Never before have the real dangers awaiting the human
species become so evident; never before have the
violations of international law become so evident, as
they increasingly jeopardize international peace and
security; never before have inequality and exclusion
become so evident, as they impact over two thirds of
the population on our planet.
Putting an end to wastefulness and to the
unbridled consumerism fostered by the large
corporations and the power groups of a handful of
developed countries which throw money away at the
cost of poverty and the perpetuation of
underdevelopment in a vast periphery of poor countries
where billions of people scramble to make a living
has become a key factor for the survival of mankind.
The high-level meeting of this General Assembly held
only two days ago emphasized the danger posed by the
accelerated global warming that is already affecting us
and by its effect on climate change. Action must be
taken and quickly. The developed countries have the
moral duty and the historic responsibility to set the
example and spearhead the effort.
On the other hand, several of our countries,
always from the South, continue to fall prey to
unacceptable acts of aggression by the ever-powerful,
which are essentially driven by the insatiable hunger
for strategic resources. The wars of conquest and the
proclamation and implementation of doctrines based on
pre-emptive wars which do not exclude the use of
nuclear weapons, even against non-nuclear States
and the repeated use of pretexts such as the alleged war
on terror, the supposed promotion of democracy or
so-called regime change in countries that are
unilaterally labelled as rogue States are today the
greatest and most serious threat to peace and security
in the world.
Aggression and illegal occupation of countries,
military intervention contrary to international law and
the purposes and principles enshrined in the United
Nations Charter, the bombing of civilians and torture
continue to be daily practices. Under the false litany of
freedom and democracy, an attempt is made to justify
the pillaging of the natural resources in the third world
and to control zones of increasing geo-strategic
importance. That and no other is the imperial
domination plan that the mightiest military superpower
ever to exist intends to impose through blood and fire.
Far from behaving in international relations
according to the principles of solidarity, social and
international justice, equality and development for all,
there is no hesitation at all in employing the practices
of certifying countries, of imposing unilateral
blockades and of threatening through aggression,
blackmail and coercion. If a small country defends its
right to independence, it is accused of being a rogue
State; if a Power launches an attack against a country,
it is said that it liberates them; a fighter against foreign
aggression is a terrorist; an attacking soldier is a
freedom fighter. That is the media war, the twisting of
truths, the tyranny of monolithic thinking in a
globalized world.
Instead of moving towards general and complete
disarmament including nuclear disarmament, which
has been an ongoing demand of the Movement of
Non-Aligned Countries for decades what we see is
the promotion of the arms race and the squandering of
wealth on new weapons and arms systems that deplete
the resources that the world needs to mitigate the
effects of climate change and address the very serious
problems stemming from poverty and marginalization.
An attempt is made to prevent, in a politicized
and selective fashion, the implementation of the
principle already proclaimed in the
Non-Proliferation Treaty that nations have the right
to the development of nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes. Some countries are threatened with war and
destruction while the aggressive ally is permitted to
have hundreds of nuclear devices and is constantly
helped to modernize them.
How much longer will it take and how many new
victims will have to die before the hawks of war
understand that weapons are useless in resolving the
critical problems of humankind? On a day like today, it
is worth recalling the words uttered by President Fidel
Castro in this General Assembly in October 1979:
“Let us say farewell to arms, and let us in a
civilized manner dedicate ourselves to the most
pressing problems of our times. This is the
responsibility, this is the most sacred duty of the
statesmen of all the world. Moreover, this is the
basic premise for human survival.
There has been no progress to date towards
fulfilling the Millennium Goals and the decisions of
the major United Nations conferences held over the
past decade. Poverty has not decreased. Inequality
among and within countries is on the rise. Drinking
water is not accessible to 1.1 billion people; 2.6 billion
lack health services; over 800 million are illiterate and
115 million children do not attend primary school; 850
million starve every day. One per cent of the world’s
richest people own 40 per cent of the wealth, while 50
per cent of the world’s population has barely
1 per cent. All this is happening in a world that spends
a trillion dollars on weapons and another trillion on
advertising.
