Statement by the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, at the open session: “BRICS: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability,” held as part of the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
Your Excellency Dr. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India, Your Excellencies, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, distinguished heads of delegations, and delegates.
I am grateful for the invitation to participate in this important meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers.
The current exclusionary international order has been virtually destroyed by the United States' attempt to restore unipolarity through an imperialist agenda based on military force, supremacism, and fascist neoconservatism. It is necessary to fight for the new order that is emerging and anticipated in a democratic multilateral vision based on international law, sovereign equality, cooperation, and dialogue.
I come before this important forum to denounce, on behalf of the people and government of Cuba, that, as you are surely aware from the statements and actions of the U.S. government itself, my country is under the threat of direct military aggression and is suffering the effects of a brutal blockade of fuel supplies. This constitutes a growing threat to international peace and security and a violation of international law and the universally accepted rules of international trade and freedom of navigation.
We reject in the strongest terms President Donald Trump's executive orders against Cuba of January 29, which imposed the oil blockade, and of May 1, which establishes so-called secondary sanctions against entities in third countries that operate or have operated with Cuba, as well as the decisions of May 7 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
These additional measures reinforce the blockade against Cuba and its extraterritorial effects to extreme and unprecedented levels. Cuba is not, and cannot be, a threat to the national security of the United States, as the executive orders falsely claim. It is Cuba that is threatened and attacked.
We call on the international community to mobilize to prevent a military adventure against Cuba that would provoke a humanitarian catastrophe, bloodshed, the deaths of Cubans and young Americans, destabilize the region, and have incalculable consequences. The brutally reinforced blockade has a devastating and incalculable impact on the daily lives of the Cuban people. It is an act of genocide and collective punishment that generates extraordinary human harm, suffering, deprivation, and extreme hardship for Cuban families.
The energy blockade has impacted electricity generation, resulting in prolonged power outages, difficulties in water pumping, liquefied gas supply, and the production and distribution of food, goods, and services. Transportation and medical services are affected, and the lives of millions of people are harmed. Currently, infant mortality, although still low, has doubled, and nearly 100,000 patients, including 12,000 children, are awaiting surgery.
Creating scarcity, deprivation, and total suffocation to provoke a social situation leading to the overthrow of the Cuban Revolution has always been the true objective of the United States' hostility and perverse policy toward Cuba. But, in this extremely adverse context, the Cuban people have demonstrated their unity, determination, and great capacity for resistance and resilience with talent, creativity, and innovation. Cuba will never renounce the construction of its socialist project of equity and social justice.
In just over a year, thanks to the support received from nations such as China, Russia, Vietnam, and India, and from other member and partner countries of the group, Cuba has achieved sustained progress in energy sovereignty. We support the promotion of new cooperation projects that accelerate innovation, as well as the creation of a BRICS repository for science and research serving the nations of the Global South.
For Cuba, equitable and universal access to science, technology, and innovation is, despite the obstacles, the path to overcoming the digital and technological divides that deepen inequalities both within and between nations. This is achieved by recognizing science, technology, and innovation as assets for humanity, not privileges or tools of domination for a select few.
We deeply appreciate the expressions of support and solidarity with Cuba from the vast majority of the international community, and in particular from the BRICS member and partner states that have spoken out against the most recent blockade measures, including the energy embargo, and Cuba's inclusion on the spurious list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism. I also express my gratitude for the donations and humanitarian aid sent to Cuba during these difficult times.
We reaffirm our firm commitment to upholding international law and building a more just, equitable, and democratic international order that promotes solidarity, cooperation, human rights, justice, and human dignity as fundamental principles. You can always count on our willingness and modest contribution to these legitimate and urgent goals of the peoples of the Global South.