Cuba, 2000

We are

living at a decisive moment in the history of

humankind. More than half a century after the creation

of the United Nations, on the threshold of a new

millennium that was supposed to herald an era of peace

among men, solidarity among nations and greater well-

being for the poorest people, we are confronted instead

by the most serious and complex economic, social,

political and environmental crisis in the history of the

human race.

The expectations of peace, stability and

cooperation that the end of the cold war triggered

throughout the world are far from becoming a reality.

The emergence of a unipolar world in which a single

super-Power is capable of militarily controlling the

international scene, far from meaning greater security

for our peoples, has ushered in a new stage in which

the hegemonism of that sole super-Power prevails —

direct or covert interventionism under the guise of

multilateral actions, insecurity for the small countries,

selfishness as a behavioural pattern in international

relations and the attempt to disregard the principles of

equality among States, national sovereignty, self-

determination, non-intervention, the non-threat or the

use of force and the settlement of disputes through

peaceful means — principles that have constituted the

cornerstone of the United Nations.

We are also living in a world characterized by the

exploitation and the horrendous destitution of over l.3

billion human beings, who, while suffering on a daily

basis and without giving up the hope of a better life for

their children, wonder if we will still have sufficient

reasons to reaffirm faith in the fundamental rights of

man and in the dignity and value of the human person,

as proclaimed more than five decades ago by the

founders of the United Nations.

The attempts at imposing by force and under

pressure the so-called right of humanitarian

intervention are at present the greatest threat to

international peace and security. We all know that the

small group of developed countries — led by the

United States and its allies with powerful forces — that

attempt to impose this perilous concept in the

discussions and decisions of our Organization, do not

have to fear the consequences of recognizing such a

right in international relations. They are not, as we are,

the Euro-Atlantic rim, defined by the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO) as the probable scene for

their acts of aggression, and the new strategic doctrine

of this alliance is not aimed at them, but at us, the poor

countries.

Actions geared at fragmenting countries and

nations, at recolonizing territories and re-establishing

zones of influence must cease. The recent precedent of

unleashing deadly wars against defenceless

populations, without even consulting the Security

Council, is not only a flagrant violation of the Charter,

but it is also once again dragging the world into

situations like those that once took over 40 million

lives in a single war.

How many other wars against small, poor

countries must be waged before we understand the

need to respect the Charter and engage in a deep

democratization process in international relations?

Is it possible that those who now buttress with

threatening language their attempts at interfering in the

domestic affairs of other countries have fallen for the

idea that the serious problems of underdevelopment,

the after-effects of colonialism, hunger, disease and the

consequences of the constant pillaging of the third

world countries — the real cause of current conflicts —

can be resolved through use of smart bombs?

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Is it not really paradoxical that Western

Powers — while developing new, ever more

sophisticated killing devices — intend to prevent poor

countries from using conventional light weaponry that

is essential to nations that, like Cuba, live under the

permanent threat of military aggression? Enough of

this hypocrisy and Pharisaic behaviour. The world will

be really safer if total, complete disarmament takes

place, including, especially, nuclear disarmament.

There has to come a day when light weaponry will be

eliminated, when other types of deadlier and more

dangerous conventional arms — the much more

dangerous and deadlier arms owned by a handful of

developed countries — must also be disposed of — the

sooner the better. Yes, mines must be eliminated, but

the threats of aggression against poor countries must be

eliminated long before that.

Will our planet, by any chance, be safer if the

United States finally deploys its hallucinating, costly

anti-missile defence system, through which that

country's rulers deceive their own people by promising

them protection against missiles when nobody knows

really from where they could be launched?

Why does not the United Nations, instead of

tamely following the hazardous death game with the

Western Powers, focus its attention on the so-much

trumpeted yet unfulfilled purpose of setting aside a

portion of the nearly US$ 800 billion, currently used on

military expenses, to promote development and try to

save the victims of the silent war that, year after year,

through disease and starvation, kills more than 11

million third-world children under 5 years of age?

In any case, peace will not be possible if there is

no development for the over one hundred third-world

countries that are presently observing, as stone guests,

the irresponsible squandering of the wealthy, selfish

consumer societies that insatiably eat up our children's

future. Setting out to halve in 15 years the number of

poor people that we now have is undoubtedly a

remarkable endeavour, but how will the other half

judge our goal if they are doomed to live as indigents

all their lives?

What has become of the right to development that

was once so solemnly proclaimed by this very General

Assembly? Don't you think, dear colleagues, that the

time has come for us to calmly and firmly set out to

rescue the issue of the right to development as a United

Nations priority? Isn't it precisely now — when nobody

argues anymore about the resounding failure of the

neo-liberal policies that the International Monetary

Fund and the World Bank imposed on third-world

countries with a fundamentalist stubbornness to the

benefit of transnational companies — that our peoples,

united in a great alliance for the most basic rights, must

seize the opportunity to demand that a more

outstanding, decisive role in these affairs be played by

the United Nations Economic and Social Council and

this General Assembly?

Why should we continue to allow international

cooperation to virtually disappear, just now when it is

most needed? Are we entitled to continue discussing,

year after year, without any concrete outcome, the right

to development, which our people are demanding,

while we watch, scattered and disoriented, as the

International Monetary Fund and the World Bank

continue to strip the Organization of the prerogatives

bestowed upon it by the Charter? Those who have

imposed such devastating decisions as those leading to

the unbridled privatization of the national resources of

third world countries and the indiscriminate

liberalization of the capital account — thereby

facilitating the outflow of the scarce foreign currencies

from poor countries that, because of expediency or

fear, have not been able to fight for the rights of their

peoples — will be held to account by their children and

by history.