The nearly 1 billion people living in developed
countries consume approximately half of all the energy,
while 2 billion poor people are still not acquainted with
electricity. Is that the world that they want us to
accept? Is that, by any chance, the future that we
should settle for? Are we entitled or not to fight to
change that state of things? Should we or should we
not fight to make a better world possible?
Why are such colossal resources squandered on
the killing industry and not used to save lives? Why are
schools not built instead of nuclear submarines, and
hospitals instead of “smart” bombs? Why are vaccines
not produced instead of armoured vehicles, and more
food instead of more fighter jets? Why is there no
momentum given to research to fight AIDS, malaria
and tuberculosis instead of promoting the manufacture
of anti-missile shields? Why is there no war waged
against poverty instead of against the poor?
Despite the fact that only $150 billion is needed
to meet the Millennium Goals, we hear the hypocritical
assertion that there is no source from which to obtain
the necessary financial resources. That is a lie. There is
money in abundance; what is lacking is the political
will, ethics and the real commitment of those who have
to make a choice.
If they really want money to appear, let the
commitment of setting aside 0.7 per cent of gross
national product as official development assistance be
met once and for all. That would require $141 billion
over and above the current amounts. At the height of
deceit, the donor countries are now auditing the
cancellations of a debt that they know they will not be
able to collect in order to artificially inflate their
contributions. Let the foreign debt, which our countries
have already paid more than once, be cancelled. That
would make it possible to set aside for development the
over $400 billion currently used to service a debt that
does not cease to grow.
Let the Doha Round for development come to an
end and let the $300 billion in agricultural subsidies for
the developed countries be removed. That would make
it possible to earmark that money to fight rural poverty
and food insecurity and to ensure fair prices for the
export products of the underdeveloped countries.
Let our right to development be recognized. Let
our right to have access to markets, patents and
technologies be guaranteed, for those are now the
exclusive monopoly of the powerful. Let our countries
be helped in training professionals and scientists and
let the brain drain stop.
The non-aligned countries need no alms; we need
and demand justice. Let our rights to cultural diversity
be respected, as well as our right to the preservation of
our heritage, our symbols and our idiosyncrasies. That
was the unanimous demand made in Tehran by the
non-aligned countries at our ministerial meeting on
human rights and cultural diversity.
The non-aligned countries want a more
democratic and transparent United Nations in which
the General Assembly, its most representative and
democratic body, can truly implement the powers
vested in it. We need a United Nations with a reformed
Security Council, acting in conformity with the
mandate granted to it by the Organization’s Charter
without infringing on the functions and prerogatives of
other organs of the system. There must be a Security
Council with an expanded membership in line with the
current composition of the United Nations, where the
underdeveloped countries are the majority. There must
be a Security Council with a radical modification to its
working methods in order to allow transparency and
the access of all Member States to its deliberations.
We need a Human Rights Council that prevents
the repetition of the serious mistakes made by the
former Commission on Human Rights. The Council
should enshrine in its practices the principle that
human rights are universal, indivisible and
interdependent. It should put an end to selectivity and
double standards. The non-aligned countries will
firmly oppose the devilish schemes of some mighty
quarters that, frustrated as they are at failing to achieve
their goals, are now attempting to reopen and call into
question the agreement reached in the hard and
difficult process of institution-building in the Council.
The non-aligned countries will not give up on
defence of the precepts that underlie our movement.
Among the nations, we will foster relations of
friendship based on respect for the principles of
sovereignty, equality of rights and the self-
determination of peoples.
We will continue to defend the right of the grief-
stricken and heroic people of Palestine to have their
own State, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We will
continue to condemn the genocide committed against
it. We will continue to proclaim the right of the people
of Puerto Rico to sovereignty and to independence. The
non-aligned countries account for nearly two thirds of
the membership of the United Nations. Our demands
will not be forgotten or our interests ignored.
This was supposed to be the end of my statement
as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement. However, the
shameless and gross behaviour of the United States
President in this Hall yesterday morning now forces me
to utter a few remarks on Cuba’s behalf.
