Speech by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, at the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. New York, September 27, 2025
Madam President of the General Assembly,
Mr. Secretary-General,
As we deliberate here, 2.2 million human beings in Gaza are condemned to starvation due to the acts of genocide, extermination, and ethnic cleansing of the Zionist regime, which relies on military and financial supplies and the impunity guaranteed by the United States government.
On behalf of the government and people of Cuba, I reiterate my firmest solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause for freedom, independence, and an end to the Zionist occupation.
If the Security Council proves impotent, due to the veto exercised or threatened by the United States, and is unable to adopt effective measures to end this barbarity, this General Assembly has the duty and the capacity to promote concrete measures without delay.
At the very least, it must unequivocally declare Palestine’s right to be a UN member state within its pre-1967 borders, its capital in East Jerusalem, and the right of return for refugees.
Eleven million people, three million of them children, die each year from hunger and associated diseases. The climate crisis is destroying nations and lives, devastating communities and economies. A handful of countries and people accumulate more wealth than the vast majority of all our countries combined. Colossal inequalities hinder and impede sustainable development.
There has been no effective global response to today’s grave challenges. There could not be one because the current world order reflects a bygone era, when most developing countries did not even exist as independent states. Eighty years ago, the UN was founded with just 51 Member States. Today we are 193.
The most urgent priority is to create a new international order that guarantees peace, the right to development, sovereign equality, and the participation and representation of developing countries in global policy decisions; that provides for the common good and prosperity in harmony with nature; and ensures the exercise of all human rights for all people.
Let us aspire to a new civilized coexistence, in which solidarity, international cooperation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes prevail as alternatives to war, the use of force, aggression, and occupation; a new coexistence opposed to aspirations for unipolar domination and hegemony. An order without blockades or unilateral coercive measures, based on multilateralism and with full respect for the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
Even with its limitations, the United Nations remains the most representative body of the international community. We have a duty to protect and strengthen it, in its intergovernmental essence, in its democratic foundations, which cannot be diluted in generalizing agendas, subject to priorities and capricious rules imposed by whoever provides the most funding.
It is necessary to highlight the central role of the General Assembly, as its most democratic and representative body.
The “UN80” initiative, launched by the Secretary-General, must have as its primary objective strengthening the intergovernmental nature of the United Nations and its capacity to better address the pressing challenges of the present.
We must reject the threatening proposal of a new doctrine called “peace through strength,” which amounts to imposing the arbitrary will of US imperialism on everyone through the use of threats, coercion, and aggression.
It is a doctrine conceived to satisfy the ambitions of a unipolar power already in decline, which also responds to the interests of large transnational corporations, at the expense of the rights of sovereign nations and their peoples, and of the values upon which this Organization was built.
In the Caribbean Sea, the threat of war looms today, with an extraordinary, offensive naval and air deployment, absolutely unjustified, with missiles and landing and assault vehicles, and nuclear submarines.
Nuclear-capable ballistic missiles are being launched. The United States uses the pretext of combating crime and drug trafficking, a legend that no one believes.
The attack and destruction of boats with no identification or known destination, the murder or extrajudicial execution of civilians, the interception of fishing vessels, and the aggressive actions of the United States create a dangerous situation that violates international law and threatens regional peace and security.
We reaffirm our strong rejection of the threats of aggression against Venezuela and our full support for the Bolivarian and Chavista government of that sister Latin American and Caribbean nation and for the Popular Military Union led by the legitimate President Nicolás Maduro Moros.
We repudiate the Monroe Doctrine and all attempts at militarization, intervention, or imperialist domination in Latin America and the Caribbean, proclaimed as a Zone of Peace in January 2014 in Havana, signed by the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
The accelerated arms race entails a competition in the arena of death and destruction, with the use of extraordinary financial and material resources that could be allocated to poverty alleviation, development, and cooperation.
Meanwhile, the meager goals of the 2030 Agenda cannot be met; Official Development Assistance commitments are ignored, and funding for combating climate change is diminishing.
In 1960, before this very Assembly, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, stated, and I quote: “Let the philosophy of plunder disappear, and the philosophy of war will have disappeared.”
Madam President,
Climate change is advancing inexorably and rapidly. The first six months of this year have been the warmest on record. Last year was already the hottest. From this very platform, even science and decades of collective work to protect the planet are being questioned.
