Mr. President,
The Government of the United States, with the reckless complicity of several countries and actors, staged a dangerous provocation intended to violate the sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, through the use of pressure and force, putting the lives of thousands of people at risk.
The attempt to enter Venezuela by force, under the pretext of delivering and distributing an alleged humanitarian aid, is a serious violation of international law and of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which must be denounced.
The United States continues to try to fabricate pretexts for a military aggression against Venezuela. It has openly declared the validity and application of the Monroe Doctrine, which for the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean involves imposing governments designed in Washington or totally submitted to the will of the U.S. imperialism.
The Cuban Government has denounced "the escalation of pressures and actions by the Government of the United States to set up a military adventure disguised as a "humanitarian intervention" in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela", and has further called on "the international community to mobilize itself in order to prevent this from happening".
These actions aim at generating acts of unpredictable consequences, which serve as a pretext for a military adventure to overthrow the legitimate and democratic government of the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro Moros.
The decision to establish a deadline to force the entry of "humanitarian aid" is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, reveals the political manipulation of the "aid" and makes clear that a pretext is being fabricated for foreign intervention in Venezuela.
Mr. President,
We reiterate that the United States is paving the way for military action under a humanitarian pretext. The Presidents of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Peru, and the Vice-President of Brazil, declared yesterday that the solution to the situation created is not a military intervention. The Foreign Minister of Spain, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, among others, have also declared so during the last few hours. However, Vice President Mike Pence said the following yesterday in Bogotá, and I quote:
“As we continue to bring economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on the Maduro regime, we hope for a peaceful transition to democracy. But as President Trump has made clear, all options are on the table”. End of quote.
I wish to repeat: ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE, a phrase that we have heard over and over again in recent weeks, repeated by various senior officials of the United States Government.
Similar behaviors and pretexts were adopted by the United States in the prelude to the wars they launched against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya.
Multiple U.S. sources have given all the details of how the imperialist coup is articulated to bring to power a government in Venezuela at the service of Washington.
In addition, a large communicational and political operation is underway, which is generally a prelude to more extensive actions by the United States Government and is only possible with the complicity of the large corporate media.
We strongly condemn the attempted coup d'état in Venezuela and the intention of imposing on that country a government at the service of the United States.
We further condemn the recurrent calls on the Bolivarian military to join this onslaught and the penetrations in Embassies and Consulates of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela abroad, in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
There have been flights of U.S. military transport aircrafts, originating in U.S. military facilities where special operations forces and Marine Corps forces are operating, used to carry out covert actions, even against leaders of other countries.
The actions taken by the White House National Security team, some State Department officials and some U.S. embassies are well known. Brutal pressure is being exerted by that government against other countries, trying to force recognition of the alleged "president", self-titled and proclaimed by Washington, or the call for new elections in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in open disregard of the will of the people and the institutionalism of that country, expressed in the elections of 20 May 2018.
Mr. President,
Those alleging concern at the so-called "humanitarian crisis" in Venezuela are the same who are increasingly implementing and reinforcing unilateral coercive economic measures, and therefore illegal, against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, by seizing or freezing their financial assets in third countries; by putting pressure on governments supplying Venezuela, the Venezuelan oil industry and third country banks to prevent them from carrying out legitimate financial transactions, even in other currencies; and by confiscating and stealing PDVSA's subsidiary in the United States.
Cuba rejects and condemns the hypocritical calls for humanitarian aid by those who apply these measures in violation of international law and international humanitarian law, causing deprivation and human damage and depriving the Venezuelan people and government of more than 30 billion dollars.
Our country reiterates its firm and steadfast solidarity with the constitutional president Nicolás Maduro Moros, with the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution, with the civil-military union of its people, and affirms that the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace must be defended today in the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We must now defend there the sovereignty of all, the independence of all and the sovereign equality of States.
Cuba has called on the international community to act in defense of peace, to avoid a military intervention against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, with the joint effort of all, without exception.
Cuba has called for an international mobilization for peace in Venezuela against the military intervention of the United States that will damage the independence, sovereignty and interests of the peoples from the Rio Bravo to the Patagonia; against war and in favor of a supreme good of humanity, which is peace, which is the right to life.
Let us not allow repetition in Venezuela of the sad and painful history of United States military interventions, more than once in Mexico, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras and more recently in Grenada and Panama.
We encourage the Montevideo Mechanism, especially the Government of the United Mexican States, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, the governments of the Caribbean Community and the Plurinational State of Bolivia, to continue exerting their utmost efforts under these urgent conditions to promote a solution based on dialogue and absolute respect for the independence and sovereignty of Venezuela, and for the validity of the principles of international law, especially the principle of non-intervention.
At this time when the observance and validity of the principles of International Law and of the Charter of the United Nations are decided; when it is decided that the legitimacy of a government lies in the support and the vote of its people and that no foreign pressure can replace the sovereign exercise of self-determination; under these circumstances, one can only be in favor or against war.
It is our hope that the United Nations Security Council will uphold its vocation and responsibility as the primary guarantor of international peace and security and will not lend itself to military adventures.
We call upon its members to act in accordance with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and international law; not to intervene directly or indirectly in the internal affairs of any other State and to adhere to the principles of national sovereignty, equal rights and self-determination of peoples; and to defend peace, which is precious for humanity, for Our America and also for the Venezuelan people.
Thank you very much.