With foul language and an arrogant tone,
President Bush insulted and threatened some 10
countries. He gave orders in a firm and authoritarian
fashion to the General Assembly, and with an
officiousness never before seen in this Hall he dished
out terms and judgments on a score of countries. It was
an embarrassing show the delirium tremens of the
world’s policeman, the intoxication of imperial power
imbued with the mediocrity and cynicism of those who
threaten to launch wars in which they know their lives
are not at stake.
The President of the United States has no right to
pass judgment on any other sovereign nation on this
planet. Having powerful nuclear weapons offers no
right whatsoever to tread upon the rights of the peoples
of the other 191 countries that are represented here.
And the determination and courage of peoples should
not be underestimated when it comes to defending their
rights. After all, what prevails is not the power of
cannons but the fairness of the ideas for which you are
fighting. The warmongering and menacing President
should have already learned this by now: sovereign
equality of States, not regime change; respect for
sovereignty, not unilateral certifications of good
behaviour; respect for international law, not illegal
blockades and wars.
President Bush talked about democracy, but we
all know that he is lying. He came into office through
fraud and deceit. We would have been spared his
presence yesterday and would have listened to
President Albert Gore talking about climate change and
the risks to our species. We also recall how he brazenly
supported the coup d’état against the President and the
constitution of Venezuela.
He talked about peace, but we know that he is
lying. We remember well when he threatened 60 or
more countries, which he called “dark corners of the
world, saying that he would wipe them off the face of
the Earth with pre-emptive surprise attacks. Bush is a
strange warrior who, from the rearguard, sends the
young people of his country to kill and to die
thousands of kilometres away.
He talked about human rights, but we know that
he is lying. He is responsible for the death of 600,000
civilians in Iraq; he authorized tortures at the
Guantánamo naval base and at Abu Ghraib; and he is
an accessory to the kidnapping and disappearance of
people, as well as to the secret flights and the
clandestine prisons.
He talked about the fight against terrorism, but
we know that he is lying. He has ensured complete
impunity for the most abominable terrorist groups
which, from Miami, have perpetrated horrendous
crimes against the Cuban people. President Bush
attacked the new Human Rights Council. He is
bleeding from his wound; he is grunting his
helplessness. He is haunted by the shamefulness that,
during his term in office, the United States cannot even
look forward to being a member because elections are
through secret ballot. Cuba, on the other hand, was
elected as a founding member of the Council with more
than two thirds of the votes.
He talked about cooperation, development and
prosperity for the rest of the world, but we all know
that he is lying. He has been the most selfish and
reckless politician we have ever seen. In a world that
this year will bear witness to the death of 10 million
children under the age of five through preventable
diseases, his self-seeking and empty proposals of
yesterday are but a sick joke.
President Bush has no moral authority or
credibility to judge anyone. He should be held
accountable to the world for his crimes. There is a limit
to both arrogance and hypocrisy. There is a limit to lies
and blackmail. Cuba rejects and condemns every one
of the mendacious words uttered yesterday by the
President of the United States.
Cuba appreciates the solidarity it has received
from the General Assembly in its struggle against the
blockade and the aggression that it has been forced to
endure for nearly five decades. In particular, I thank
the President of Nicaragua, Comrade Daniel Ortega,
who is here in the Hall, for his kind words yesterday,
and I thank all those who have spoken out for the rights
and justice for the Cuban people. Cuba thanks all those
who have supported its tenacious fight against
terrorism and have raised their voice in favour of the
release of five Cuban anti-terrorism fighters unjustly
imprisoned in the United States.
Cuba will fight, along with all other members of
the Non-Aligned Movement, in order to achieve a more
just and democratic international order, in which our
peoples can exercise their right to peace and
development. We may be accused of being dreamers,
but we are fighting with the conviction that today’s
dreams will be tomorrow’s realities. We are fighting
and we will not stop fighting with the conviction
that even when there are individuals without decorum,
there are always others who have in themselves the
decorum of many and who bear within themselves an
entire nations, as well as human dignity.