Statement by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba. Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau. New York, 26 September, 2019

Dear Ministers and Heads of Delegations;

Delegates and guests:

Allow me to begin by reiterating the solidarity and support of the Government and people of Cuba to the Government and people of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, a sister Caribbean nation and member of our Movement, in the aftermath of the devastating passage of Hurricane Dorian, and by reaffirming our readiness to cooperate in the recovery efforts.

Today, 26 September, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, an initiative of our Movement, is observed. Until complete, irreversible nuclear disarmament under strict international verification is achieved, this objective must continue to be our priority.

The increase in military expenditures, the modernization of nuclear weapons and the proliferation of unconventional wars increase the danger, including acts or threats of aggression. Other important challenges such as politicization and double standards in the treatment of human rights; violations of the Charter of the United Nations and International Law, the interference in the internal affairs of States to undermine their political independence and territorial integrity, demand that we remain united in defense of the founding principles of the Movement, to safeguard peace and security and to promote the sustainable development of our peoples.

Dear colleagues: 

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela faces an unconventional warfare, attempted coups, terrorist acts, economic sanctions and other hostile and illegal actions orchestrated and perpetrated by the U.S. government in its efforts to impose the Monroe Doctrine. In Venezuela, the future of the right to sovereignty of our peoples is being resolved today. We are called to defend for the Bolivarian people the respect for the Bandung postulates, the purposes and principles agreed upon at the 14th Summit of the Movement in Havana and the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, adopted at the 2nd Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

We strongly condemn the aggression underway against Venezuela. We reiterate our firm support and solidarity with the government of the constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros, with the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution, and with the civic-military union of its people. We support the initiative of respectful and sovereign dialogue between the parties as a way to solve the situation that has been imposed on the Venezuelan people from outside.

We also reject the sanctions and attempts to destabilize the sister Republic of Nicaragua, a country of peace and where remarkable social, economic and citizen security progresses have been made in favor of its people, under the guidance of President Daniel Ortega.

We reiterate our most resolute support for and solidarity with the democratic-cultural revolution led by brother President Evo Morales Ayma, which has placed the Plurinational State of Bolivia at the forefront of the struggle for sustainable development and social justice.

We reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico, who have not been able to achieve their deserved independence.

We welcome the process of inter-Korean rapprochement and dialogue, which is the path to achieving lasting peace, reconciliation and stability of the Korean peninsula. At the same time, we strongly condemn the imposition of unilateral and unjust sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the external interference in the Korean’s affairs.

We reiterate our solidarity with the Syrian people and government, which have suffered, for 8 years, a bloody war that has claimed countless lives.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires a comprehensive, just and lasting solution that will allow the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and to establish an independent and sovereign State based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We reject the so-called "Deal of the century" drafted by the current U.S. government, which ignores the solution of two States universally accepted.  

The unilateral decisions to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan as part of that country's territory, the withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the nuclear program, the increase in unilateral sanctions and the military threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran, lead to an escalation of instability in the Middle East.

Distinguished Ministers, Heads of Delegations, Delegates and Guests:

Our just demand that all States refrain from exerting pressure or coercion on other countries, including the application and promotion of any unilateral measure of a coercive nature, contrary to International Law, is becoming increasingly valid.

The government of the United States has strengthened its open hostility against Cuba, in its failed attempt to destroy the Cuban Revolution through the economic suffocation of our people, tightens the blockade, which includes unconventional measures against our fuel supplies and increases its extraterritorial application. It is an attack on the International Law, on the sovereignty of Cuba and on the sovereignty of all States. The blockade is the main obstacle to our development and is a flagrant violation of the human rights of Cubans.

The Helms-Burton Act is the fundamental political and legal instrument of that American aggressiveness; it violates internationally recognized norms and principles such as the self-determination of peoples, freedom of trade, non-interference in the internal affairs of States and peaceful coexistence among nations. In addition, it has a marked extraterritorial claim by submitting citizens and institutions of third countries to the jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States for legitimate actions occurring outside the territory of that country.

Dear Ministers and Heads of Delegations:

We are living at a time when the relations of friendship, solidarity and cooperation among our peoples and governments must be strengthened, and when our unity, based on the respect for our diversity must be defended above all else.

I conclude by reiterating our full support for the Republic of Azerbaijan, and wishing success in its next NAM presidency.

Thank you