The impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed, as never before, the true nature of the current unfair and unsustainable international order. Never before has humankind had such tremendous scientific and technical potential and such a remarkable capacity to generate wealth and well-being; yet never before has the world been so unequal and the inequality so great.
A total of 828 million people, 10 per cent of the world’s population, suffer from hunger, and nearly 50 million children suffer from wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition. Unemployment will affect 207 million people in 2022, 21 million more than in 2019. At the height of the fourth industrial revolution, 773 million human beings cannot read and write.
Nearly 6.5 million people died due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccines to combat it are inaccessible to 1 billion people in low-income countries. In 2021, transnational pharmaceutical companies earned $84,588 billion.
Foreign debt has been paid several times over, but it is still multiplying. Paradoxically, global military spending is soaring and, for the first time, exceeds $2 trillion. Nothing justifies the fact that humankind is still threatened by the existence of almost 13,000 nuclear weapons. We advocate the universality of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. How much more could we do if those resources were spent on promoting health and development? How many deaths from COVID-19 and other causes could have been avoided? How many children would be saved from hunger and preventable or curable diseases?
Greenhouse gases reached record levels in 2021, and it will be the same this year. Average sea levels have reached a new high. The past seven years are the warmest ever recorded. We cannot continue to ignore the warnings of an impending climate catastrophe. We have only one Earth, the only home for all of us, rich and poor. We must act without further delay.
The philosophy of war and plunder and the unreasonable production and consumption patterns of capitalism, denounced by President Fidel Castro, will lead to a calamity. International relations are on a very dangerous path. The United States offensive aimed at subjugating States by means of threats and economic, military and political-diplomatic coercion in order to subject them to an order based on its capricious rules, together with the expansion of NATO and the development of an aggressive doctrine and fifth- generation unconventional warfare, inevitably results in a climate of tension and conflict, whose consequences are unpredictable.
Cuba, a small island developing State, has paid a high price for defending its legitimate right to exist as a sovereign and independent nation. For more than six decades, we have resisted a ruthless and unilateral economic, commercial and financial blockade, which has intensified to unprecedented levels since 2019 and during the pandemic.
Thirty years since this Assembly’s first resolution against the blockade (resolution 47/19), the Government of the United States continues to ignore the almost unanimous demand of the international community to cease its illegal and cruel policy against Cuba. It continues its efforts to generate material shortages, scarcity and suffering, to sow discouragement and dissatisfaction and to cause harm to the Cuban people.
The United States Government reinforces pressure on Governments, banking institutions and companies all over the world interested in having relations with Cuba and persistently pursues all sources of income and foreign currency inflows to the country in order to bring about economic collapse. As a result, the Cuban economy has experienced extreme pressure, which is manifested in industry, service provision, food and medicine shortages and the deterioration of the level of consumption and general well-being of the population. The human damage caused by such a policy to all Cuban families, which is impossible to quantify, is enormous, cruel and immoral. The blockade is an act of economic warfare in peacetime.
The current United States Administration maintains in force the most aggressive means of pressure against our country, adopted by the Government of President Donald Trump. The unjustified inclusion of Cuba on the State Department’s arbitrary and unilateral list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism continues. That slanderous classification places a stigma on our companies and financial institutions and makes transactions and the possibility of payments and credits extremely difficult.
Cuba, which has been a victim of State terrorism, does not, and will never, promote terrorism. On the contrary, we condemn it in all its forms and manifestations. The United States Government opportunistically manipulates highly sensitive issues, such as terrorism, religion, democracy, justice, corruption and human rights. Double standards, inconsistency, selectivity and political manipulation damage the cause of human rights. The previous statement by the Czech Foreign Minister, who does not dare to mention the crime of Cuba’s blockade, is a sad example.
We have clearly warned the United States Government that the factors that encourage irregular migration and cause loss of life must be addressed, such as its failure, since 2017, to fulfil its obligation under existing bilateral agreements to grant no less than 20,000 annual visas for immigrants, the existence of the Cuban Adjustment Act, politically motivated preferential treatment, restrictive pressure on regular transit countries and the strengthened economic blockade.
Today’s announcement that the processing of immigrant visas will resume at the United States Embassy in Havana is a positive step. Cuba reiterates its willingness to move towards a better understanding with the Government of the United States and develop civilized and even cooperative relations between our two countries on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality and without undermining our independence and sovereignty, despite profound differences.
