Cuba

Mr. President: Mr. Secretary-General:

Allow me to begin by reaffirming Cuba's solidarity with and support for the brotherly Palestinian people, victims of more than 75 years of colonial occupation, of flagrant violations of their legitimate rights as a nation, subjected to cruelty, aggression, collective punishment and apartheid.

Over the past eleven months, the Israeli army has killed more than 40,000 civilians. More children have died in this indiscriminate and disproportionate massacre than men and women. They are dying with the complicity and weapons provided by the government of the United States, with the complicit silence of others. We pay tribute to the more than 220 workers of this Organization who have also been killed.

Cuba's position is clear and unequivocal. President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has said, and I quote: "History will not forgive those who remained indifferent. And we will not be among them."

This is a wound on the human conscience.

The genocide against the Palestinian people must cease, unconditionally and without delay!

Israel, with the complicity of the US, has placed the world before the imminent danger of a conflagration of great proportions. The irresponsible aggressiveness against Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and the peoples of the Middle East will have consequences that are difficult to estimate.

Excellencies:

79 years after the founding of this Organization, continuous violations of the United Nations Charter and International Law, aggressions, interference in the internal affairs of States, and the imposition of unilateral coercive measures for political purposes, occur as everyday facts.

Aggressive military doctrines of domination, expansionist and supremacist; are alarmingly undermining international Peace and Security.

The danger of a nuclear catastrophe is real and immediate. For the ninth consecutive year, global military spending is increasing, reaching a record figure in 2023 of 2.44 trillion dollars, that is, millions of millions of dollars, including the development of new nuclear weapons.

We have regressed despite the enormous efforts of the States Parties and Signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and of lucid and broad sectors of international society.

Nor will there be "peace without development."

The developed countries, inhabitants of the same planet, blindly refuse to invest even minimally in their own prosperity and security, and fail to meet their always insufficient commitments to Official Development Assistance. The selfish figure, promised with boastfulness in 2023 and quickly forgotten, represents less than 0.37 percent of their national incomes.

The illusion of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals has faded.

The crises are structural, determined by the imperialist system and the international order imposed upon us. No problem will be solved by undermining the intergovernmental character of the United Nations, as some intend, nor by weakening its essential role in promoting sustainable development for all.

Climate change is advancing inexorably. It is an irrefutable fact.

In July 2024, scientists announced that there had been 13 consecutive months of unprecedented temperature levels.

If the irrational and unsustainable patterns of production and consumption of capitalism are not changed urgently and significantly, it will not be possible to keep the increase in average global temperature below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Responsibilities are shared, but differentiated; they are not the same for everyone, nor could they justly be so.

However, a correct step could be taken at the COP 29 Conference of the Parties in Azerbaijan, adopting the New Collective Quantified Goal on Financing. The countries of the North would have another opportunity to begin closing the climate financing gap. Those of us in the South would need to design a sufficient goal that responds to our needs, with guarantees for development and social justice, in the face of the enormous obstacles and challenges we face. The solution will inevitably have to include the cancellation of external debt, already paid several times over.

Only the founding of a new international order can definitively save the human species:

A just and democratic order that guarantees peace and "the balance of the world," the exercise of the right to development by all States; under conditions of sovereign equality, that expands and strengthens the participation and representation of developing countries in global governance processes, decision-making and policy formulation; that provides for the common good and prosperity of all peoples, in harmony with nature and the sustainable management of natural resources, and ensures the exercise of all human rights by all persons;

A new civilized coexistence among nations where solidarity, international cooperation, integration and the peaceful settlement of disputes prevail, as alternatives to the "philosophy of plunder," war, the use or threat of use of force, aggression, occupation; to cultural, political, financial, technological and military domination and hegemonism or any other manifestation that threatens the peace, independence and sovereignty of States. An order without blockades or unilateral coercive measures, based on multilateralism and with full respect for the United Nations Charter and International Law.

Mr. President:

The government of the United States continues to clearly demonstrate its impossible but pernicious determination to determine and control Cuba's destiny. It is an old ambition rooted in the Monroe Doctrine, which defines the imperialist, dominant and hegemonist nature of US policy toward Cuba and toward the region of Our America.

The economic, commercial and financial blockade is also political, technological and communicational.

It has been conceived as one of its main weapons of aggression to destroy the Cuban economy. It seeks to prevent the country's financial income, provoke the collapse of the economy and generate a situation of political and social instability. The damage is visible and indisputable. It affects the lives of all Cuban men and women.

