New Delhi, August 17, 2024 - Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, today affirmed that coercive measures such as the U.S. blockade against the Caribbean island is a serious obstacle to the full achievement of economic and social development.
In his speech at the Third Summit of the Voice of the Global South, organized virtually by India, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean island urged to multiply solidarity and cooperation in the face of coercion, unilateralism and selfishness.
He recalled that his people have been suffering for more than 60 years the serious and negative impact of a suffocating economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. government, intensified to extremes since 2019.
He pointed out that the arbitrary, fraudulent and unprovable inclusion of Cuba in the State Department's unilateral list of alleged terrorist-sponsoring nations further reinforces the effects of that inhumane policy.
Likewise, he took the opportunity to thank the international community for its expressions of solidarity with the largest of the Antilles and for its rejection of that system of unilateral coercive measures imposed against Cuba.
On the other hand, he expressed his country's gratitude for the invitation to participate in the third Summit of the Voice of the Global South, which, he said, is a forum to discuss and channel the efforts of developing nations to face the enormous challenges in the midst of a complex international context.
In this regard, Rodriguez pointed out that if we really hope to advance towards the development of all these countries, it is imperative to articulate a new international economic order and reformulate the current financial architecture, based on equity, sovereign equality, mutual benefit and cooperation.
We urgently need to implement the internationally agreed climate agenda without further delay, in accordance with the principles of equity, common responsibilities but differentiated in the respective capacities, he said.
The Cuban foreign minister added that tackling climate change should not become an additional burden that the countries of the South cannot bear, which is why he considered that new support for cooperation and financing from these nations is fundamental in this effort.
Likewise, the head of the island's diplomacy stressed that the claim for development by the South is part of the battle to safeguard life on the planet.
On the above, he pointed out that those values and principles, together with the determined unity of the South, marked the Cuban presidency of the Group of 77 and China during 2023, and was evidence of the possibility of developing countries to become a relevant actor and an influential interlocutor in the sense of the interests of the peoples.
Finally, the Cuban Foreign Minister stressed that unity plus the rich diversity becomes a strength of the nations of the South so that they can regain their rightful place within the international system and in this endeavor they can count on Cuba, he said.
(Cubaminrex-PL)