The Millennium Summit, which ended with

positive results, demonstrated once again that the

devastating effects of imposing a neo-liberal model in a

globalized world are hitting third world countries

particularly hard. The socio-economic situation of such

countries — especially those in Africa — is virtually

untenable. Likewise, it made it clear that unilateralism

and duress have no place in a world in which solidarity

and cooperation are the only possible means to achieve

salvation for all.

In the wake of the Summit, no doubts remain:

now is the time to act, to adopt concrete measures in

order to fight the poverty and underdevelopment

currently afflicting the majority of the people of the

world. Cuba, a poor country that nonetheless has a

large store of human capital, has already started to take

action. Deeds, not words, are what we need today.

Two years ago, we put in place a comprehensive

health-care plan under which almost 2,000 Cuban

health workers are rendering services, free of charge, in

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16 countries of Central America, the Caribbean and

sub-Saharan Africa. Now, given the urgent appeal of

the African countries, we would like to reiterate the

offer that President Fidel Castro made to the United

Nations, the World Health Organization and the

developed countries during the Millennium Summit to

cooperate with Africa in the fight against AIDS and

other terrible diseases currently threatening to wipe out

an entire continent. Cuba is ready to supply up to 3,000

additional Cuban doctors and paramedics for such an

undertaking in sub-Saharan Africa. They would also

contribute to the training of African health workers in

the field. But it is essential for the industrialized

countries to do their share and to supply the necessary

medicines and materials for the programme. Africa is

waiting for us. Cuba stands ready. It is now up to the

developed countries.

Democracy within countries is a goal that is being

sought. That is certainly commendable if the diversity

of cultures, identities, historical experiences, national

realities and political models, and the right of each

people to adopt, with complete independence, the

system that it deems most appropriate, are properly

respected. But is there truly any democracy in

international relations at present? Unfortunately there

is not.

In order to attain it, let us put an end to

hegemonism, foster development, replace selfishness

with cooperation and, finally, respect the purposes and

principles of the San Francisco Charter. We must put an

end, right now, to the arrogance of the few if we do not

want the hopes for a world of justice and peace for all

to crumble.

In order to attain it, let us ensure that the United

Nations truly contributes to building solidarity among

nations and not to the domination of a few over the

overwhelming majority. Let us face up to the attempt

of some to put pressure on the United Nations through

the non-payment of agreed contributions. Let us reject

the use of the United Nations to impose a new colonial

order. Let us demand that the Security Council act as

the representative of all, not as the servant of one. Let

us prevent it from arrogating to itself powers that it

does not have, thereby violating the United Nations

Charter and operating without due transparency while

it decides upon matters of life or death.

Democratizing the United Nations and its

Security Council requires, as indispensable measures,

the abolition of the vexing and anachronistic veto

privilege; an increase in the number of Council

members in proportion to the fourfold increase in the

number of States Members of the Organization; the

application of the principle of equitable geographical

representation to the composition of that body, as with

all others; and the fulfilment of its obligation, as

enshrined in the Charter but ignored in practice, of

reporting to the General Assembly.

Let us be realistic. Security Council reform is — I

will not mince words — as far away today as it ever

was. We should recognize that after seven years of

fruitless efforts we have managed to agree only that it

is necessary to increase the number of members of the

Council. At this point, therefore, we believe that we

should at least work to effect a proportional increase in

the total number of Council members, both permanent

and non-permanent, ensuring adequate representation

for third world countries, as strongly reiterated by the

Millennium Summit. How could the Security Council

be expanded without the inclusion of a reasonable

number of permanent members from the third world?

Forty years ago, on behalf of Cuba, the leader of

a triumphant revolution proclaimed from this very

rostrum the dreams of hope and social justice for which

the Cuban people had struggled for almost a century.

Most of the States now represented in this Assembly

were colonies at that time. There was no talk then — as

there is today — about saving Africa, while it was

being ruthlessly pillaged. The time had not yet arrived

when hundreds of thousands of Cubans would go to

African lands to struggle for the real rights of its

people, against apartheid, disease and illiteracy.

That was the moment when the United States

Government set out to overthrow the Cuban revolution,

which, committed to social justice and true

independence for its people, threatened, through its

ethics, its morality and its example, the secular

domination that the United States had exercised over

the entire western hemisphere. That was the moment

when the economic, trade and financial blockade was

implemented against Cuba — a blockade that, in the

course of a harsh 40-year-old economic war, has

engendered such shameful pieces of legislation as the

Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts. It has to do with the

blockade that this very General Assembly has rejected

for eight consecutive years and which is still in force

despite worldwide rejection and the obvious

disapproval of the people of the United States.

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In these four decades, our people have resisted

acts ranging from political pressures and attempts at

diplomatic isolation to the most insidious lying

campaigns, from subversion and terrorism to

assassination attempts on its main leaders, from

biological warfare to the most ruthless blockade and

economic war and from the promotion of armed bands

to military invasion and the threat of nuclear

extermination. Today, on behalf of that same generous

and courageous people, we can once again say to our

third world brothers and to all those who anywhere in

the world defend our right to life and development that

revolutionary socialist Cuba will never cease to

struggle for everyone's dreams.