If capitalism’s unsustainable production and consumption patterns are not fundamentally changed, we will surpass the fateful threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius before 2030.
The external debt of developing countries, already paid several times over, is growing and accumulating astronomical interest rates as a new form of colonization. The commitments made at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development must be implemented, with additional resources and a specific multilateral mechanism for debt negotiation.
We are suffering the consequences of powerful cultural domination in an era in which digital technology impacts our lives in an ever more accelerated and comprehensive way. A few transnational corporations, almost all American, impose their operating systems and control the content that is seen, read, and heard, and manipulate human behavior. We suffer the dictatorship of the algorithm.
We need to establish common standards at the UN as soon as possible to unleash the transformative potential of new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, for the benefit of all, while mitigating the risks.
In addition to the challenges Cuba faces, stemming from its status as a small island developing state, our country suffers the devastating and cumulative impact of the policy of hostility and economic suffocation imposed by the United States for more than six decades.
The blockade against Cuba persists and is becoming extremely strict. It is a truly comprehensive and prolonged economic war, aimed at depriving Cubans of their livelihoods and sustainability, of their existence as a supportive, cultured, and joyful people.
Anyone who claims otherwise is deliberately lying. The very promoters of this war boast of its destructive impact and its ability to strike at the living standards of an entire people from any corner of the planet.
The aggression has escalated to unprecedented levels in the last eight years, including actions of persecution and economic pressure on third parties, the states you represent, which are increasingly elaborate, surgical, and extraterritorial. It causes multiple and extraordinary impediments to productive, commercial, and financial activity, and to the services and policies that guarantee social justice and life itself.
Cuba today faces a serious scenario of prolonged and daily power outages, difficulties in affording food, insufficient availability of medicines, depressed public transportation, limitations on community services, and steep inflation that depresses real incomes.
In 1960, Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory formulated the infamous memorandum of coercion and blockade against Cuba that has guided the conduct of the US government for all these years, and continues to guide it. It stated, and I quote: “…all possible means must be rapidly employed to weaken Cuba’s economic life…a course of action that…will achieve the greatest possible advances in depriving Cuba of money and supplies, reducing its financial resources and real wages, causing hunger, desperation, and the overthrow of the government.” End of quote.
The US Secretary of State is today the reincarnation of that macabre individual.
Madam President:
Cuba is a victim of terrorism and was a victim of US state terrorism for decades. For years, and still today, terrorist acts against the country are organized and financed from US territory. Known perpetrators of horrendous acts of aggression against the Cuban people live here peacefully and with absolute impunity, resulting in thousands of deaths, maiming, and significant material damage.
In compliance with its responsibilities against terrorism and in support of the UN’s efforts against this scourge, the Cuban government has officially shared with the United States government in recent years the names and information of 62 individuals and 20 organizations residing in this country who have been responsible for violent and terrorist acts and who, from this territory, continue to participate in such acts against Cuba. No response has been received, and it is unknown whether the United States authorities have taken any action against any of them.
It is cynical that the United States government, for purposes of political and economic coercion, labels Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, a slander that this Organization does not share, nor any of its Member States.
Many national institutions, both banking, financial, and commercial, in almost all the countries represented here are subject to intimidation due to this false characterization by the United States government. Because of this, their banks often avoid dealing with Cuban entities, offering us credit, supporting our commercial activity, or channeling our bank transfers.
In addition, the intimidation against citizens of more than 40 countries, whom the US government threatens with retaliation if, by virtue of their rights, they decide to visit Cuba, is also underway.
The United States has unleashed a virulent campaign of discredit and persecution against Cuban medical cooperation, and of harassment and coercion against the authorities of the countries that receive it. This strategy is directed directly from the State Department.
It seeks to denigrate this cooperation, which has saved millions of lives and, in many cases, has been the only option for access to health services for large groups of populations.
This altruistic and supportive cooperation is based on absolutely legitimate bilateral agreements and fully complies with the international standards of cooperation of this and other international organizations.
I reaffirm, once again, that Cuba will maintain its commitments to all countries with which it has bilateral medical cooperation agreements and programs, and will retain its willingness to expand them with all governments willing to develop them, respecting international law and their national legislation, for the well-being of their peoples.
