Statement by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, at the United Nations General Assembly
“Debate: Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”
Mr. President;
Excellencies, Permanent Representatives;
Distinguished delegates;
The government of the United States is carrying out against Cuba a multi-dimensional, non-conventional warfare that has already lasted for almost seven decades now and has become ever crueller and more ruthless during the last seven months.
Added to this there is now an energy siege, which is equivalent to a naval blockade, which is an act of war. Cuba’s access to fuel supplies, both for commercial and humanitarian purposes, are being hindered by means of direct threats, unilateral coercive actions and even harassment or intimidation of oil tankers by US military naval assets.
Threats of a military aggression have been repeatedly launched by top officials of the US administration and several public sources have referred to warlike options and preparations.
Added to the economic, commercial and financial blockade there are unprecedented actions of an extreme extraterritorial character, such as the implementation of “secondary actions”, which pursue the macabre purpose of provoking in Cuba a humanitarian crisis and the complete destabilization of the country which would pave the way for, or forcefully urge on the issuance of a presidential order for an imperialist military intervention that would provoke a blood bath and numerous Cuban and American deadly casualties.
When asked if economic pressures against Cuba would continue to intensify, president Donald Trump himself answered, and I quote: “I don’t think you can have much more pressure other than going in and blasting the hell out of the place.”
In the last few months, the humanitarian damage to our population has intensified, which has led to a deterioration in the quality of life of persons, the reduction of their means of subsistence, the limitation to the potential of personal, family and social development; the massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of an entire people in an act of collective punishment.
All of these highly important and urgent matters deserve not only the attention but the clearest statement by the United Nations and its most universal and representative body, which is the General Assembly, by virtue of its mandate of preserving international peace and security and ensuring the enjoyment of human rights.
Cuban families, particularly children and youths and mothers, know about the suffering caused by long-lasting and hard to endure blackouts. Many a time, whenever there is a power outage, there is also a lack of water. People know about the anguish over the shortage of a particular medication to treat the ill. Food scarcities or the high prices of staple goods weigh down heavily on the people.
The country’s infant mortality rate of 4.0 per one thousand live births has increased to 9.9. This means that the death of 1780 newly born could have otherwise been prevented under different conditions and with the ideal equipment, devices and therapies.
The number of persons dying of cancer in the country has significantly increased. In the case of children and youths, the survival rate decreased from 85 per cent to 65 per cent. The trend coincides with the toughest moments of the US siege.
The blockade asphyxiates and kills in a silent way. Paying attention to this ruthless crime is also a responsibility of the United Nations.
The US government, and in particular its State Department, is spreading the lie that the blockade is not aimed against the Cuban people, but only against the government. You may ask the people of Cuba whether or not they are suffering because of the blockade. You may even ask diplomats, correspondents and other foreign citizens living in Cuba.
Shortly, during this session, we will be hearing the worn-out argument of the US government, according to which the fuel siege does not exist; the blockade is used by the Cuban government as a mere justification for its problems; the US is only exercising the right to refuse to trade with Cuba and applying a simple bilateral embargo. That is a fallacy that does not stand the slightest scrutiny; that contradicts the actions of the US government with regard to Cuba and that no one rather well informed and with a modicum of decency would believe in.
The damages caused by the blockade during the period between March 1st, 2025 and February 28, 2026, at current prices, amount to the record figure of 8 billion 83 million dollars -which represents a 7 per cent increase. The cumulative impact of the blockade, since it was first imposed, amounts to 178 billion 700 million dollars, at current prices.
These damages are essentially the result of extraterritorial coercive actions that violate the rules of International Law, international commerce and freedom of navigation and infringe upon the sovereign prerogatives of independent States and their right to have relations with Cuba according to their own interests and laws.
Added to the brutal energy siege, there are other measures that have been imposed in the course of this year with an identical purpose, since they are intended to force sovereign governments to comply with the illegitimate prohibitions imposed by the United States on the trade with Cuba, whose citizens and business people feel forced to abandon their relations with Cuba not out of their own interest, or because commercial disadvantages and not even as a result of a mandate from their own governments, but because the dictates of a foreign government, in this case, the United States, which is not supposed to have jurisdiction or authority over the activities of citizens and business people beyond the US borders.
