Excelentísima Señora Rebeca Grynspan, Secretaria General Iberoamericana;
Excelencias, Cancilleres y Jefes de Delegaciones de Iberoamérica;
Que reciba un cordial saludo desde La Habana.
Agradezco a la Secretaría Pro-Tempore de Andorra la exitosa celebración de este encuentro y la acertada forma en que se han desarrollado las actividades de la Conferencia, incluso en medio de las excepcionales circunstancias impuestas por la pandemia del COVID-19. Reiteramos nuestro apoyo y reconocemos la labor de la Secretaría General Iberoamericana en estos esfuerzos.
La pandemia ha cobrado un precio en la vida de más de un millón de personas.
Estimaciones conservadoras indican que entre 88 y 115 millones de personas se verán sumidas en la pobreza este año. Cambiar los paradigmas de desarrollo que priorizan los intereses del mercado se convierte en un imperativo. Ahora se confirma el papel central que está llamado a desempeñar el Estado en la implementación de las estrategias nacionales encaminadas a fortalecer los sistemas de salud y protección social.
Como resultado del injusto orden internacional y la impagable deuda externa, los países en desarrollo están sufriendo las peores consecuencias de la enfermedad, que compromete la implementación de la Agenda 2030.
Para avanzar hacia el desarrollo sostenible es necesario promover la innovación y la interconexión entre la academia, la ciencia y los tomadores de decisiones; y facilitar el acceso a fuentes de financiación y transferencia de tecnología de países desarrollados. Una cooperación iberoamericana inclusiva debe contribuir a alcanzar estos objetivos.
Reitero nuestra solidaridad con la República Bolivariana de Venezuela y su legítimo Presidente, Nicolás Maduro Moros.
La determinación de Cuba de construir una nación soberana, independiente, socialista, democrática, próspera y sostenible requiere innovación e investigación científica, que se identifican como una de las principales prioridades del Programa Nacional Económico y Social para el año 2030.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has encoraged us to take on innovation as a social process that would strengthen the links between the Government’s activities and areas such as knowledge, production and services.
In January, 1960, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro stated, and I quote: “The future of our homeland must necessarily be a future of men and women of science; it must be a future of men and women of thoughts.” This principle has guided us to the achievement of significant scientific results of invaluable social benefits.
Government management, scientific research, Cuban biopharmaceutical products plus an inclusive, free and universal health system have been essential in the recovery of 87 percent of the persons infected with COVID-19. We have two candidate vaccines that are going through the clinical trials phase and our scientists are currently working to produce another two.
We have contributed to tackle the disease in 39 countries and territories by sending 53 medical brigades that have joined the ones that were already offering their services in 59 countries.
All that has been possible despite the campaigns launched by the government of the United States against Cuba’s medical cooperation and the severe tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, even under the complex circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which confirm it as a flagrant violation of the human rights of an entire people and the main obstacle to our development.
The US government, which attempts to re-enact the Monroe Doctrine, violates the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and hinders sustainable development in the region, since it maintains a hostile policy against Cuba and threatens, attacks and implements unilateral and coercive measures against other countries.
The US aggressiveness against Cuba, which has further intensified during the last few years by means of a ruthless economic warfare imposed by the blockade, has now turned to gross and dangerous attempts to promote social and political instability.
I denounce that President Donald Trump’s administration is directly involved in the funding and directing civil disobedience and illegal actions against law and order in Cuba. Groups and individuals based in the US territory, some of them linked to terrorist activities, are openly promoting the commission of acts of sabotage, violence and willful disobedience of the law in Cuba.
The US chargé d’affaires in Cuba has been personally involved in the promotion of an alleged hunger strike that never existed, in violation of the quarantine regulations established as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the transportation and support to the participants in this provocation.
This is a flagrant and unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of our country which the Cuban government will not tolerate, whether it is perpetrated by the United States or by anyone else.
Madame President,
I take this opportunity to reiterate, on behalf of the people and the government of Cuba, our gratitude to the Ibero-American community for its support to the just claim to put an end to the blockade against Cuba.
I reaffirm our commitment to cooperation and solidarity.
Thank you, very much.
(Cubaminrex - EmbaCuba-Polonia)