Voting against were the United States and Israel, along with Jair Bolsonaro – who incidentally represents Brazil, but is not Brazil. The abstentions of Colombia and Ukraine, completed the tiny percentage against Cuba’s resolution, a glimpse of the minimal support enjoyed by the failed policy of our malicious neighbor.

“Voting against Cuba is voting for the continuity of genocide. #SomosCuba, a victory for Cuba,” wrote President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, on his Twitter account, adding, “The blockade is real and we will defeat it with the support of the international community that, in its overwhelming majority, today voted with Cuba against the blockade. Lackey governments showed where their affinities lie. And they are alone along with the empire. A victory for Cuba.”

(Granma)

(Transcript from Presidency of the Republic)

Mr. President;

Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, permanent representatives;

Ladies and gentlemen delegates:

In recent months, the government of President Donald Trump has initiated an escalation in its aggression against Cuba, with the adoption of unconventional measures to prevent the supply of fuel to our country from various markets through sanctions and threats to vessels, shippers, and insurance companies. Its objective, in addition to affecting the economy, is to damage the living standard of Cuban families. The United States government is responsible.

In April of this year, the filing of lawsuits in U.S. courts against Cuban, U.S., and third-country entities was authorized, under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

The persecution of our banking-financial relations with the rest of the world has intensified.

Remittances to Cuban citizens were restricted; the granting of visas was reduced and consular services limited; an agreement between baseball federations was canceled; individual trips by U.S. citizens were canceled, along with cruise ship stops and direct flights to Cuban airports, except for Havana; the leasing of airplanes with more than 10% U.S. components and the acquisition of technologies and equipment with the same was prohibited; commercial promotional activities and cultural and educational exchanges ceased. The United States Government is responsible.

It has aggressively intensified the extraterritorial impact of the blockade of Cuba on third states, their companies, and citizens.

The goal of economically asphyxiating Cuba and increasing damage, shortages, and our people’s sufferings is not hidden.

The U.S. government has also proposed to sabotage the international cooperation that Cuba provides in the area of ​​health. With a slander campaign, U.S. politicians and officials directly attack a program based on genuine conceptions of South-South cooperation, which has been recognized by the international community.

Mr. President:

The United States Ambassador grossly manipulates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 3: Right to life.

The blockade causes incalculable humanitarian damage, constitutes a flagrant, massive, and systematic violation of human rights and qualifies as an act of genocide under subsections b) and c), of Article 2 of the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. There is no Cuban family that does not suffer its consequences.

A Cuban child with severe heart failure cannot receive the most advanced system of circulatory assistance for pediatric use because it is of U.S. origin, and although its purchase has been requested repeatedly, no response has been forthcoming from the U.S. companies that sell it.

As a result of prohibitions imposed on Cuba, a person suffering from severe heart failure has no access to ventricular support equipment, which maintains the life of a patient in critical condition until it is possible to perform a transplant or, in other cases, until cardiovascular function is recovered.

As a result of the blockade, Bryan Gómez Santiesteban, 16, and Leydis Posada Cañizares, 19, of growth age, cannot receive expandable internal prostheses, but only fixed, and must therefore undergo frequent surgeries for replacement. Expandable prostheses are produced by the U.S. company Stryker. Yes, your government is responsible

The blockade also makes it impossible to access novel drugs for cancer treatment, only produced by U.S. pharmaceutical companies.

Mayra Lazus Roque, 57, is a renal cancer patient who could not be treated with the optimal drug, Sunitinib, only produced by the U.S. company Pfizer. Thanks to the treatment she has received with products from Cuba’s biotechnology industry, she is in good general health.

Eduardo Hernández Hernández, 49, suffers from metastatic melanoma. The optimal treatment for this type of cancer is Nivolumab, a drug only produced by the U.S. company Bristol Myers Squibb, which we cannot access. He is being treated with other alternatives. Your government is responsible.

Year after year, the United States delegation at this headquarters, as the Ambassador just did, has expressed, with a good dose of cynicism, that her government supports the Cuban people. Can anyone believe such a statement?

The government of the United States lies and falsifies data on alleged licenses for sales of medicines and food to Cuba, which are very difficult to obtain.

The United States delegation in those seats should explain to this Assembly the conditions it imposes on Cuban purchases: there is no access to credit, official or private; payment in cash is required when goods reach the port; banks that process our transactions are persecuted; Cuban vessels cannot be used for transport. Yes, it is responsible. Who in the world conducts trade under such conditions?

The successful, effective Cuban model has ensured and assures Cuban men and women equal opportunities, equity and social justice, despite hostility and coercion.

Mr. President:

The United States government does not have the least moral authority to criticize Cuba or anyone else in the area of ​​human rights. We reject the repeated manipulation of this issue for political purposes and the double standards that characterize its use.

The Ambassador said that her goal is to reveal the truth, but her guilty conscience betrayed her words, and she says that she has not come to confess.

Article 3: Right to Life, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The deaths of civilians caused by U.S. troops in various latitudes, and the use of torture merit condemnation; as well as the murder of African Americans by police and migrants by border patrols; the deaths of unaccompanied minors in immigration detention, and the abusive and racially disproportionate use of the death penalty, applicable to minors and the mentally handicapped.

Article 5: Freedom from torture.

The impunity of the gun lobby is responsible for the increase in homicides, including among teenagers. In the first eight months of 2019, there have been some 250 mass attacks with firearms, with almost 1,000 victims, of which about a quarter were fatal. In 2018, 100 U.S. residents died daily and 274 were injured by guns.

In the United States, there are 2.3 million individuals incarcerated, a quarter of the planet’s prison population, and in one year 10.5 million arrests are made. Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest.

Opioid overdoses kill 137 U.S. residents every day and, for lack of proper treatment, 251 die of heart disease and 231, prematurely, of cancer. 170 preventable daily amputations are performed, associated with diabetes.

Article 25: Right to health.

Repression and police surveillance of immigrants, the separation of families, the separation of parents and indefinite detention of more than 2,500 children, and the deportation of 21,000, and brutal measures that threaten the children of illegal immigrants who were raised and educated in the United States are abhorrent.

Article 1: Right to dignity and freedom.

Article 11: Due process.

This government holds prisoners indefinitely, in legal limbo, without defense, courts, or due process, in the Guantanamo naval base prison, on our territory usurped by the United States.

Article 25: Right to personal well-being.

In the richest country, 40 million U.S. residents live in poverty, 18.5 million of them in extreme poverty. 25.7% of those with disabilities lived in poverty at the end of last year. More than half a million of its citizens sleep on the streets.

Article 23: Right to work.

At the end of 2018, there were 6.6 million unemployed in the United States.

Article 25: Right to health.

There are 28.5 million citizens without medical insurance, and millions with low incomes will be deprived of coverage with the measures announced.

Article 26: Right to education.

Quality education is not accessible to the majority. Half of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level. Equal opportunity in the United States is a chimera. Adolescents and youth rightly protest against their government for stripping them of environmental rights.

Article 2: Non-discrimination

Women earn approximately 85% of average male income in the United States, and must work 39 more days a year to match them. There are widespread complaints of sexual harassment

The average wealth of white families is seven times greater than that of Afro-descendant families. The death rate of children under one year of age and mothers in childbirth is twice that of whites.

There is a disproportionate racial pattern in the U.S. prison population and in the length of prison sentences.

Corruption prevails in the political system and the electoral model violates postulates of Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, referring to the right to participate in conducting public affairs. There is a growing gap between government decisions and the will of the people. Powerful, exclusive minorities, particularly corporate groups, decide the nature and composition of the government, Congress, and institutions meant to impart justice and enforce the law.

The United States is a country where human rights are systematically violated and often massively and flagrantly. It subscribes to only 30% of international human rights instruments and does not recognize as such the right to life, the right to peace, the right to development, to security, to food, nor does it recognize the rights of girls and boys.

Article 13: Freedom to travel

The blockade also violates the human rights and civil liberties of U.S. citizens, for whom the right to travel to Cuba is unjustly and arbitrarily restricted, the only prohibited destination in the world. The United States government is responsible.

Mr. President:

Over the last year, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and other U.S. agencies imposed fines on financial groups in third countries, such as the Italian Unicredit Group and the French Société Générale, for violating the sanctions system against Cuba. Dozens of foreign banks were intimidated, and limited or suspended their financial ties with our country.

Natural legal persons, that is, simply people, are also victims of the blockade. A German citizen who offers his services at the Cuban Embassy in Berlin received a notification of the closure of his Amazon account, allegedly on the basis of blockade regulations.

The illegal Helms-Burton Act guides the aggressive conduct of the United States against Cuba. Its essence is the open pretense of violating the right to self-determination and independence of the Cuban nation. It asserts U.S. legal authority over the commercial and financial relations of any country with Cuba, and establishes the supposed primacy of the law and the jurisdiction of the United States over third countries. The blockade, as a whole, is a serious violation of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

Not everyone adheres to the illegal extraterritorial application of restrictions imposed by U.S. law. In June of 2019, a primary level judge of The Hague Court issued a ruling favorable to the company PAM International, based in Curacao, in its lawsuit against the Dutch company EXACT Software Delft, now a subsidiary of the U.S. firm KKR, for its application of provisions of the United States blockade against Cuba. The judge ruled that the latter must continue offering its services to PAM International, for the supply of software to Cuban companies and organizations.

Examples like this show that there are antidote laws, World Trade Organization bodies, and means and ways to confront the extraterritorial application of the blockade of Cuba.

Mr. President:

The accumulated damages caused by the blockade over almost six decades have reached 922 billion dollars, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar as compared to the value of gold. At current prices, quantifiable damages of more than 138 billion dollars have been incurred.

For years, the blockade has constituted an impediment to the aspirations for well-being and prosperity of several generations of Cubans and continues to be the fundamental obstacle to the country’s economic development. It serves as a brake on the updating of our Economic and Social Development Model and the implementation of the 2030 National Plan, for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.

The effects of the blockade, particularly travel restrictions, affect the non-state sector of the economy with particular force.

With unearned revenue from exports of goods and services, and without expenses associated with the geographical relocation of trade, which imposes the need for extensive inventories, Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product would have grown, at current prices, some 10% as an annual average rate over the last decade.

The annual damages caused by the blockade far exceed the amount of direct foreign investment needed for national development.

For almost six decades, Cuba has been the victim of the most unjust, severe, prolonged system of sanctions that has been imposed on any country. The United States government is responsible.

Despite all the limitations and difficulties our people experience, Cuba has been able to counteract the manifest intentions of the blockade, its overwhelming effect for six decades, and unquestionable impact on the country’s potential.

It is the effectiveness of the Cuban socialist system, the state and the patriotism, revolutionary convictions, solidarity, consensus, and unity of our people that, despite the limitations, has allowed Cuba to overcome the serious challenges imposed.

One might ask whether even some industrialized, technologically advanced countries would be able to withstand such a prolonged and overwhelming attack, while ensuring modest but persistent growth of their economy, preserving development programs, moving toward a service and knowledge economy, and guaranteeing the exercise of all human rights, in conditions of equity, for all of their citizens, as occurs in Cuba.

Mr. President:

This Assembly has repeatedly confirmed its rejection of the application of unilateral coercive measures as contrary to international law and the United Nations Charter.

The United States applies systems of coercive measures against more than twenty countries and specific unilateral measures against dozens of nations, a trend that has been intensified by the current administration.

As the Comandante en jefe of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, expressed on the United Nations 50th anniversary, at this same podium, we should aspire to a world “without cruel blockades that kill men, women, and children, young and old, like silent atomic bombs.”

Mr. President:

The United States government presumes to exercise imperialist domination in Our America, again invokes the outdated, aggressive Monroe Doctrine and “gunship diplomacy,” deploying the Fourth Fleet and increasing the presence and power of its military bases in the region.

The blockade policy’s definition is best expressed in the infamous. memorandum written by Undersecretary of State Lester Mallory, in April of 1960, who I quote: “…There is no effective political opposition (…) The only possible way to make the government lose domestic support is by provoking disappointment and discouragement through economic dissatisfaction and hardships (…) Every possible means should be immediately used to weaken the economic life (…) denying Cuba funds and supplies to reduce nominal and real salaries with the objective of provoking hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.”

The United States representative offends this Assembly with unacceptable interventionist language, to refer to the heroic Venezuelan people, their civic-military union, and the Bolivarian Chavista government, headed by President Nicolás Maduro Moros, to whom we express unwavering solidarity.

The United States government uses falsehoods and slander as a pretext to intensify its aggression against Cuba. I reiterate that neither threats nor coercion will extract a single political concession. Nor do we renounce our will to achieve a civilized relationship with the country, based on mutual respect and recognition of our profound differences.

As Army General Raúl Castro pointed out on April 10, before the National Assembly of People’s Power, “Despite its immense power, imperialism does not have the capacity to break the dignity of a united people, proud of its history and the freedom conquered with so much sacrifice.”

Cuba recognizes the ethical and political chasm that exists between the U.S. people and their government, and will do everything possible to develop the Broad and deep ties that unite us with U.S. citizens.

Mr. President;

Distinguished Permanent Representatives; Ladies and gentlemen delegates:

We recognize with deep gratitude all those who have expressed their rejection of the blockade of our country and those who have always accompanied us in our incessant struggle for the end of this policy.

As the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, affirmed on October 10, Cubans are awaiting “intense, challenging days, but no one is going to take away our confidence in the future, which we owe our children, in the homeland that our parents won for us by standing firm.”

On behalf of the heroic, selfless, solidary people of Cuba, I once again ask that you vote in favor of the proposed resolution contained in document A/74/L.6, the Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.

Thank you very much. (Applause)

12:05 pm The voting process begins.

Result: 187 in favor; 3 against; 2 abstentions

Against: Israel, the United States, Brazil

Abstaining: Colombia and Ukraine

———————————————————————-

Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parilla addressed the General Assembly, and refuted statements made by the United States representative, stating that the U.S. distorts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has no authority to criticize Cuba, or anyone else.
Photo: MINREX

He noted that, over the last few months, the Trump administration has adopted measures to disrupt deliveries of fuel to Cuba, hurting the economy and the wellbeing of Cuban families, adding “The U.S. government is responsible.”

Remittances were restricted, the granting of visas was reduced, cruise ships and direct flights to Cuba were banned, sports contracts were canceled, commercial promotional activities ceased.

“The United States government is responsible,” Rodríguez said, explaining that no Cuban family is exempt from the consequences of the blockade. Sick children do not have access to medical equipment produced by U.S. companies. The blockade prevents access to novel drugs for the treatment of cancer produced by U.S. companies. “The U.S. government is responsible.”

With a slander campaign, U.S. politicians and officials defame Cuban medical programs that provide support in other countries, he noted.
Can anyone believe that the U.S. government wants to support Cuba, he asked.

The U.S. delegation should explain here the measures that it imposes on Cuban transactions with other nations.

The successful and effective Cuban model guarantees Cubans equal opportunity and social justice despite hostility and sanctions. The U.S. government has no moral authority to talk about human rights.

Rodríguez recalled that in the United States there are 2.3 million people imprisoned, and every year more than 10.5 million arrests are made.

Families are separated, parents and children detained at borders, and migrants deported. Prisoners are illegally and indefinitely held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo. More than half a million U.S. citizens sleep on the streets and 28.5 million have no medical insurance.

Equal opportunity in the United States is a chimera. Women earn approximately 85 percent of what men earn, and there are widespread complaints of sexual harassment. Incarceration rates are racially disproportionate.

——————————————————————————————

Representatives from Zambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Finland, Costa Rica, and Argentina expressed support for Cuba’s resolution calling for an immediate end to the blockade.

——————————————————————————————-

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s representative took the floor, stating that measures like the blockade, by a single country against another, threaten the sovereignty of nations.

He cited the blockade’s inhumane impact and denounced the escalation seen this last year, adding that Iran, like Cuba, pays for the price of its resistance and independence, challenging the expansionist interests of the United States.

The U.S. says it is concerned about the country’s people, but it makes decisions that harm Iranians, he said.

The United States is not a trustworthy associate, he said, sanctions are illegal and the world must find solutions to deal with such aggressive unilateral measures, he concluded.

———————————————————————————————-

The representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia stated: Weare not only voting against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade, we vote for hope, for the wonderful opportunity to make our world more just.”

Recalling the words of Nelson Mandela, the official stressed that Africa is indebted to the Cuban people for their support on that countries of that continent.

Cubans share what little it has, and does so selflessly, he said, concluding, “Bolivia joins the voice of the world, demanding that the blockade be lifted.”

Venezuelan Jorge Arreaza, People’s Power Minister of Foreign Relations, took the floor, and began by conveying the importance president Nicolas Maduro affords this vote against the criminal U.S. blockade of Cuba.

He said the current situation is a threat to multilateralism and international law, insisting that no sanction will prevent the two countries from working together, and with other nations present.

He emphasized that the Cuban people is determined to exercise its right to self-determination and no coercive measure will stop them.

The blockade, aggravated by the current administration, causes Cuba losses of millions of dollars. The extraterritorial impact of the arbitrary policy also affects countries that maintain bilateral relations with Cuba. The United States government has no authority over other sovereign states, he stressed.

Despite economic difficulties, Cuba has always provided solidarity cooperation to other countries in the world. The blockade is an obsolete policy intended to isolate Cuba, that has clearly failed, he said.

Arreaza stated that Venezuela demands that all UN organizations at all levels show greater courage and take concrete action to end this inhuman policy that constitute an aggression and an affront to the United Nations. He concluded reiterating that his country will vote in favor of the resolution.

———————————————————————————————

Neville Melvin, representative from Namibia, began his remarks reiterating that, as in years past, his country would vote against the blockade of Cuba.

Unfortunately, instead of advancing to put an end to the suffering of the Cuban people, we have seen a setback, he noted. New sanctions adopted by the U.S. concern us, he added

Melvin said that, for his country, the island’s people are family, never sparing any effort to contribute to the wellbeing of many other nations.

In defense of the United Nations Charter, our delegation will vote in favor of this resolution, he concluded.

—————————————————————————————–

10:00am: United Nations General Assembly session begins.

—————————————————————————————–

Today, November 7, for the 29th consecutive time, the draft resolution to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba will be considered by the United General Assembly

Arsenio Arocha Elias-Moisés, deputy director of Cubana de Aviacion, said that these measures are part of the tightening and new aggressiveness of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade, imposed on our country for almost 60 years.

He said that the measures have as a consequence “the aggravation of economic damages, and cause breaches of commercial contracts, leading to dissatisfaction among our passengers, with the consequent impact on the image of Cuban companies,” he said.

He reported that Cubana de Aviacion has been notified by leasing companies in third countries of the cessation of previously signed lease agreements, causing the cancellation of international flights to the destinations of Santo Domingo, Mexico, Cancun, Caracas, Port-au-Prince, Fort de France, and Point de Pitre.

The impact is also felt in domestic transportation, since some national routes must be readjusted, at the moment limited to Holguín and Santiago de Cuba.

The deputy director explained that studies have been conducted to determine how best to rearrange itineraries to minimize the impact, and that further information will be released in a timely manner.He conveyed an apology from the company for any inconvenience caused as a result of the new measures imposed by the U.S. government, and reiterated that despite the aggressive escalation, the airline will seek appropriate solutions to continue providing its services.

He added that passengers affected by the cancellation of flights will be reimbursed the full value of their tickets at commercial offices.The manager emphasized, “Through December 31, it is estimated that 40,000 potential passengers will not be transported, and income of ten million CUC will be lost, impacting the company economically.”

(Granma)

He assures me that the fiercest is the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and that there are really big ones that they only eat grass.

At six, he tells me that he already knows how to read and write, thanks to the dedication of his grandmother and the doctors who care for him day and night, but admits that his greatest wish is to return home.

The disease he suffers requires him to remain attached to a mechanical ventilator, so without one at home, he stays here.

Dr. Liliana María Cueto explains that these are very expensive devices, only manufactured by capitalist corporations.

“If the equipment has any component from the United States, it isn’t sold to our country,” she says.

Liliana points out that, if there is one area which the U.S. blockade impacts every day, it is public health.

“We feel the lack of medications, such as first-generation antibiotics and equipment with some component of U.S. origin. The firms that produce them are afraid to sell to us, or if they do, they don’t supply us with spare parts.”

Nonetheless, Cuban doctors are committed to defending life and fighting disease. After more than half a century of resistance, it has almost become normal for a country in which most of its inhabitants were born under the effects of the blockade.

But nothing more cruel and anachronistic than this genocidal policy, supported by more than a dozen administrations in the White House.

Beyond the enormous figures describing the damage done to our economy and the negative impact on development, each and every Cuban has had a personal experience with the blockade – be it an unavailable medicine, a closed plant, equipment that could no longer be repaired because a U.S. firm bought the factory where it was produced…

The examples have multiplied recently, with the obsessive aggressiveness of the Trump administration.

The drastic reduction of services offered at the U.S. embassy in Havana, ​​greatly complicating procedures Cubans must follow to travel to the United States; the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act; further restrictions on travel to the island by U.S. citizens; limits on remittances; fines on companies that allegedly violate the blockade; increased subversive projects; sanctions to prevent the arrival of fuel to the country, meant to generate chaos and discontent, are just some of the measures adopted by the President and his minions.

With incredible cynicism, they have said that these actions are intended to “free the Cuban people from suffering,” as if each and every measure is meant to cause exactly the opposite.

A statement released by the U.S. embassy in Havana, this past September 6, shamelessly states that the escalation in Treasury Department regulations to tighten the blockade will deny Cuba access to foreign currency “as part of our support for the Cuban people.”

But life goes on in Cuba, with the conviction that there are peoples who do not surrender, and sacred principles, like human dignity and love for the homeland, that will always be worth fighting for.

HOSTILE U.S. MEASURES IMPOSED ON CUBA SINCE JUNE OF 2017

June 16, 2017

Principal changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba made by Donald Trump:

÷÷ Increased restrictions on travel to Cuba for U.S. citizens, by reducing the number of categories of travel permitted with a general license, as opposed to a specific permit from the Treasury Department.

÷÷ Reinforcement of the blockade via the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.

÷÷ Repeal of Presidential Policy Directive issued by President Barack Obama in 2016, which stated that the blockade was an obsolete burden for the Cuban people and an impediment to U.S. interests.3 de e 2018

September 29, 2017

Then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced a significant reduction of diplomatic staff at the U.S. embassy in Havana and withdrew all family members, on the grounds that there had been “attacks” on U.S. officials in Cuba, which had impacted their health.

October 3, 2017

The U.S. government, in an unjustified move, ordered 15 officials at the Cuban embassy in Washington to leave the country, allegedly since U.S. diplomatic personnel in Havana had been reduced and the Cuban government had not taken the necessary steps to prevent further “attacks.”

November 9, 2017

The State Department published a list of 179 Cuban entities with which U.S. citizens were not allowed to conduct direct financial transactions. The list includes the ministries of Armed Forces and the Interior; the National Revolutionary Police; state enterprises; the Mariel Special Development Zone and Havana container terminals; dozens of hotels throughout Cuba; travel agencies; and stores.

December 22, 2017

Washington moves its immigration office in Cuba to Mexico.

January 10, 2018

The United States issues travel advisory instructing its citizens to reconsider trips to Cuba.

January 23, 2018

The United States creates a Cuba Internet Task Force, announced on January 23 by the State Department, opening the doors to a return to failed Cold War policy.

March 2018

Washington releases funds for subversion in Cuba and the border wall with Mexico. The budget approved by the United States Congress includes 20 million dollars for subversion in Cuba.

March 29, 2018

The United States announces that, beginning April 1, the immigrant visa process for Cubans will once again change, to be conducted now at the U.S. embassy in Georgetown, Guyana. Due to these unilateral measures, since September of 2017, the U.S. consul in Havana is virtually paralyzed and only offers emergency services.

September 10, 2018

President Donald Trump extends the Trading with the Enemy Act’s application against Cuba for another year.

May 2, 2019

The Trump administration activates Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

June 5, 2019

The Treasury Department will no longer permit group educational and cultural trips known as “people to people.”

September 2019

The United States Department of the Treasury modified the Asset Control Regulations for Cuba to impose new sanctions on our country, basically, adding further restrictions on remittances and bank transactions. U.S. President Donald Trump again renews the application of the Trading with the Enemy Law to Cuba, for another year.

(Granma)

The U.S. State Department reported that it had imposed visa restrictions on officials linked to Cuba’s medical missions program abroad, which the Trump administration is determined to discredit by whatever means possible.

The solidarity of the Cuban people and government was disparaged to justify the visa denial with the fallacy that members of the delegation were responsible for “exploitative” labor practices in the island nation’s medical services exports program.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry’s director general for the United States, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, referred to the hostile move tweeting, “A a huge mistake to believe that Cuban officials would betray our international medical cooperation commitments in exchange for visas to enter the United States.”

Last September, the United States Agency for International Development announced that it was offering up to three million dollars to organizations that “would investigate, gather, and analyze information” related to alleged violations of human rights of health personnel by Cuba.

“Fallacies, lies, maliciousness, and imperial arrogance that does not understand human values. Our medical missions are Cuba,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel insisted.

(Granma)

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla told The Associated Press that while the U.S. administration has cut off most communication with Cuba and is trying to pressure the communist government by restricting the flow of oil, progress made under former U.S. President Barack Obama has not been undone.

“I would describe myself as very optimistic,” Rodríguez said. “There’s a historical trend that’s irreversible.”

He said relations between the two countries would never return to the way they were before December 2014, when Obama and then-Cuban President Raul Castro declared that they would reestablish diplomatic relations.

“There have been levels of communication and mutual familiarity between the peoples of both countries that are irreversible,” Rodríguez said.

He said Cuba was prepared for a worsening of tensions during the presidential campaign season because the Trump administration believes that Cuban Americans in South Florida support a hard line on the island.

He called that an “erroneous political calculation.”

“I believe it has been proven that the majority of Cubans in Florida support the progress achieved in the normalization of relations and the lifting of the blockade, and the younger they are, the more they support it,” Rodríguez said. “In any event, political moments are ephemeral. We have the political will to advance without delay.”

He also says Cuba is finding ways to buy oil despite U.S. attempts to stop it by imposing sanctions on shipping firms and threatening third countries, insurance firms and others as a way of retaliation for helping Cuba obtain petroleum. The Trump administration says it is trying to force Cuba to stop supporting President Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. says receives military and intelligence help from Cuba.

Oil shortages led to cutbacks in government fuel consumption and distribution last month, resulting in long lines at gas stations and reductions in public transport.

“We’ve increased our ability to transport (oil). The way the world works today makes it impossible for the United States to impede the arrival of oil tankers in Cuba,” Rodríguez said.

The Cuban foreign minister flatly denied that his country was providing any military, security or intelligence help to Venezuela, contradicting President Donald Trump’s Sept. 24 accusation before the U.N. General Assembly that “Maduro is a Cuban puppet protected by Cuban bodyguards.”

“We don’t have a military presence in Venezuela. We don’t participate or assist military, security or intelligence operations,” Rodríguez said. “The relationship between Cuba and Venezuela is a pretext … they’re attacking the successful (Cuban) political model, which works, which is a successful economic and social model, because it’ has withstood six decades despite the (U.S.) blockade.”

(Granma)

(Council of State Transcript)

Mr. President;

Heads of state and government;

Distinguished delegates;

I would like to convey my sincere condolences to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas for the loss of life and the terrible destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian. I call upon the international community to mobilize resources in order to provide assistance to that country.

Mr. President:

I want to denounce, before this General Assembly of the United Nations, that just a few months ago the U.S. government began to implement, criminal, non-conventional measures to prevent the arrival of fuel shipments to our country from different markets, by resorting to threats and persecution against companies that transport fuel, flag states, states of registration, as well as shipping and insurance companies.

As a result, we are facing severe difficulties in ensuring the supply of fuel which the everyday-life of the country demands; and have been forced to adopt temporary emergency measures that could only be implemented in a well-organized country, with a united, solidary people, ready to defend itself from foreign aggression and preserve the social justice we have achieved.

In the course of last year, the U.S. government has steadily and qualitatively increased its hostile actions and the blockade of Cuba. Additional obstacles to foreign trade have been erected and persecution increased of banking and financial relations we have with the rest of the world.  Extreme restrictions on travel have been imposed, and on any sort of interaction between the two peoples. Relations and contact with their home country have been hindered for Cubans living in the United States.

To date, the strategy of imperialism against Cuba has been guided by the infamous Memorandum issued in 1960 by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory, which I quote: “… There is no effective political opposition (…) The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support (from the government) is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship (…) every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life (…) denying money and supplies to Cuba to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of government”.

The illegal Helms Burton Act of 1996 guides the aggressive behavior of the United States against Cuba. Its essence is a brazen attempt to question Cuba’s right to self-determination and national independence.

It likewise envisions the imposition of the U.S. legal authority and the jurisdiction of its courts on Cuba’s commercial and financial relations with any country, thus riding roughshod over international law and the national jurisdiction of Cuba and third states, while establishing the alleged supremacy of the law and the political will of the U.S.

The economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. continues to be the principal obstacle to our country’s development and progress in the process to update the socialist economic and social development model that our country has designed.

Every year the U.S. government allocates tens of millions of dollars from the federal budget to political subversion, with the purpose of creating confusion and weakening the unity of our people, articulated with a well-coordinated propaganda campaign aimed at discrediting the Revolution, its leaders and glorious historical legacy; disparaging the economic and social policies that support development and justice, and destroying the ideas of socialism.

Last Thursday, on the basis of crude slanders, the State Department announced that the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, will not be granted a visa to enter this country.  This is an action that is void of any practical effect, meant as an affront to Cuba’s dignity and the sentiments of our people. This is nothing but vote-catching crumb tossed to the Cuban-American right. Nonetheless, the offensive, obvious falsehoods being used in an attempt to justify this move, which we strongly reject, are a reflection of the lowness and degeneracy to which this administration resorts, drowning in a sea of corruption, lies, and immorality.

All of these are actions and behaviors that infringe upon international law and violate the UN Charter.

The most recent pretext, reiterated right here, last Tuesday, by the President of the United States Donald Trump was that Cuba is responsible for the failure of plans to overthrow the Bolivarian government of Venezuela.  With the purpose of dismissing the heroic feats of the Venezuelan  people, imperialist spokespersons repeat, over and over again, the vulgar slander that our country has “between 20 to 25 thousand troops in Venezuela,, and that “Cuban imperialism exercises control” over the country.

A few minutes ago, the President of Brazil, at this same podium, read a script of false allegations drafted in Washington, increasing that shameless figure to “around 60 thousand Cuban troops” in Venezuela.

As part of its anti-Cuban obsession, the current U.S. administration, echoed by Brazil, is attacking international medical cooperation programs that Cuba conducts with tens of developing countries, which are designed to assist  the neediest communities, based on solidarity and the free and voluntary will of hundreds of thousands of Cuban professionals, programs which are being implemented according to cooperation agreements signed with the governments of those countries.  These have enjoyed, for many years now, the recognition of the international community, the UN and the World Health Organization as a good example of South-South Cooperation.

As a result, many Brazilian communities were deprived of free quality health care which, under the “More Doctors” program was offered by thousands of Cuban professionals.

This period has not been exempted from the most shameless threats and coercion, or immoral invitations for our country to betray its principles and international commitments in exchange for oil under preferential conditions and questionable good friends.

