Mr. President,
The alarming manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance that we are witnessing today, particularly in some of the most developed societies, underscore the relevance of commemorating the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The terrible legacy of slavery and the slave trade lies at the root of the situations of profound social and economic inequality, hatred, bigotry, racism, racial discrimination and prejudice that continue to affect people of African descent.
As the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, said at the historic Durban Conference in 2001: "The inhuman exploitation imposed on the peoples of three continents, including Asia, marked forever the destiny and lives of over 4.5 billion people living in the Third World today whose poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and health rates as well as their infant mortality, life expectancy and other calamities --too many, in fact, to enumerate here-- are certainly awesome and harrowing. They are the current victims of that atrocity which lasted centuries and the ones who clearly deserve compensation for the horrendous crimes perpetrated against their ancestors and peoples."
Reparation and full compensation to the peoples and groups affected by this terrible crime against humanity is therefore a moral obligation and a historical debt. The developed countries, which benefited from conquest, colonization, slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, are responsible for the extermination associated with them.
Cuba supports the just demand of the CARICOM countries for reparations for the damage caused by colonialism and slavery. It would also be fair to give special and differential treatment to developing countries, especially Africa, in their international economic relations.
Those of us who were colonies in the past are still subject to an unjust and unequal international order that continues to perpetuate the "philosophy of dispossession". It is ethically unjustifiable that a small minority continue to enjoy the exponential growth of their wealth, while the vast majority struggle to survive.
Mr. President,
Nearly 1.3 million African slaves were forcibly brought to Cuba during the colonial period, victims of the cruel and inhumane slave trade.
Treated as objects or private property at the service of their masters, stripped of their customs, families, communities and nations, African slaves were forced to replace the indigenous population exterminated by Spanish colonialism.
By paying tribute to the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, Cubans honor our history, which we will never forget. Freed slaves and their descendants have played an essential role in our struggles for independence and self-determination.
The culture, idiosyncrasy and popular religiosity of our country, which are deeply mixed-race rooted, cannot be explained without the unavoidable African contribution. We Cubans are Afro-Latin Americans. Africa is part of the essence of our nation.
Mr. President,
International solidarity with the countries from which those millions of people were forcibly uprooted is, together with remembrance, the best tribute to the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade in the current context.
On the basis of its profound humanist vocation, Cuba has continued to strengthen its international cooperation programs, particularly with countries and territories in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.
During the confrontation to the COVID-19 pandemic, 56 medical brigades supported recovery efforts in 40 countries and territories. Since 1963, more than 600,000 health workers have served in 165 countries, the vast majority in the developing world.
We have done so with absolute humility, sharing what we have and not what we have to spare. We will continue to promote solidarity and cooperation, especially among the peoples of the South, as indispensable values for meeting the challenges of the current international order, despite the obstacles posed by the blockade, which has been tightened to an unprecedented degree, and the unjustified inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
The decision announced by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to suspend visas linked to Cuba's international medical cooperation agreements, based on falseness and coercion, aims to affect the health services of millions of people in Cuba and around the world in order to benefit special interest groups for which it guarantees the waste of US taxpayers' funds.
Mr. President,
Let us turn tribute into sustained action. Let us address the root causes of inequality, exclusion, racism and discrimination that have survived slavery and continue to affect millions of people, especially people of African descent.
Let us honor the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade by creating proper conditions for preventing the perpetuation of related phenomena. Let us eradicate once and for all any vestige of racism and racial discrimination.
Thank you