“End the Blockade!”: Latin American Leaders Stand with Cuba at UN

At the UN, Latin American and Caribbean leaders demanded an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba — calling it “an act of economic warfare.” Dozens of nations condemned Washington’s sanctions and urged the U.S. to let Cuba breathe. 

TRANSCRIPT

“The unilateral economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against the Republic of Cuba remains a clear violation of the UN Charter and international law. For more than three decades, the General Assembly, guided by the Charter, has spoken with clarity and consistency,” said François Jackman, Barbados’ Ambassador to the United Nations. “This embargo must end.”

“The accumulation of economic suffocation imposed from abroad for generations is equivalent to the destruction caused by war,” declared Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the UN. “Because the blockade is an act of economic warfare aimed at subduing an entire people through hunger, disease, and death. This is the truth the U.S. seeks to hide when they call this crime a mere political measure. We, from Venezuela, speak from experience.”

“The unfair and unjustified inclusion of Cuba on the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list in January 2021 has further worsened the impact of this decades-long embargo,” explained Sergio França Danese, Brazil’s Ambassador to the UN. “Recent and promising diplomatic initiatives aimed at removing Cuba from that list were later reversed, thus maintaining significant trade restrictions, including the prohibition on exporting to Cuba products with more than 10% U.S. components, and limiting the provision of humanitarian assistance.”

“We denounce the campaign driven by the United States against Cuba’s international medical cooperation,” stated Bolivia’s Representative to the United Nations. “Although it’s impossible to discredit such a respectful, altruistic, and solidarity-based collaboration. The Bolivian people deeply recognize and are profoundly grateful for the Cuban medical cooperation, which has provided invaluable support to my country within the framework of solidarity, integration, and international cooperation.”

“Cuba is a vital partner in South-South cooperation and triangular collaboration,” said Walton Alfonso Webson, Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the UN. “The embargo represents the single greatest obstacle to the sustainable development of Cuba. Antigua and Barbuda reiterates the simple and long-standing call of this Assembly: remove the embargo, let the Cuban people breathe, and develop.”

“Cuba has been a key actor in the pursuit of peace in our country,” affirmed Leonor Zalabata, Colombia’s Ambassador to the United Nations. “It played a central role in achieving the 2016 Final Peace Agreement between the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP, and has accompanied its implementation, particularly in the processes of ceasefire, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants. Cuba has been and continues to be a trusted partner in efforts to consolidate peace in Colombia and across the region.”

“Cuba is not alone,” concluded the Bolivian representative. “Because the solidarity of the peoples is stronger than any blockade, and the blockade will not prevail.”