Mr. President, distinguished permanent representatives:
We highly value the leadership of the People’s Republic of China in the defense of international peace and security, the observance of international law, and the preservation, strengthening, and appropriate reform of the United Nations — in particular, the democratization, transparency, and effectiveness of the Security Council and the empowerment of the General Assembly — as well as in the construction of a multilateral international order, based on sovereign equality, fairness, and democracy.
Proof of this are the global initiatives promoted by President Xi Jinping, which we support, to confront current challenges through genuine multilateral cooperation. The convening of this open debate is further evidence of that.
On September 26, 1960, at the UN General Assembly, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz declared: “Let the philosophy of plunder disappear, and the philosophy of war will have disappeared!” We recall this vividly in the year of his centenary.
Mr. President:
How can one speak of defending the central role of the United Nations, of promoting peace and development, of safeguarding the international order based on international law and the basic norms of international relations, in order to prevent new conflicts where the strong impose themselves on the weak — without mentioning the genocide against Palestine, the imperialist aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the war in the Middle East?
The government of the United States, in practice, is in a position of undermining international peace and security and of violating international law and international humanitarian law with respect to the Republic of Cuba.
The indictment of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, is a morally infamous and legally arbitrary act — an abuse of the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, a manipulation of the location of the downing of aircraft that occurred in Cuban airspace and maritime territory; of the terrorist and illegal missions they frequently carried out in violation of U.S. laws; of the impunity and complicity of that country’s authorities; and of the disregard for the right of states to legitimate defense.
It is a politically motivated, fraudulent decision, aimed at deceiving U.S. and foreign citizens, thirty years after the events, with the vile purpose of securing support for a military adventure against Cuba to achieve “regime change” or “nation‑building,” as they euphemistically call it today.
The petroleum or energy siege that the United States applies to Cuba is equivalent in its effects to a naval blockade — an act of war and genocide that subjects the Cuban population to conditions threatening their integrity and existence. It constitutes a cruel and indiscriminate “collective punishment” that today causes deaths, as reflected in the doubling of the infant mortality rate, from 4.0 to 9.2 per thousand live births, or the reduction in the survival expectancy of children with cancer from 85% to 65%.
A military aggression would provoke a bloodbath. Thousands of Cubans would die defending the Homeland and sacred values and reasons, and young Americans would also perish — with no cause or ideal to defend — dragged into violence by an imperialist, neo‑fascist policy of domination, plunder, and conquest.
I address myself especially to U.S. citizens, particularly their youth, and appeal to their human values, their pacifist and noble sentiments. I ask them to seek the truth and not allow themselves to be deceived or manipulated by a corrupt and powerful elitist clique in Miami, unrepresentative of the U.S. people or of Cuban residents in that country, who mostly oppose the barbarity of war and the energy blockade.
The President who gave such a military attack order, and the Secretary of State and of War who instigated him to do so, would go down in history as war criminals, direct authors of crimes against humanity. No justification can be advanced for aggression or coercive inhuman acts of such humanitarian impact. Let Cuba live in peace!
For more than six decades, the U.S. government has fabricated pretexts to try to justify its criminal conduct.
It has used the absurd argument of presenting the small but symbolic island as a supposed threat to the national security of the nuclear superpower — an idea that defies logic and common sense, resting on wholly mendacious assertions and insinuations.
As President Miguel Díaz‑Canel has reiterated, Cuba is not and cannot be a threat. It is not an enemy of the United States nor does it wish to be, despite significant differences with its government. Cuba has deep and fraternal ties with the U.S. people and culture. We will continue to warmly welcome U.S. travelers, even if their government restricts their freedoms; and U.S. entrepreneurs and companies with competitive projects to participate, without discrimination, in our economic development, even if the blockade obstructs it.
Yet now a corrupt and immoral plutocracy brandishes the myth of incompetence and alleged corruption of our government, and the supposed danger of a “humanitarian crisis” as justification for foreign intervention. Cynically, it is the very executioner who coldly, maliciously, and deliberately provokes devastating effects — the same that would occur in any country in the world, regardless of its economic potential, level of development, or political system.
Despite the lack of progress and goodwill, the lack of seriousness and coherence on the U.S. side, we remain willing to continue conversations; to address bilateral problems without interference in our internal affairs, political system, or elections; and to seek forms of civilized behavior and multifaceted cooperation, particularly in matters of terrorism, drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, regular and safe migration, human trafficking, mutual economic compensation, and others.
This is an unprecedented unilateral aggression without any justification. Through intimidation and “secondary” sanctions applicable to third parties, the U.S. government seeks to force all states to participate, against their will, in its atrocious policies against Cuba — which will not happen.
I call on the international community to mobilize to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe that could be imposed, whether by arms or by the energy siege and extreme tightening of the blockade, which also kill and cause suffering.
I call on Latin America and the Caribbean to act to preserve their condition as a Zone of Peace and to avoid adverse consequences that would destabilize the region.
It is time for a broad international articulation, above political differences, ideological approaches, and historical disputes, to set limits and prevent abuses that threaten and harm national interests, peoples, and the sovereign prerogatives of all states.
The Global South should fight for this and collectively protect itself from any reprisals, through collective voice and action and mutual cooperation. I humbly ask: the time has come for solidarity with Cuba — which has always been in solidarity with all, never deterred by risks, sometimes mortal; nor by interests or material scarcity.
I cannot find a way to speak of defending the central role of the United Nations, of promoting peace and development, and of the Security Council’s primary responsibility in maintaining international peace and security and its contribution to dialogue and political solutions — without asking this Security Council, realistically, at least to attempt to fulfill its primary and supreme mandate regarding the military threat and the energy blockade against Cuba; nor can I refrain from encouraging the UN General Assembly to, in any case, use with determination its broad and decisive powers, its moral, legal, and democratic authority conferred upon it by the peoples, in Cuba’s situation.
Let no one doubt that, should the moment ever come — which we hope never occurs — the Cuban people will fight to the last consequences.
Homeland or death, we shall overcome!
Thank you very much.
(Cubaminrex)