On Wednesday, at the United Nations General Assembly, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denounced the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, as well as the pressure exerted on the body to compel member states to change their votes on the issue.
Wednesday morning, in an address, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla spoke about the wave of pressure, intimidation, and blackmail employed by the U.S. delegation at the UNGA.
Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, during the debate on agenda item 37 of the UNGA: “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”
New York, October 28, 2026
Mr. President, Your Excellencies, Permanent Representatives, distinguished delegates:
I wish to express my condolences to the Kingdom of Spain for the loss of life in the train accident in Toledo. I also wish to commend the President of the General Assembly for the way in which he ensured that the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure were upheld yesterday. I must denounce the disrespectful and provocative conduct of the United States delegation in this room yesterday — specifically, the harassment and non-consensual filming directed at our delegation by one of their officials, which necessitated the intervention of United Nations security personnel. Such actions are incompatible with the decorum, respect for personal dignity, and privacy that should prevail in this setting; furthermore, they constitute a maneuver aimed at undermining an important Cuban candidacy for a United Nations body.
I denounce the presence in this hall of a known terrorist — an individual responsible for acts of terrorism against Cuba and a representative of two terrorist organizations based on United States territory — who has been invited by the United States Permanent Mission to the United Nations. He is number 52 on the list of individuals internationally sought by the Republic of Cuba– pursuant to a legal resolution and the Official Gazette — for acts of terrorism.
He is also a criminal responsible for fraud; he has received substantial funding from the United States government, which he then diverted for personal use. I ask you, Mr. President, to request that the United Nations Secretariat verify the status under which this individual is present in the gallery, and I demand his immediate removal. His presence is an affront, Mr. President, to all victims of terrorism — in particular, the victims of September 11th and the Cuban victims of terrorist acts organized and financed from United States territory. It is an outrage and clear proof that it is not Cuba that should appear on the infamous list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Distinguished ambassadors, distinguished delegates:
The statement made yesterday by the representative of the United States of America has made the task of this Assembly — and my own responsibility to articulate the positions of the Republic of Cuba—somewhat easier.
He famously used the phrase, “This is America.” This was no mere slip of the tongue, nor a simple conceptual error. This is the United Nations — the Organization of the United Nations — the capital of multilateralism, and the heart of an international order that ought to be founded upon international law and the United Nations Charter. It is the most universal and democratic body within the United Nations.
That phrase reflects a worldview that treats the entire planet as if it were part of United States territory — a perspective that views Cuba, and indeed all of you, as if you were little more than an extension of one of the 50 states of the Union. It is the foundation of the concept of peace through strength — of imposing peace through strength.
Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is. It reveals sheer cynicism and hypocrisy to label Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the planet’s greatest nuclear power.
The United States representative made a second, highly significant statement yesterday that brings greater clarity to the situation. He said: “The blockade against Cuba does not exist.”
Every minute of procedural delay — every minute of our deliberations — inflicts extraordinary harm upon our people. This cannot be measured by the clock in this chamber; rather — and I ask the webcast team to zoom in — it can be measured by this counter, which tracks the damage caused by the blockade against Cuba since the start of yesterday’s session, calculated in current US dollars. Since this session began, the damage resulting from the blockade has amounted to more than 22.9 million U.S. dollars.
Mr. President:
A major power is waging an economic war against a member state of this Organization — a small, independent, and peaceful nation that stands in solidarity with others. It does so with the aim of achieving domination and “regime change.” This aggression includes a fuel blockade—tantamount to a naval blockade—which constitutes an act of war, a form of collective punishment, and an act of genocide, all of which are prohibited under international law. Its severe consequences fall upon individuals, restricting their fundamental rights, affecting third-party nations, and transforming the essential needs of the population into instruments of political coercion.
Its effects are felt at the tables of Cuban families, at the bedside of the sick, during childbirth or in the operating room, in the food provided to children or in their classrooms; they manifest as a lack of electricity, potable water, and medicine, and as the high cost of goods essential for life.
The General Assembly has addressed this issue since 1992, but today it does so within a new and extraordinary context.
The United States government has unleashed a wave of pressure, intimidation, and blackmail against many member states, issuing a coercive, illegal, immoral, and unjustified demand that they abandon their long-standing positions—positions they have consistently and soundly maintained for decades as an exercise of their sovereignty—and instead adopt a stance to the contrary. I can demonstrate this with a document I have here. It is likely already in the possession of many of you.
The issue at hand is defining the General Assembly’s stance regarding the use of intimidation and unilateral coercive measures—tactics employed to dictate to other Member States what they should say and how they should vote; which nations they may trade with freely and which they may not; where their shipping companies may operate and where they may not; and with which countries they may maintain financial relations and with which they may not.
