Mr. President,
The White House’s National Security Advisor, Stephen Miller, recently declared in an interview with CNN that the real world is governed by iron laws of strength and power, rather than by international protocols. He said “we live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else. But we live in a world, in a real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of times”.
Mr. Miller’s statements confirm the United States government’s new domination doctrine, which prioritizes unilateral power and resorts to threats and coercion rather than multilateral diplomacy; a doctrine where force and military supremacy prevail over the norms of international laws, and seeks to destroy the current world order based on respect for the Charter of the United Nations.
In this context, Cuba reiterates its strongest condemnation of the United States’ military aggression against Venezuela, and its absolute support and solidarity with the sister Bolivarian Republic and its government.
We reiterate our demand for the immediate release by the US authorities of President Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife Cilia Flores.
The cowardly US aggression is a criminal act that violates international law and the UN Charter. This blatant imperialist and fascist aggression is aimed at domination and seeks to revive the US hegemonic ambition over Our America, anchored in the Monroe Doctrine and the goal of having unrestricted access to and control over the natural resources of Venezuela and the region. This aggression also seeks to intimidate and subjugate the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, thereby trampling on the values and principles of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
Mr. President,
In a time when armed conflicts, threats or force, and unilateral coercive measures are proliferating, any debate on peace reinforces its importance. Notions are being promoted that advocate the imposition of a supposed peace by force and plans to usurp land and natural resources belonging to sovereign states, as well as other direct affronts to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
Meanwhile, this Organization’s main contributor, the Unites States, is withdrawing from around 30 UN offices, programs, and agencies, thereby confirming its contempt for multilateralism, a concept promoted by the majority of the international community.
While the United States is abandoning spaces created to promote international law, sustainable development, gender equality, biodiversity, and the fight against climate change and racism, it is increasing its military spending to record levels to sustained threats and military invasions.
In the face of this challenging scenario, we reaffirm the importance of the United Nations’ role as the primary bulwark defense against threats to international peace and security.
Full respect for the UN Charter and the norms of international law and the defense of multilateralism are essential in this increasingly dangerous international scenario, where the security and well-being of our nations face unprecedented challenges.
We must eradicate the root causes of conflict and address the structural inequalities, poverty, exclusion, and underdevelopment that particularly affect the countries of the South as a result of an unjust and exclusionary international order. Colossal military spending must be stopped, and a commitment to sustainable development must be made. We must urgently move away from the paradigm of war, coercion, and interference in the internal affairs of other states and toward peace through cooperation, dialogue, solidarity, and mutual respect, despite our differences.
Mr. President,
The US government, which has maintained an economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba that has intensified over the last decade, has taken advantage of the current situation to issue new threats to further increase its economic coercion. This includes depriving us of fuel supplies, with the publicly stated aim of suffocating our country and forcing us to surrender.
In the face of the escalating hostile rhetoric from the US government, we recall that history has amply demonstrated that Cuba and its people do not know defeat or surrender. We will not yield to threats or blackmail, nor will we ever renounce constructing our own destiny.
We will stand firm on our principles and adherence to reason and justice, committed to international law and guided by the patriotic, rebellious, anti-imperialist, and dignified spirit of our people.
Thank you.