We highlight the valuable commitment of and the recent shows of respect by Cubans and Cuban descendants across the world and in this country for the sovereign rights of Cuba, as well as a rejection of the ruthless aggression by the United States, particularly the economic blockade. I am also deeply grateful for the statements made by Heads of State and Government in this general debate, for the historic support of the General Assembly and for the expressions of solidarity towards Cuba by Governments, leaders, political organizations and solidarity, social and popular movements from all over the world. That solidarity and support continue to be essential today.
Despite the enormous challenges, the people and the Government of Cuba have not lost their determination to make progress in building a more just, democratic, prosperous and sustainable socialist society. We defeated coronavirus disease with our own vaccine resources and the strength of our public-health and science system. We were able to collaborate modestly by sending, at the worst moment of the pandemic, 58 medical brigades to 42 countries and territories. We worked to restore our country’s economic and social life, support the transformation of our communities and sustain and expand social programmes.
We continue to improve the legal system of law and social justice in our socialist State so as to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights by all Cubans and to enrich the system of social justice that multiple generations have enjoyed. On 25 September, after a broad process of participation and popular consultation, a legislative referendum on a new and inclusive family code will take place. It will be an exercise of genuine direct democracy and the effective popular power of the Cuban people.
“Unity in diversity” was the goal set by former President Raul Castro. Such unity is possible in the countries of the South and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States — a community that is growing ever stronger, and which has been creating the conditions for our region to advance towards higher forms of integration and cooperation based on the premises of the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.
We appreciate the dignified stance taken by several countries of our region against arbitrary exclusions in forums in the hemisphere.
We renew our support for and solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its constitutional president, Mr. Nicolas Maduro Moros, and the civil- military unity of its people, in the face of attempts to destabilize and subvert the internal order of that brotherly country. We reject the application of unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela.
We denounce the imperialist attempts to destabilize the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity of Nicaragua. We reiterate our firm support for the brotherly Nicaraguan people and its president, Mr. Daniel Ortega Saavedra.
We stand in solidarity with our sister nations of the Caribbean and support their legitimate demand for reparations for the harmful effects of colonialism and slavery. They need and deserve to receive fair, special and differentiated treatment.
We reaffirm our historic commitment to the self- determination and independence of the people of Puerto Rico.
Haiti needs a special contribution from the international community for its reconstruction and development. Humankind owes a debt to that foundational Republic.
We support the legitimate claim of President Alberto Fernandez and the people of the Argentine Republic to sovereignty over the Malvinas, the South Sandwich and South Georgia islands and the surrounding maritime areas. We express our full solidarity to the Vice-President of Argentina, Mrs. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who, victim of unjust and unfounded harassment by the courts and the media, recently suffered a vicious assassination attempt.
We reiterate our firm commitment to peace in Colombia. The manifest willingness of the current President Gustavo Petro Urrego and of the parties concerned to achieve peace deserves the support of the region and the international community.
The necessary resources must be provided to support the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which sets the road map for the development of this sister continent.
We advocate the search for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the situation imposed on Syria, demand the cessation of external interference and call for full respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We support a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Middle East conflict, which guarantees the true exercise of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to build their own State within the pre-1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. We also call for an end to the Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories.
We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the Saharawi people.
We reject the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
We condemn the imposition of unjust unilateral economic measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and external interference in its affairs.
We oppose interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Belarus.
We reaffirm our rejection of the imposition of unilateral sanctions against the Russian Federation.
We condemn the unfounded smear campaigns against the People’s Republic of China and attempts to harm its territorial integrity and sovereignty. We reiterate our unwavering support for the one-China principle.
We are committed to a serious, constructive and realistic diplomatic solution to the current war in Ukraine — one that is conducted through peaceful means and in line with international law in a manner that guarantees the security and sovereignty of all.
Cuba will continue to raise its voice in rejection of domination and hegemony in the form of unilateral coercive measures, genocidal blockades and the attempt to impose a single culture and model on the rest of the world. We will never cease to champion the independence, sovereignty and free will of the people, without foreign interference or intervention.
Because of our glorious past and for the sake of the present and future of new generations of Cubans, under the leadership of the President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, we will be creative in our resistance and will fight tirelessly until we meet our dreams of peace and development, with social equity and justice for Cuba and for the rest of the world.