Since 1963, almost the same period as Mr. Mallory’s Memorandum, 605,000 doctors and specialists have performed more than 17 million surgeries and more than 5 million births in dozens of countries. Currently, more than 24,000 health professionals are providing and will provide services in 56 countries.
The aggression against Cuba is reinforced by a powerful destabilization machine that, from U.S. territory and financed by the U.S. federal budget, imposes an offensive aimed at disrupting public peace, promoting acts of violence, disorienting the population, and discrediting our country.
This is an unconventional warfare strategy that combines emotional manipulation with information poisoning to try to impose a climate of hopelessness and political demobilization.
In the face of such an asymmetrical onslaught, the resolve of our people is strengthened. We are aware of the great challenges we face and of the need to creatively and with the support of everyone to guide economic recovery and strengthen the well-known and effective social policies.
Last July, President Miguel Díaz-Canel described, and I quote: “We are not an accident of history. We are the logical consequence of a history of resistance and rebellion against abuse and injustice.” End of quote.
We will not relent in our efforts to build our dreams of a better and more prosperous socialist country for all, based on the constitutional order freely chosen by our people, which guarantees sovereignty, national and cultural identity, and reflects the dream of the Apostle José Martí, summarized in his memorable aspirations, and I quote: “the devotion of Cubans to the full dignity of man” and “the achievement of all justice.”
We have designed a realistic economic recovery program, adapted to the very unique and extraordinary conditions of our country, aware that we must overcome the devastating impacts of the blockade, overcome the deficiencies inherent in the current economic structure, and, I quote, “change everything that needs to be changed.” We avoid deluding ourselves, but the results are already beginning to be felt at the macroeconomic level, although they are not yet reflected in daily life, nor are they perceived by families.
Cuba is a nation of peace. Despite all the harm the United States has caused and continues to cause, we have always been willing to engage in unconditional dialogue and to try to move toward a respectful and civilized relationship with that country, without subordination or limits on our sovereign prerogatives. Both peoples would benefit from that opportunity.
A considerable number of Cubans live here in the United States, many of whom today feel threatened, having been vilely betrayed by politicians who have made their careers, especially in Miami, and enriched themselves by supposedly representing them. With their constant sowing of hatred and political manipulation, these politicians now opportunistically support the xenophobic, racist, and repressive measures of intimidation and retaliation unjustly applied against them.
This is particularly the case in the State Department.
It cannot be forgotten that the vast majority of Cubans have come to this country for more than 60 years, driven by the conditions created by the blockade and attracted by the privilege of politically motivated laws and practices of encouragement, acceptance, and protection, regardless of whether they emigrated legally or not.
Madam President,
We reaffirm our commitment as a BRICS partner country.
We reject the application of unilateral coercive measures that seek to subjugate the sovereign will of the people. We express our support for Belarus, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, Russia, and other nations that have fallen victim to these measures.
We reaffirm our solidarity with the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity of Nicaragua.
We reiterate our support for the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence.
The sister nations of the Caribbean deserve fair and differentiated treatment, as well as reparations for the horrors of colonialism and slavery.
The international community has a great responsibility to the Haitian people. We maintain our modest cooperation in health matters with this sister country, and Cuba will join any international effort to support it, based on respect for its sovereignty, without impositions or military intervention.
We support Argentina’s legitimate and sovereign right to the Malvinas Islands, the South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia Islands, and their surrounding maritime areas.
Cuba remains committed to peace in Colombia and today stands in solidarity with President Gustavo Petro.
Africa, the cradle of humanity, can always count on Cuba and the solidarity of the Cuban people. We support their just claim to reparations for the damage caused by colonization.
We reaffirm our solidarity with the Sahrawi people and their right to self-determination.
We reaffirm our support for the “One China” principle.
We oppose NATO’s aggressive military and nuclear doctrines.
We firmly believe, without utopia, that a better world is possible. We believe in the duty to fight and work to achieve it.
I reiterate the words of President Raúl Castro Ruz, spoken from this platform in September 2015, and I quote:
“The international community can always count on Cuba’s sincere voice in the face of injustice, inequality, underdevelopment, discrimination, and manipulation, and for the establishment of a more just and equitable international order, at the heart of which is truly the human person, their dignity, and well-being.”
Thank you very much.
(Taken from Cubaminrex)