Today, this pressure is directed against Cuba; against which State might it be used tomorrow?
The issue at hand today is whether the United Nations condemns or accepts collective punishment — the attempt to break the political will of a sovereign state through economic strangulation, the infliction of hunger, suffering, and despair upon an entire population or the outright destruction of a nation.
It is well known that the United States government has drastically intensified its aggression against Cuba since the beginning of this year, with the publicly and officially declared intent to seize the country, control its economy and establish dominance. It has openly brandished the threat of military force and imposed dozens of additional coercive economic measures — on top of those that have existed for decades, which were already severely tightened in 2019 and have, since last January, escalated into a medieval-style siege.
Since July, this aggression has taken on a new and stark dimension, as the U.S. government seeks to obstruct, hinder, and sabotage the comprehensive program of economic and social transformation that our country has sovereignly charted for its economic and business structures—a necessary adaptation to the disastrous shifts in the international economic order and the economic war imposed upon us. Despite all this, we will not waver in our commitment to the well-being and dignity of the Cuban people.
On August 7, the Secretary of State, referring to Cuba’s efforts, stated publicly — and I quote: “What we’re trying to get them to understand is that there is no escape valve… every time they create a new mechanism to try to slip the noose, we’re just going to tighten it.” End quote.
The pretext most frequently used and manipulated by the United States government to justify its actions is the portrayal of Cuba as a supposed threat to this nuclear superpower — or even to the entire hemisphere. It is clear that no government represented here accepts or believes such a crude fallacy. They have no valid arguments. Beyond other well-known and obvious considerations, the United States government is aware — and could acknowledge, were it to act honestly—that, far from posing a threat, Cuba has contributed to that country’s national security priorities. Over the years, the Cuban government has on several occasions provided sensitive information regarding threats linked to drug trafficking, terrorism and other transnational crimes with potential implications for the United States and the region. Such information has been shared even in recent times, despite the overt hostility of the U.S. administration.
The fuel blockade is an act of collective punishment that threatens the lives of the Cuban people.
The mendacious allegations against Cuba are well-known, and none can withstand even the slightest scrutiny. As a pretext, they add fanciful accusations regarding inequalities, the alleged hoarding of wealth, and favored elites. This comes from the largest and most corrupt plutocracy in history—a system where money, rather than the electorate, holds sway, and which harbors the world’s largest and most politically influential military-industrial complex—a force that this dysfunctional democracy itself recognizes as a danger.
They also use the pretext that Cuba supposedly practices slavery or human trafficking, slandering our medical personnel and the international health cooperation programs — programs active in more than 50 of the states represented here — while exerting cruel pressure and blackmail to bring them to an end.
The blockade kills and silently punishes our population as never before. Since the onset of the “maximum pressure” policy, our infant mortality rate has doubled. These are not merely statistics or figures; these are children — lives cut short at birth, bringing immense suffering to their families.
Many of you are mothers or fathers; you know that no statistic can capture what it means to be unable to obtain medicine for one’s child, or for a family to wait for a surgery that keeps being postponed.
Today, 70% of the essential medicines — most of which we are capable of producing ourselves — are unavailable, and some 100,000 people, including 12,000 children, are waiting for surgeries. It is for these children and their families in Cuba that we are here today — and for our self-sacrificing, closely-knit, educated and conscious people — a noble, compassionate, patriotic, and dignified nation that never stops, that rises every single day to overcome obstacles, seeking out and contributing to solutions through extraordinary effort.
No people deserves the suffering and abuse currently being imposed upon us.
This is the medication Pemetrexed; it is produced by the company Eli Lilly, right here in the United States. It is well-suited for lung cancer. In my country, there are patients who need it but cannot access it—not because it doesn’t exist, and not because we couldn’t afford it; rather, we don’t have it because it is an American product, and the blockade prevents us from purchasing it.
The number of cancer-related deaths in Cuba has risen significantly. Although Cuban survival rates remain higher than those in most low- and middle-income countries — comparable to those in the developed world and exceeding the targets set by the World Health Organization—they have declined in recent years. Among children and young people, the survival rate fell from 85% to 65%—a trend that coincides with the most difficult periods of the energy blockade.
This is the medication Neuralcim — a Cuban-developed drug. Why does the blockade against Cuba prevent 7 million Americans from benefiting from this unique medication, which can address Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, and neurodegenerative diseases through a treatment with proven effectiveness that is incomparably superior to similar alternatives?
The absurd policy of the U.S. government blocks everything that sustains life. This cancer drug—and — another one, containing a molecule that helps thousands of people delay the painful process of forgetting — are both blocked by an infamous policy.
We are not talking about numbers; we are talking about lives, opportunities for healing, tragedies and traumas, and the daily anguish experienced by medical and healthcare personnel.
Electricity generation from the country’s mobile power units and fuel- or diesel-powered generators has been drastically reduced.
In Cuba, 85% of the systems used to pump drinking water rely on electricity; as a result, 2.6 million people face difficulties in accessing potable water.
The U.S. government obstructed the delivery of 7,000 shipping containers—contracted even by private Cuban companies—containing primarily food, medicine, medical equipment and supplies for hemodialysis, which failed to arrive at our ports on time.
The targeting of shipping companies, the interception of vessels, and the imposition of secondary sanctions against any entity that engages with Cuba violate international trade norms and the freedom of navigation.
Six out of every ten Americans wish to normalize relations with Cuba; they oppose military action, reject the idea of ”taking control” of the island, and state that they do not trust their government’s decisions on this matter. Half of all Americans oppose the fuel blockade—a measure supported by only a quarter of the population. In public discourse over the last few weeks, 72% of U.S. citizens—the very taxpayers who fund this mission and the voters who elect their government—have expressed their opposition to the blockade against Cuba.
The U.S. government has no right or prerogative to attempt to govern the Cuban population, interfere in the country’s internal affairs, determine the nation’s destiny, seize its wealth, or exercise dominion over our territory. The few, draconian, and burdensome exceptions to the blockade—granted through highly restricted government licenses—do not prove that the blockade does not exist; in fact, they prove the exact opposite.
The misleading figure of $100 million in humanitarian aid — of which only a few hundred thousand dollars have actually reached Cuba — would, even if the full $100 million were delivered, amount only to the economic damage caused by the blockade over the course of just five days; it would be enough to fund limited electricity generation for a mere two weeks. We welcome this humanitarian aid and hope that no attempts will be made to manipulate it for political ends. However, humanitarian aid cannot serve as a substitute for Cuba’s right to engage in trade free from U.S. sanctions and political manipulation.
We are convinced that a respectful, cooperative relationship with the United States would be beneficial for the people of Cuba and the American people alike — serving their interests, their well-being, and their natural desire for peace. It would also be beneficial for the peoples of “Our America” and the entire hemisphere.
The measures taken against my country have been explicitly designed to inflict the greatest possible harm on an entire nation in the shortest possible time. These are not mere “collateral damage”—a term that is, in itself, unacceptable. The harm inflicted upon individuals, families, and the Cuban people is deliberate—a matter of design and political decision-making.
There is an attempt to trigger a humanitarian crisis in Cuba to be used as a weapon. We have prevented this, and we will continue to prevent it, thanks to the solidarity within our communities; the understanding and democratic participation of the people — alongside grassroots organizations and civil society — in the adoption and implementation of economic and social measures; and the effectiveness of both our People’s Power institutions and our government administration. …due to our comparative advantages, a rapid and significant investment in photovoltaic energy, an increase in national crude oil production, the development of Cuban technology to refine it — given its specific characteristics — and the safeguarding of energy supplies for our hospitals, water sources, and social centers.
Furthermore, this includes the efficient reorganization of health and educational services; robust and effective social policies—with a focus on protecting low-income and highly vulnerable individuals—the development of electric transport, the growth and social commitment of the private sector, an increase in cultivated land and the adoption of agroecology.
In a few minutes, this General Assembly must decide whether it is acceptable or reprehensible for the crime against Cuba and its people to continue — and whether or not to allow a superpower to persist in its attempt to impose its will upon the political decisions and sovereign rights of the rest of the international community, and of each of the States that you represent.
For Cuba, there is no dilemma. Under the leadership of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, we will persist in defending our independence and national sovereignty, and in rejecting the ambitions of conquest and domination held by an imperialist power. We do so because these are the inalienable rights and non-renounceable obligations of Cuba — of the Cuban nation. We are supported by international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
What Cuba asks for is simply to be left in peace — to allow the Cuban people to live in peace, to resolve our own problems peacefully, and to find solutions to the great challenges of today’s world, free from political, military, cognitive, or economic aggression.
Cuba is not a threat! The blockade is!
The energy blockade is an act of collective punishment.
Therefore, as we proceed to consider draft resolution A/81/L.5—which I have the honor to present on behalf of the heroic, compassionate, and noble Cuban people — each country will demonstrate its own sense of justice and courage, both to the world and to its own people.
On the centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, we repeat his words today:
¡Patria o Muerte! ¡Venceremos!
Homeland or Death! We will win!
