76 UNGA: Remarks at the combined thematic debate of the First Committee on other disarmament measures and international security, regional disarmament and security and disarmament machinery. New York, October 18, 2021.

Mr. Chairman;

We endorse Indonesia's statement on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Cuba reiterates its commitment to general and complete disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament.

We attach great importance to the regional and subregional initiatives in this field, including the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones.

Nuclear powers should withdraw their reservations and interpretative declarations to Treaties establishing such zones. The United States is the only possessor that has not ratified the Protocols to the Treaty of Rarotonga, nor Protocols I and II to the Pelindaba Treaty and maintains interpretative declarations to Additional Protocols I and II of the Treaty of Tlatelolco.

We also call for the adoption of other international disarmament and security measures.

Legally binding instruments are needed to prohibit militarization of outer space and cyberspace and fully lethal autonomous weapons; to regulate partially autonomous weapons and military strike drones; to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention; and to provide effective security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states.

It is indispensable to preserve multilateralism as a basic principle of the disarmament and arms control negotiations.

Negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament should be resumed, without politicization, on the basis of respect for its working methods and rules of procedure. A comprehensive, integrated and balanced program of work must be agreed upon without further delay. We will work towards this end during our chairmanship in March 2022.

We encourage the Disarmament Commission to reach substantive recommendations on the items on its agenda, particularly on nuclear disarmament.

Mr. Chairman,

We express our commitment to the Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies for the period 2021-2025.

We reiterate the concern over the U.S. Cyber Strategy which, in 2018, authorized the use of offensive cyber weapons and offensive cyber operations, and even the possibility of preemptive cyberattacks to deter adversaries.

We reject the consideration of the use of force as a legitimate response to a cyberattack.

We also repudiate the hostile use of telecommunications for the overt or covert purpose of subverting the legal and political order of States, as well as to perpetrate or encourage acts of terrorism.

We condemn the use of the new information technologies and other digital platforms to promote falsities about the Cuban reality, destabilize, discredit the country and justify the doctrine of "regime change", a recipe from the handbooks of unconventional warfare to which the U.S. government earmarks multimillion-dollar funds. We reject the Cuba Internet Task Force, which violates the internationally agreed norms in this field.

We call for the immediate end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, which limits the access, use and enjoyment of information and communications technologies for the well-being of the Cuban population.

Show real willingness to preserve present and future generations from the scourge of war.

Thank you.