Mr. President,
Cuba has been unable to receive any fuel supplies, which it urgently needs. The reason is the energy blockade imposed by the Government of the United States since 30 January.
By preventing Cuba from receiving oil, the United States seeks to paralyse our hospitals, schools, universities and factories, public transport, water supply systems, gas stations, electricity grid, and food production.
It is not concealed that the purpose is to create a humanitarian crisis and provoke a social breakdown that would lead to the overthrow of the constitutional order freely decided by Cubans in several referendums.
There is no political, ideological, or economic reason that can justify depriving an entire people of their means of life and sustainability.
This is not foreign policy or national security. It is cruelty and barbarity. It is a flagrant and massive violation of the human rights of an entire people.
Millions of Cubans are forced to endure daily power outages lasting many hours.
I denounce that in Cuba there are children, elderly persons, and patients who die prematurely because the blockade prevents them from receiving medicines and treatment.
With the current energy restrictions, the national surgical waiting list exceeds 96,000 patients, including more than 11,000 children.
Care for 32,000 pregnant women requiring diagnostic ultrasounds is affected. More than 30,000 children have not been able to receive their vaccines on time due to shortages in refrigerated transport caused by lack of fuel.
Treatment for 16,000 patients requiring radiotherapy and another 2,888 dependent on haemodialysis—services that require energy stability—is also affected.
In Cuba, the care of every child is defended as the most precious treasure. Our country had achieved a child cancer survival rate of 80%. As a result of the tightening of the blockade, it has now decreased to 65%.
The infant mortality rate, after years of remaining below 5 per 1,000 live births, now stands at 9.9.
Behind every figure are names and faces of innocent children and devastated families. Do Cuban children not deserve to live?
As the High Commissioner rightly stated regarding the siege against Cuba: “Nothing can justify the suffocation of an entire population.”
Mr. President,
Cuba has been subjected to the longest-lasting form of genocide in history, solely for refusing to submit to the dictates of a foreign power 90 miles from its shores.
Our people endure the modern form of medieval siege: encirclement designed to bring a nation to its knees through hunger and disease.
The suffering of an entire people cannot be normalised. Silence in the face of such abuse is complicity. The blockade is a crime and it must end.
Thank you very much.