New York, 19 June 2017. At the Committee on Decolonization, under item: The Question of Puerto Rico, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, defined the session as “a historic day” by the presence of Oscar López Rivera,a fighter against colonialism, imprisoned for more than 35 years in US prisons, struggling for the self-determination, independence and freedom of his homeland.
The Cuban representative highlighted the nature of the Puerto Rican patriot, the oldest political prisoner in our Hemisphere, who synthesizes the resistance, nobility, pride and courage of the Puerto Rican people.
“We hope to receive you in Cuba with an embrace of solidarity from our people”, she expressed while symbolizing the indestructible friendship and unity of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
After mentioning facts and figures related to the current economic and social situation in Puerto Rico, as well as the impact of the US Government´s domination over that sister Antillean island, the Cuban Ambassador reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Puerto Rican people to self-determination and independence, which far from being an internal issue of the United States, “It is incumbent on the Special Committee on Decolonization and the entire international community”, she noted.
In concluding, Rodríguez Abascal reiterated that Cuba has a historical commitment to the free determination and independence of Puerto Rico, as peoples twinned forever for centuries of history.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations