Cuba, 2008

Mr. President, on behalf of Cuba, I would

like to congratulate you on your election as President

of the General Assembly.

We are living at a decisive moment in the history

of humankind. The threats looming over the world put

the very existence of the human species at risk.

The promotion of peace, solidarity, social justice

and sustainable development is the only way to ensure

the future. The prevailing world order, unjust and

unsustainable, must be replaced by a new system that

is truly democratic and equitable, based on respect for

international law and on the principles of solidarity and

justice, putting an end to the inequalities and exclusion

to which the great majorities of the population of our

planet have been condemned.

There are no alternatives. Those responsible for

this state of affairs — the industrialized countries, and

in particular the lone super-Power — must shoulder

their responsibilities. Fabulous fortunes cannot

continue to be wasted while millions of human beings

are starving or dying of curable diseases. It is not

possible to continue to pollute the air and poison the

oceans, which is destroying the living conditions for

future generations. Neither the peoples nor the planet

itself will permit that without great social upheavals

and extremely grave natural disasters.

Wars of conquest, aggression against and the

illegal occupation of countries, military intervention

and the bombing of innocent civilians, the unbridled

arms race, the pillaging and usurpation of the natural

resources of the Third World and the imperial offensive

to crush the resistance of peoples who are defending

their rights constitute the greatest and most serious

threats to international peace and security.

Concepts such as the limitation of sovereignty,

pre-emptive war and regime change are expressions of

the desire to mutilate the independence of our

countries. The so-called war on terrorism and the

alleged promotion of freedoms serve as pretexts for

aggression, military occupation, torture, arbitrary

detention, the denial of the right of peoples to self-

determination, unjust blockades, unilaterally imposed

sanctions and the imposition of political, economic and

social models that facilitate imperial domination with

flagrant disdain for history, cultures and the sovereign

will of peoples.

The gap between the rich and the poor widens

daily. The very modest Millennium Development Goals

are an unattainable dream for the vast majority. While

$1 trillion is spent on weapons worldwide, more than

850 million human beings are starving, 1.1 billion have

no access to drinking water, 2.6 billion lack sewage

services and more than 800 million are illiterate. More

than 640 million children lack adequate housing,

115 million do not attend primary school and

10 million die before reaching the age of 5, in most

cases as the result of diseases that can be cured.

With increasing frequency, the populations of the

South are suffering from natural disasters, whose

consequences have been worsened by climate change.

Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba and other countries of the

Caribbean are examples. We issue a special call for

solidarity with the brotherly people of Haiti in their

tragic situation.

The rise in oil prices is the result of irrational

consumption, heavy speculative activity and imperial

military adventures. The desperate search for new

sources of energy has propelled the criminal strategy

driven by the Government of the United States to

transform grains and cereals into fuel.

For many of the countries of the Non-Aligned

Movement, the situation is becoming unsustainable.

Our nations have suffered and will have to continue to

suffer the consequences of the irrationality,

wastefulness and speculation of a few countries in the

industrialized North, which are responsible for the

world food crisis. They imposed trade liberalization

and financial prescriptions of structural adjustment on

the developing countries. They caused the ruin of many

small producers; they denied — and in some cases

destroyed — nascent agricultural development in the

countries of the South, turning them into net importers

of food.

It is they who continue scandalous agricultural

subsidies while imposing their rules on international

trade. They set prices, monopolize technologies,

impose unjust certifications and manipulate

distribution channels, financing sources and trade.

They control transport, scientific research, gene pools

and the production of fertilizers and pesticides.

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We have not come here to complain. We have

come, on behalf of the Movement of Non-Aligned

Countries, to support and defend the demands of

billions of human beings who are calling for justice

and respect for their rights. The formula is not difficult;

nor does it require great sacrifices. All that is needed is

the necessary political will, less selfishness and the

objective understanding that, if we do not act today, the

consequences could be apocalyptic and would also

affect the rich and powerful. That is why Cuba, on

behalf of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries,

calls once again on the Governments of developed

countries to honour their commitments. In particular,

we urge them to do the following.

They should put an end to the wars of occupation

and to the plundering of the resources of the countries

of the Third World, and should free up at least a part of

their millions in military spending so that those

resources can be allocated to international assistance

for the benefit of sustainable development.

We urge them to cancel the foreign debt of

developing countries, which has already been paid

more than once. That would release additional

resources that could be devoted to economic

development and social programmes.

They should honour the commitment to allocate

at least 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product to

official development assistance without conditions, so

that the countries of the South could use those

resources for their national priorities. They should also

promote access on the part of poor countries to

substantial new financing.

They are urged to devote one fourth of the money

that is wasted each year on commercial advertising to

food production, which would provide nearly

$250 billion more to fight hunger and malnutrition.

They should allocate the money being used for

agricultural subsidies in the North to agricultural

development in the South. Thus, our countries would

have approximately $1 billion per day at their disposal

to invest in food production.

We urge them to comply with the commitments

set out in the Kyoto Protocol and to establish more

ambitious emission-reduction targets beginning in

2012, without seeking to increase restrictions on

countries that, even now, maintain far lower per capita

emission levels than those of the countries of the

North.

They should promote access by Third World

countries to technology and should support the training

of their human resources. Today, on the other hand,

qualified personnel from the South are subjected to

unfair competition and incentives resulting from

discriminatory and selective migration policies

implemented by the United States and Europe.

