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Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla said the international system is witnessing an alarming increase in “expansionism, usurpation, looting” and military and economic aggression, arguing that the basic principles of peace UN Charterincluding the sovereign equality of states, is constantly under attack.
He called for the UN to be preserved and strengthened while becoming “more democratic and effective” and closer to the people it serves.
‘Economic war’ against Cuba
Much of the Foreign Minister’s speech at the Assembly’s annual debate focused on Cuba’s long-standing confrontation with the United States, which he said had entered a more dangerous phase since January.
Rodríguez Parrilla accused Washington of implementing what he called an “energy blockade,” intimidating countries from exporting fuel to Cuba and imposing new restrictions on goods and services destined for the island.
More than 7,000 containers were stranded at the port, he said, including shipments of food, medicine and medical equipment, some of which had been paid for by private Cuban companies.
He also accused the US of suppressing foreign investors, limiting tourism and Cuba’s access to financing, technology and markets, and urged the government to end arrangements under which Cuban medical professionals provide health services abroad.
“The economic war is directed against the people,” he said, describing its impact on Cuban families as deliberate “collective punishment.”
Rodríguez Parrilla rejected the assertion that Cuba posed a threat to US national security and argued that Washington’s policies were intended to undermine Cuba’s sovereignty.
“Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is!” he stated.
At the same time, he said Havana remains ready for dialogue with Washington to resolve bilateral differences, as long as negotiations are based on sovereign equality, respect for international law, non-intervention and without preconditions.
Changes at home
The foreign minister also said Cuba was pursuing changes that would bring a “major transformation” to its economic and social model in response to the difficulties it faces.
He pointed to the new program adopted by the National People’s Power Assembly that includes new economic practices, actors and concepts, while maintaining the framework of the country’s constitution and the socialist system.
The process, he said, would seek to respond to society’s needs “with the greatest possible social justice” while preserving Cuba’s sovereignty and right to self-determination.
A warning to the region and the UN
Turning to the broader region, Mr. Rodríguez Parrilla rejected the Monroe Doctrine and what he called attempts at “militarization, intervention, or domination” in Latin America and the Caribbean, and recalled the region’s 2014 proclamation as a Zone of Peace.
He also voiced solidarity with Small Island Developing States facing climate change; reaffirms Cuba’s support for Nicaragua and Puerto Rico; and supports reparations for African and Caribbean countries for colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.
In closing, the Foreign Minister warned that a world in which powerful states impose their will through intimidation and coercion is “dangerous and unsustainable”.
“Jungle law cannot be the future of humanity,” he said, urging countries to restore the role of the UN before the organization risks going down in history as “a great unrealized dream”.