Today we will surely hear the mendacious arguments usually presented by the US government to justify the crime of genocide.
As an alleged evidence, it would refer to the figures of the selective US exports to Cuba, which are highly regulated and depend on licenses or permits of the government of that country, which are currently limited, almost exclusively, to the private sector.
Those exports are carried out in a discriminatory and Draconian way, against the rules of international trade and freedom of navigation. They do not contribute to recover the country’s power generation or fresh water supply capacities. They do not contribute to promote public transportation, guarantee hospital services, benefit education or protect food supplies, particularly for the most vulnerable sectors of the population.
The US delegation might also mention the offer of an alleged humanitarian assistance, accepted weeks ago by the government of Cuba, which has been deferred and restricted for political purposes. However, the US delegation to the World Food Program was left in isolation in the attempt to blockade a food assistance program for Cuba that is worth 116 million dollars. Isn’t that paradoxical?
The US will repeat, as an attempted justification, that Cuba is run by an allegedly incompetent government. Any of the delegates present here may wonder, with good reason, how is it possible to put the blame of those deficiencies on the government of a country that has endured the US economic aggression for almost 70 years and developed a huge social and human development work and that, in the course of the last 7 months, has been deprived of fuels and other essential supplies, without losing its stability, without falling into a humanitarian crisis of huge proportions and without abandoning the defense of its people.
We are relieved and encouraged by collective solidarity, the participation and the efforts of all, particularly women and youths, in the communities, in the search for solutions; and the intensive and indefatigable work of the Party, the State, the government, the local bodies of the People’s Power organizations and the representatives of the people and the civil society organizations.
The sovereign and profound economic and social transformations recently adopted by our National Assembly to adapt Cuba’s socialist model to the tough current realities give us hope.
We appreciate the broad international support and cooperation from numerous governments, parliaments, political forces, organizations, solidarity movements and associations of Cubans residing abroad.
The hostility and threats that Cuba faces today are part of a worrying sequence of violations of International Law and a prelude of what might happen to any other country tomorrow.
It is indispensable to prevent this behaviour characterized by domination, plundering, occupation, dispossession and cognitive warfare from becoming part of an international order that is even worse that the one that has been in place during the last decades. It is inevitable to defend the founding values of the United Nations, International Law and the UN Charter and assert the promise of safeguarding present and future generations from the scourge of war.
There have been bilateral diplomatic talks that were proposed by the government of the United States and that Cuba accepted, faithful to its tradition, with the honest and constructive spirit to find a solution to bilateral differences. However, there has not been any progress and it is difficult there might be any if the expectations among those who conduct it in Washington are to treat Cuba as a vanquished and conquered adversary, as a colonial possession or a domain over which the US has jurisdiction and authority.
As a free, independent and sovereign State, we reject the aspirations to dictate, from another country, what is the form of government, the economic and foreign relations models that are to be adopted by our nation.
As have confirmed by available data, this aggressive behaviour does not represent the interests of the majority of the US citizens. It caters the anti-Cuban and revanchist whims of a tiny but powerful and influential segment based particularly in South Florida, which has proved it has the capacity to manipulate the political system of the United States and guide the behaviour of the government.
Within the next few minutes, the US delegation will repeat the ridiculous argument that Cuba represents a threat to the national security of the mightiest, most aggressive and predatory nuclear military power in the planet, oriented to impose “peace through strength”.
There has been no statement by the Cuban government, no evidence or the slightest hint indicating that Cuba has intended to threaten the United States. It is not possible to identify any activity in Cuba that may jeopardize the national security, the wellbeing of the citizens or the competitiveness of the economy of that powerful country. Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is. Cuba is the nation that is being threatened.
We are a nation committed to the defense of peace, International Law, multilateralism, truth and justice.
A people that for more than 150 years have been struggling for their freedom and independence, that have written pages of glory, standing strong against all sorts of onslaughts, shall defend their independence and sovereignty to the bitter end.
In the year of the centennial birthday of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, and faithful to his legacy, our determination will always be:
¡Patria o Muerte!
¡Venceremos!
Thank you, very much.