Press release: Cuba reiterates that serious and comprehensive cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy is the only way to eliminate its potential dangers

New York, November 2, 2017.In his statement at the General Debate of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, on Item 52 "Effects of Atomic Radiation", Cuban representative, Ambassador Humberto Rivero Rosario, recognized that 72 years after the atrocious attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the danger of nuclear weapons is still latent and threatens to destroy the human species. On this regard, he reiterated that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is the only effective way to guarantee that humanity will never suffer their terrible impact again.

In like manner, he recalled that the island, in the midst of its economic difficulties caused mainly by the cruel economic, commercial and financial blockade that is imposed on it, in a modest and supportive way could provide help to the brotherly people of Ukraine affected by the Chernobyl accident, by means of the "Tarará Humanitarian Program". Through this program thousands of children, victims of the harmful effects of atomic radiation, were rehabilitated.

Rivero Rosario also stressed that such program has had an important scientific impact, since the information obtained has been spread in important events and has allowed several international organizations of the United Nations system, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Scientific Committee of the United Nations for the Study of the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), to use it in their assessments.

To conclude, the Cuban diplomat reiterated the conviction that serious and broad cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy is the only way to eliminate the potential dangers posed by ionizing radiation.

Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations