The United State’ blockade is the most tenacious, ongoing persecution of all Cuban economic activity, in any part of the world; it is the universal war, with immense power in its favor, against the economy of our country, to the extreme of affecting individual transactions, even between persons, with individuals who attempt to conduct any economic activity whatsoever with our country.

It is unacceptable that the end of the blockade occur only in exchange for political concessions that contravene the sovereignty of our country. It is absolutely unacceptable, outrageous, irritating, and really we would prefer to perish rather that renounce our sovereignty

That is why this hostile policy did not prevent the Revolution from making the Cuban people the proprietor of its own country, and standing on the ruins of the pro-Yankee dictatorship we continue on this long, steep path.

Thanks to the noble, self-sacrificing people, to its laborers, manual and intellectual workers, its farmers and students, men and women, children, the elderly, and citizens of all ages, literate and illiterate, Cuba became proprietor of its own destiny, for the first time.

We will struggle for the day the blockade ends. Your confidence will not be betrayed; your affection and encouragement will not be useless. The seed you plant in our hearts will never be lost.

The criminal blockade, which they promise will be tightened, multiplies the honor and glory of our people, against whom their genocidal plans will fail.

Let us proclaim to the world with pride this record, which makes us worthy of the most just of all demands: that our homeland’s right to life and healthy happiness be respected. We will struggle to the death for this right.

(Granma)

He reported that the amendments basically address aspects related to the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and the human rights issue, a subject that the U.S. government attempts to use to discredit Cuba – unsuccessfully.

What is most interesting, Rodríguez said, is not the content of the proposed amendments, but rather the fact that the document was circulated surreptitiously by the U.S. State Department, signed by deputy assistant secretary Gonzalo Gallegos, in an effort to dissuade UN member countries from voting in favor of the Cuban resolution calling for an end to the blockade, which will be considered in the General Assembly this coming October 31.

The document, he pointed out, “recognizes that the Cuban resolution – approved practically unanimously every year in the United Nations General Assembly – has as its purpose condemnation of the impact on the Cuban people of the application of the blockade. This is a profoundly hypocritical and shameless phrase, recognizing that the blockade causes significant human damage to our people, deprivations, shortage, difficulties; it affects all families, discriminates against Cuban migration, and even restricts the civil rights and freedoms of U.S. citizens by prohibiting them from traveling to our country,” the minister stated.

This is another maneuver with propagandistic objectives, to manipulate public opinion and that of other states, Rodríguez noted, recalling that the U.S. has a long history of manipulating the human rights issue when it comes to Cuba, whose accomplishments in the areas of health, education, sports, culture, and political participation are undeniable.

He emphasized that the United States has no authority to accuse others of human rights violations, citing the well known existence of minors tortured in the Guantánamo Naval Base, on illegally occupied Cuban territory.

He also pointed out that, since 1997, the UN General Assembly has rejected these unfounded accusations on the issue of human rights in Cuba. What is most significant, he said, is that the amendments presented by the U.S. include the same content mentioned in resolutions previously rejected by the General Assembly.

The U.S. attempted to use the exact same approach in November of 2006, but a motion rejecting their proposals was approved.

This action by the United States has no international support – on the contrary, such proposals generate isolation and discredit. The vast majority of Cuban émigrés in the United States and around the world oppose this attitude.

At another point in the press conference, the Minister recalled the numerous occasions Cuba has proposed dialogue with the U.S. on any subject whatsoever, including human rights, on the basis of sovereign equality and respect for our independence.

“If the U.S. government wants to discuss the relation of human rights to sustainable development goals, we can do that. Just say when and where,” he added.

Then we could talk about the discrimination faced by Blacks and Latinos in U.S. territory; or women doing the same work as men for less; the hundreds of thousands of citizens who prevented from participating in elections because they have debts; or the wars launched by Washington, the massacres of civilians, he said.

The United States has signed only 18 human rights covenants, of the 61 existent, he noted, “It would be interesting for the U.S. government to attend a debate in the UN on adhesion to international human rights pacts and instruments. They are the only country in the world to vote against the right to food.”

The United States is pursuing an increasingly hostile policy toward Cuba, linked to the anti-Cuban industry in Miami. It again attempts to cover up widespread rejection of the blockade by the international community and within its own society.

(Prensa Latina)

He explained that the U.S. State Department originally presented a document consisting of eight paragraphs of amendments to the draft resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba.” However, the text was hastily divided into eight separate amendments that will be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly for analysis tomorrow.

All this pursues the obvious aim of creating a pretext to tighten the blockade, and attempt to present the illusion that there is international support for the policy, Rodríguez stressed. The U.S. delegation to the UN seeks to disturb, consume time, create confusion and hinder the adoption of the resolution calling for the end of the blockade against Cuba.

The amendments presented by the United States have the objective of changing the nature of the resolution that opposes the blockade, with emphasis on the extraterritorial application of the policy, he explained. Instead, he said, the United States wants to turn it into a resolution that contains attacks against Cuba in the field of human rights, which are totally unjustified.

Cuba has presented this draft resolution for the last 26 years and, this time, the United States seeks to obstruct the adoption of the resolution, and thus disguise “the massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of all the Cuban people,” that the blockade represents, the Minister emphasized.

The U.S. delegation is thus forcing the UN General Assembly to debate eight aggressive amendments, which manipulate the issue of human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals. Rodríguez noted that there are other bodies of the UN where it would be more appropriate to seriously debate such issues.

Unlike in previous years, in the morning session this Wednesday, October 31, there will be a debate in the General Assembly about the resolution presented by Cuba, including remarks by groups of countries and member states. The vote on the draft resolution calling for the end of the blockade will take place on Thursday, as instead of facilitating a short voting act as in previous years, the U.S. State Department seeks to alter the process through the submission of these eight separate amendments, he explained.

“It is a policy that violates international law, transgresses the internationally recognized rules of commerce, violates freedom of navigation, that constitutes an act of aggression and economic warfare.

“Powerless, the government of the United States has found no other way this year than to try to hamper the adoption of the resolution, or to modify the content in an opportunistic, underhand manner.

“Thus, my impression is that the United States government, in its desire to increase tensions, increase hostility against Cuba, knows no bounds in this case, in creating difficulties for the General Assembly, which is an international, universal and democratic body of the United Nations.

“It is an attempt that will surely be rejected, but that does not pursue other purposes than to try to mask the situation of absolute and profound isolation that the United States government has in relation to Cuba, and to obscure the overwhelming rejection of the economic, commercial and financial blockade.

“We are confident that the amendments will be rejected, and that the resolution will receive overwhelming majority support, as has happened in the past,” the Cuban Foreign Minister stressed.

(Cubaminrex)