Mr. President,
The 62nd session of the Human Rights Council will take place against a backdrop of the growing threat of military aggression against Cuba by the United States government.
In addition to violating the UN Charter and International Law, such aggression would constitute a flagrant violation of the human rights of our people.
It would deny the right to life of thousands of Cubans who would die defending their homeland. Young Americans would also perish, drawn into violence by a policy of domination and conquest.
The absurd argument is being used to portray our small island as a supposed threat to the national security of the nuclear superpower. Such an idea defies logic and common sense.
Cuba is not, and cannot be, a threat to the United States. They are lying to justify a new, irrational war.
Our country is not an enemy of the United States, nor does it wish to be, despite significant differences with its government. Cuba is a nation of peace.
It is the United States government that is causing severe harm to Cuban families with an economic blockade intensified to the extreme, with increasingly aggressive and ruthless additional measures, and a brutal energy siege.
The total fuel blockade that the United States has imposed on Cuba for the past five months is equivalent in its effects to a naval blockade, which is an act of war. The consequences are devastating. It is a plan to provoke a humanitarian crisis.
Our people suffer daily from prolonged power outages, difficulties in water supply, transportation, community services, gas supply, and the production and distribution of food, goods, and services. The health system and education, among many other sectors, are severely affected.
It is cynical to claim that this crisis results from the supposed incompetence of the Cuban government or from inherent flaws in our economic model. The United States is placing a noose around Cuba's neck, tightening the screws, and at the same time accusing the island of being unable to breathe.
Subjecting millions of people to inhumane coercive acts, creating scarcity, deprivation, and extreme hardship for political ends, is unacceptable under any circumstances and deserves universal condemnation.
Numerous mandate holders of the Human Rights Council have denounced the actions of the United States against Cuba as illegal, unjustified, and violations of the human rights of the Cuban people.
As High Commissioner Volker Türk has emphasized regarding this situation: “Nothing can justify the suffocation of an entire population.”
The Council must act in the face of these events, which violate international human rights law. This body cannot passively stand by while an entire people are deprived of their livelihoods, while a whole population continues to be punished for reasons of domination, and while a country is militarily threatened without any justification.
We call upon all peace-loving nations and defenders of just causes to prevent an aggression against Cuba, which would have unpredictable consequences.
We ask the international community to mobilize to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe from being imposed on the Cuban people, whether by force of arms or by the fuel blockade, which also kills.
We know that Cuba is not alone. On behalf of the Cuban people and government, I extend our deepest gratitude to all those who have expressed their solidarity and support at this time, when great dangers loom over the Cuban nation.
Cuba does not want a conflict and will continue to strive for reason, dialogue, and peace to prevail. But if a military aggression occurs, if the war we do not want is imposed upon us, rest assured that the Cuban people will fight, to the bitter end, to defend their sovereignty and independence.
Mr. President:
At the 62nd session, Cuba will present two draft resolutions. The text on “Human Rights and International Solidarity” will focus on renewing this important mandate. The second project will be aimed at convening the 2027 “Social Forum.”
I conclude by announcing that Cuba will organize, on June 19, a side event on the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Peace, which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary, following its adoption in 2016 by the UN Security Council and General Assembly. We invite all delegations to participate.
Thank you very much.