NEW YORK (Dispatches) - Cuba’s Foreign Minister warned the UN General Assembly that escalating military and economic pressure in Latin America and the Caribbean was threatening international law, while accusing the United States of intensifying a decades-long campaign to isolate and weaken his country.
Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla said on Saturday that the international system was witnessing an alarming rise in “expansionism, usurpation, plunder” and military and economic aggression, arguing that fundamental principles of the UN Charter, including the sovereign equality of States, were under sustained attack.
He called for the United Nations to be preserved and strengthened while becoming “more democratic and effective” and closer to the peoples it serves.
Much of the Foreign Minister’s address to the Assembly’s annual debate focused on Cuba’s longstanding confrontation with the United States, which he said had entered a more dangerous phase since January.
Rodríguez Parrilla accused Washington of imposing what he called an “energy blockade”, intimidating countries against exporting fuel to Cuba and placing new restrictions on goods and services destined for the island.
More than 7,000 containers were stranded in ports, he said, including shipments of food, medicines and medical equipment, some already paid for by Cuban private companies.
He also accused the U.S. of pressuring foreign investors, restricting tourism and Cuba’s access to financing, technology and markets, as well as urging governments to end arrangements under which Cuban medical professionals provide healthcare overseas.
“The economic warfare is aimed against the people,” he said, describing the impact on Cuban families as deliberate “collective punishment”.
Rodríguez Parrilla rejected assertions that Cuba represented a threat to U.S. national security and argued that Washington’s policies were intended to undermine Cuban sovereignty.
“Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is!” he declared.
At the same time, he said Havana remained prepared for dialogue with Washington to resolve bilateral differences, provided talks were based on sovereign equality, respect for international law, non-interference and no preconditions.
The Foreign Minister also said Cuba was pursuing changes that would bring “profound transformations” to its economic and social model in response to the difficulties it faces.
He pointed to a new program adopted by the National People’s Power Assembly embracing new economic practices, actors and concepts, while maintaining the country’s constitutional framework and socialist system.
The process, he said, would seek to respond to people’s needs “with the greatest possible social justice” while defending Cuba’s sovereignty and right to self-determination.