable society, despite the challenges and adversities.