It is accompanied by the fiercest campaign of disinformation and slander, by perennial attempts to interfere in our internal affairs and by complicit tolerance toward groups that, from United States territory, organize violent and terrorist acts against Cuba.

These actions violate International Law. They contravene the purposes and principles of this Organization and numerous resolutions adopted by the General Assembly.

The siege thus conceived has been reinforced by Cuba's inclusion on the arbitrary and infamous list of the United States State Department of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.

This is a fraudulent designation, without moral authority or any international mandate. By virtue of it, retaliatory actions against Cuba are unleashed that, extraterritorially, exceed the bounds of United States sovereign jurisdiction and manifest themselves in and against any country.

Last May, the State Department itself acknowledged that Cuba fully cooperates in the international fight against terrorism. This mere acknowledgment of the truth, universally known, has not eased the coercive measures of the blockade, but it does make Cuba's presence on that illegitimate list even more incongruous, confusing and unjustifiable.

New presidential elections will soon take place in the United States, a matter that concerns only the American people. Only them, despite that country's government's disgraceful and historic habit of meddling in the elections and internal affairs of all Member States of the United Nations, including its allies.

History has shown us that, regardless of the outcome of these elections, the anti-Cuban politicians and sectors who have made aggression against Cuba a lucrative business will continue to have voice and influence. These are people who have learned to manipulate the American political system in pursuit of a narrow and hostile agenda, very particular, of interest only to a small elite segment.

They in no way represent the will of the majority of the people of the United States, nor of the Cubans who reside here.

Whatever the electoral outcome, Cuba will continue to defend its sovereign right to independence and to build socialism, as we Cuban men and women have decided, without foreign interference.

We will also continue to advocate for a respectful and constructive relationship with the United States.

Mr. President:

In 2014, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) decided in Havana to proclaim our region a Zone of Peace. That historic commitment grows more relevant every day.

We defend peace and multilateralism against the unilateral coercive measures that seriously harm Syria, Belarus, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Russia, Cuba and other nations.

We energetically reject any attempt to undermine the legitimate constitutional order in our countries through coup methods. This already happened in Bolivia in 2019 and this past June 26, and there are attempts to repeat it in Honduras.

We denounce attempts to generate violence and destabilization in Venezuela. We reiterate our firm support and solidarity with the Bolivarian, Chavista government and the civic-military union of the Venezuelan people, led by President Nicolás Maduro Moros. Calls to disregard the electoral results are irresponsible and disrespectful of the popular will and its legitimate institutions.

Destabilizing actions against the Government of National Reconciliation and Unity of Nicaragua must cease. The brotherly people of Sandino will continue to have our full support.

We reiterate our support for the legitimate right to self-determination and independence of Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean countries deserve fair, special and differentiated treatment to face their challenges. We support their just claim for reparations for the damages of colonialism and slavery.

The international community has a historic debt to Haiti, protagonist of the first independence and anti-slavery revolution on the continent. We salute the efforts of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to find a sustainable solution to the dramatic situation in Haiti, one that respects the independence and sovereignty of that sister nation.

We support the legitimate right of sovereignty of the Argentine people over the Malvinas, South Sandwich and South Georgia Islands and the surrounding maritime areas.

We reaffirm our support for and commitment to the peace efforts in Colombia, to which Cuba will continue to contribute in every way possible in its capacity as Guarantor.

Africa, cradle of humanity, can always count on Cuba in its efforts to advance on its path to development.

We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the Saharawi people and the exercise of their self-determination.

Cuba expresses its firm rejection of actions aimed at damaging the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the People's Republic of China, condemns interference in its internal affairs and reiterates its unwavering support for the "One China" principle, in accordance with what was decided by this General Assembly in its historic resolution 2758, recognizing the People's Republic as the sole and legitimate representative of the Chinese people.

We advocate for a serious, constructive, realistic diplomatic solution and for peaceful means to end the current war in Ukraine, in accordance with International Law, guaranteeing the security and sovereignty of all. In this context, Cuba supports the joint proposal presented by China and Brazil for the political solution of this crisis.

Mr. President:

Let us join our forces to achieve the effectiveness of multilateral institutions so that they respond to the interests of the peoples, of the humble, the poor, the needy and the exploited, who are the overwhelming majority, on the basis of just equality, the exercise of human rights by all human beings and respect for the sovereign rights of every nation.

Thank you very much.