In commemorating the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, when Cubans achieved our true and final independence, First Secretary Raúl Castro said, and I quote: “…we Cubans are ready to resist a confrontational situation, which we do not want; and hope that more lucid minds in the U.S. government can prevent it,” end of quote.

We have reiterated that, even under the present circumstances, we will not renounce our determination to develop a civilized relation with the United States, based on mutual respect and the recognition of our profound differences.  We know this is the desire of our people and the feelings shared by the majority of the U.S. people and Cubans who live in this country.

I likewise reiterate that no economic aggression, threats, or coercion, no matter how harsh, will extract a single concession from us.  Those who know the history of Cubans during the long struggle to achieve emancipation and their steadfast defense of the freedom and justice they have conquered, will understand, beyond any doubt, the significance, honest,y and authority of these strong beliefs and ideas treasured by our people.

Mr. President:

Bilateral relations between Cuba and Venezuela are based on mutual respect and true solidarity. We support, without any hesitation, the legitimate government headed by Nicolás Maduro Moros and the civic- military union of the Bolivarian, Chavista people.

We condemn the behavior of the U.S. government toward Venezuela, focused on the encouragement of coups, assassination of the country’s leaders, economic warfare, and sabotage of power plants. We reject the implementation of unilateral, coercive measures and the seizure of the country’s assets, companies, and export revenues. These actions are a serious threat to regional peace and security, as well as a direct attack on the Venezuelan people, facing the cruelest aggression meant to force surrender.

We call upon everyone to raise awareness of these facts and demand the end of unilateral coercive measures, reject the use of force and encourage a respectful dialogue with the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela based on the principles of international law and the constitutional order of that country.

A few days ago, the United States and a handful of countries decided to activate the obsolete Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), which envisages the use of the military force.  This is an absurd decision that jeopardizes regional peace and security while intending to justify, through a legal trick, interference in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

It is also a gross violation of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace that heads of state and government of Latin America and the Caribbean signed in Havana, in January of 2014. Of similar significance is the U.S. decision to bring resurrect the nefarious Monroe Doctrine, an instrument of imperialist domination, under which several  military interventions and invasions, coups d’états, military dictatorships, and the most atrocious crimes were perpetrated in Our America.

As we witnessed a few days ago in this Assembly, the U.S. President usually attacks socialism in his public statements, with clearly electoral purposes, while promoting a McCarthyist intolerance of those who believe in the possibility of a better world and entertain the hope of living in peace in sustainable harmony with nature and in solidarity with all others.

President Trump ignores or intends to overlook the fact that neoliberal capitalism is responsible for the increasing social and economic inequality affecting even the most developed societies and that, given its nature, fosters corruption, social marginalization, a rise in crime, racial intolerance, and xenophobia.  He forgets, or does not know, that capitalism begot fascism, apartheid, and imperialism.

The U.S. government leads gross persecution of political leaders and popular and social movements through disparaging campaigns and outrageously manipulated and politically motivated judicial processes to end policies that, through sovereign control over natural resources and the gradual elimination of social differences, made it possible to build more just and fraternal societies, thus becoming a way out of the economic and social crisis, and a hope for the peoples of the Americas.

Just as they did with former Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, whose freedom we demand.

We reject Washington attempts to destabilize the government of Nicaragua and reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with President Daniel Ortega.

We express our solidarity with all Caribbean nations calling for legitimate reparations for the horrendous scars of slavery, as well as the just, special, and differentiated treatment they deserve.

We ratify our historical commitment to the self determination and independence of the sister people of Puerto Rico.

We support Argentina’s legitimate claim for its sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia, and South Sandwich Islands.

Mr. President:

The behavior of the current U.S. administration and its strategy of military and nuclear domination are a threat to international peace and security, maintaining almost 800 military bases around the world; promoting projects to militarize outer space and cyberspace, as well as the covert and illegal use of ICTs to attack other states.  The U.S. withdrawal from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Nuclear Missiles (INF) and the immediate commencement of intermediate range missiles tests are intended to launch a new arms race.

The President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, said last year, before this Assembly, and I quote: “…The exercise of multilateralism and the full respect for the principles and rules of international law to advance towards a multipolar, democratic, equitable world are required to ensure peaceful coexistence, preserve international peace and security, and find lasting solutions to systemic problems.”

We reiterate our unrestricted support to a comprehensive, just, and lasting solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, based on the creation of two states, so that the Palestinian people can exercise the right to self determination and have an independent , sovereign state based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We reject the unilateral action of the United States to establish its diplomatic mission in the city of Jerusalem.  We condemn violence by Israeli forces against civilians in Palestine and the threat of annexation of occupied territories in the West Bank.

We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the Saharan people and our support to a solution to the question of Western Sahara so that it can exercise the right to self-determination and live in peace in its own territory.

We support the search for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the situation imposed on Syria, without any foreign interference, with full respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.  We reject any direct or indirect intervention without the consent of the legitimate authorities of that country.

We express our solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran, facing an escalation of U.S. aggression. We reject the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Iran Nuclear Agreement.  We call for dialogue and cooperation based on the principles of international law.

We welcome the process of dialogue between the two Koreas.  Only through dialogue, without pre-conditions, and negotiations, will it be possible to achieve a lasting political solution on the Korean peninsula.  We strongly condemn the imposition of unilateral and unjust sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The continued expansion of NATO to the Russian borders creates serious dangers, which are further aggravated by the arbitrary sanctions that we reject.