Something that is today more urgent than ever is

the establishment of a democratic and equitable

international order and a fair and transparent trading

system in which all States can participate, in

sovereignty, in the decisions that affect them.

It is our deepest belief that solidarity between

peoples and Governments is possible. In Latin America

and the Caribbean, the Bolivarian Alternative for the

Americas and Petrocaribe have demonstrated this.

The Movement of Non-Aligned Countries has

remained faithful to its founding principles. We support

the cause of the Palestinian people and their inalienable

right to self-determination in an independent and

sovereign State, with its capital in East Jerusalem. We

support the cause of those other peoples whose

sovereignty and territorial integrity is being threatened,

like those of Venezuela and Bolivia, and we endorse

the right of Puerto Rico to be independent.

We condemn the imposition of unilateral coercive

measures in violation of international law and attempts

to implant a single model for a political, economic and

social system. We object to the negative practice of

certifying countries that follows the patterns and

interests of the powerful. We strongly oppose political

manipulation and the application of double standards in

the matter of human rights, and we reject the selective

imposition of politically motivated resolutions against

the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The establishment of the Human Rights Council

offers the opportunity to open a new era in the

promotion of and protection for all human rights for

all, on the basis of international cooperation and

constructive dialogue. Those who caused the demise of

the old Human Rights Commission are now trying to

disqualify the Council because they have not been able

to bend it to serve their own interests. They refuse to

participate in its work in order to escape the scrutiny of

the international community within the framework of

39 08-51749

the Universal Periodic Review mechanism. The

legitimacy of the Council does not depend on the

perception that the empire has about its work, but on

its capacity to discharge its mandate with the strictest

adherence to the principles of universality, objectivity,

impartiality and non-selectivity in the treatment of

human rights issues.

The Movement of Non-Aligned Countries will

continue to defend the interests of the Third World and

promote the building of a world which is more just,

more democratic and with greater solidarity.

Cuba has had to pay a very high price for the

defence of its independence and sovereignty. The

heroic Cuban people have endured the longest and

cruellest blockade in history, imposed by the most

powerful nation on Earth. Despite the fact that this

Assembly has repeatedly and resoundingly taken a

stand in favour of ending that genocidal policy, the

United States Government has not only ignored the

will of the international community, but in marked

disregard of it has gradually intensified its economic

war against Cuba. Never has the foreign policy against

a country been armed with such a broad and

sophisticated arsenal of aggressive measures in the

political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, military,

psychological and ideological domains.

Cuba has just been lashed by two intense

hurricanes, which have devastated its agriculture,

seriously affected part of its infrastructure and

damaged or destroyed more than 400,000 homes.

Allow me to take advantage of this opportunity, on

behalf of the Cuban Government and people, to thank

all those countries, organizations and persons who in

one way or another have honestly and sincerely

contributed with resources or moral support to the

reconstruction efforts undertaken by my country. That

stands in contrast with the position of the United States

Government, which continues to ruthlessly apply the

blockade.

Cuba has asked for no gifts from the United

States Government. It has simply asked and asked

again that it be allowed to purchase in the United

States the materials that are indispensable for the

reconstruction of homes and the power grid, and that

American companies be authorized to grant Cuba

private commercial credits to buy food. The answer has

been negative and has been accompanied by an attempt

to manipulate information in such a manner that the

Government of the United States seems to be

concerned for the well-being of the Cuban people

while the Government of Cuba is perceived as turning

down their offer.

If the United States were really so concerned for

the Cuban people, the only moral and ethical behaviour

would be to lift the blockade imposed on Cuba for five

decades, in violation of the most elemental rules of

international law and the Charter of the United

Nations. That irrational policy has a clear objective: to

destroy the process of profound revolutionary

transformation undertaken by the Cuban people since

1959 — in other words, to trample on its right to self-

determination, wrest away its freedom and its political,

economic and social conquests and push it backwards

to its former neocolonial status.

The Bush Administration attempts to justify the

intensification of its policy against Cuba by turning

once more to fraud and deceit, with its characteristic

cynicism and hypocrisy. Its determination to dominate

and recolonize Cuba is being presented as nothing less

than as an endeavour to liberate and democratize.

Who, other than its accomplices, recognizes that

the United States Government has any authority in this

world in the matter of democracy and human rights?

What authority could such a Government claim that

hunts down and cruelly mistreats illegal migrants at its

southern border, that legalizes the use of torture and

keeps in concentration camps — such as the one

installed in the territory illegally occupied by the

United States base at Guantánamo — people who have

not been proved of or even charged with any crime?

What respect is due to a Government that attacks the

sovereignty of other States, using the excuse of the

fight against terrorism, while at the same time

guaranteeing impunity to anti-Cuban terrorists? What

kind of justice can be promoted by an Administration

that illegally keeps imprisoned five Cuban patriots who

were only seeking information to neutralize the actions

of the terrorist groups operating against Cuba from the

United States?

Cuba appreciates the solidarity it has received

from the General Assembly in its fight against the

blockade and the aggression that it has had to confront

for almost five decades. Cuba reaffirms its unyielding

decision to defend its sovereignty and independence.

Cuba reiterates its will to carry on, together with

members of the Non-Aligned Movement, in the battle

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for a better world, where the rights of all peoples to

justice and development are respected.

To conclude, I would like to recall the words of

the Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Revolution,

Comrade Fidel Castro Ruz: “A world without hunger is

possible. ... A just world is possible. A new world,

which our species eminently deserves, is possible and

will become reality.”