Mr. President:

We support and admire the recent call made by students and youth for a march in New York.  Climate change, with some its effects already irreversible, is a matter of survival, particularly for small developing island states.

Capitalism is unsustainable.  Its irrational and unsustainable production and consumption patterns and the growing, unjust concentration of wealth constitute the main threat to the ecological balance of the planet. There can be no sustainable development without social justice.

Special and differentiated treatment for the countries of the South in international economic relations can no longer be overlooked.

The emergency in the Amazon compels us to look for solutions through the cooperation of all, without exclusions or politicization, with full respect for the sovereignty of states.

Mr. President:

There is a proliferation of corruption within political systems and electoral models, which are ever more distant from the will of peoples. Powerful and exclusive minorities, particularly corporate groups, decide the character and composition of governments, parliaments, justice systems, and law enforcement entities.

The U.S. government, after its failed attempt to dominate the Human Rights Council, decided to withdraw from the body to further hinder dialogue and cooperation on this matter.

This is not news that should surprise us. The U.S. is a country where human rights are systematically – and many a time deliberately and flagrantly – violated:

-36,383 persons -100 per day- were killed by firearms in this country in 2018, while the government protects those who manufacture and market them at the expense of citizens’ security.

- 91,757 persons die every year of heart diseases because they lack appropriate treatment.

- Infant and maternal mortality rates among African-Americans are twice as high as those of the white population.

- 28 million persons do not have medical insurance or real access to health services.

- 32 million citizens cannot read or write functionally.
- 2.2 million U.S. citizens are in prison.
-4.7 million are on probation and 10 million are arrested every year.

It is understandable why the President is concerned about attacking socialism.

We reject the politicization, selectivity, punitive approaches and double standards in addressing the human rights question. Cuba will remain committed to the realization of the rights of all persons and peoples to peace, life, self-determination, and development.

We must prevent the imposition of a single totalitarian, overpowering cultural model that destroys national cultures, identities, history, memory, symbols, and individualities and conceals the structural problems of capitalism that lead to increasing, lacerating inequality.

The so-called “cognitive” capitalism offers the same.  Digital capitalism crowns the world’s value chains; concentrates the ownership of digital data; exploits identity, information, and knowledge, and jeopardizes the already analogically diminished freedom and democracy.  We need to develop new types of humanistic and counter-hegemonic thinking of our own, as well as decisive political action to articulate popular mobilization on the web, in the streets, and at the ballot box.

Independent states need to exercise their sovereignty in cyberspace, abandon the illusion of the so-called “network society” or “access era” and democratize internet governance.

Mr. President:

The universal and profound thoughts of the Apostle of Cuba’s independence, José Martí, continue to inspire and guide younger generations of Cubans. His words, written a few hours before he was killed in combat, are particularly relevant, and I quote:  “Every day now I am in danger of giving my life for my country and duty, as I understand it and have the spirit to carry it out – in order to prevent, by the timely independence of Cuba, that the United States extending its hold across the Antilles and falls with greater force on the lands of our America.  All that I have done thus far, and all I will do, is for that purpose.”

Words written by Antonio Maceo in 1888 have a similar strength, and I quote:  “Whoever tries to conquer Cuba will gather only the dust of her blood-soaked soil, if he does not perish in the fight.”

This is the same, only Cuban Revolution, commanded by Fidel Castro Ruz, which is now headed by First Secretary Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

And if at this point there is someone still attempting to force the Cuban Revolution to surrender, or hoping that the new generations of Cubans will betray their past and renounce their future, we repeat, with the same vigor as Fidel: Homeland or Death! We will triumph!

During the meeting, chaired by Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of the Councils of State and Ministers, the importance of tourism as a driving force in the Cuban economy was emphasized.

The President said that everything this sector brings to the country in economic and social matters should not be overlooked, in addition to being a bridge to the world, since every tourist visiting the country is breaking the U.S. blockade. “That’s why we must defend it, that’s why we must make it more efficient,” he stated, as reported on the Presidency’s website.

With First Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa and Mercedes López Acea, Party Political Bureau member, also on hand, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, reported that 2,081 hotel rooms were completed this year, through the end of June, to reach a total of 72,965 across the country. By the end of 2019, the incorporation of another 4,197 is planned – 97% of which are in 26 new hotels, while the remaining 3% represent expansions.Referring to real estate development projections, the Minister pointed out that 13 new projects are planned, along with seven recreational projects, with special emphasis on those that have been conceived in the context of Havana’s 500th anniversary.Regarding the non-state tourism program, Marrero reported that 27,814 self-employed workers are licensed in this arena, including 17,805 homeowners authorized to operate in the CUC market, offering 26,224 rooms.

(Granma)

“We will continue to demand, without rest, the end of the cruel economic, commercial and financial blockade on #Cuba, and the just compensation of our people for the economic and material damage caused our people over so many years of aggression. #NoMásBloqueo #UnblockCuba #SomosCuba,” he wrote on his account @DiazCanelB.

This coming October 31, the United Nations General Assembly will vote for the 27th consecutive year on a resolution calling for the lifting of the blockade.

The report prepared annually by Cuba, outlining the damages caused by this hostile policy, indicates that losses over the last 60 years amount to 933,678,000,000 dollars.

(Granma)