The Human Rights Council (HRC), through the report of a special rapporteur, was able to confirm with data collected in Cuba the fallacy of Washington’s claim that the blockade does not exist, Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez denounced on Wednesday in Geneva.
“The United States says there is no blockade or energy embargo against Cuba. The Special Rapporteur’s report exposes the liar,” declared the island’s Permanent Representative to the HRC, at the 63rd session of that UN body.
Referring to the report by Special Rapporteur Zaina Jallad, the diplomat affirmed that, with solid evidence gathered during her visit to Havana, the Rapporteur determined that the blockade not only exists, but is also intensifying steadily and causing enormous damage.
The diplomat also denounced that this policy flagrantly, massively, and systematically violates the human rights of Cubans, including the rights to food, health, education, development, and life.
There can be no greater cynicism than suffocating a people and blaming others. The Special Rapporteur’s report proves that the United States is lying when it tries to hold Cuba responsible for the consequences of its cruel acts, the ambassador of the Caribbean nation emphasized.
The Special Rapporteur determined that, despite the Cuban government’s sustained efforts to protect the population and mitigate the effects of the sanctions, the United States’ coercive measures are of such magnitude and persistence that they cause shortages of essential goods and services in Cuban homes, the Permanent Representative explained.
Washington maintains that its policy toward Cuba is legal and that the blockade is an exclusively bilateral issue, Benítez stated in his remarks, which were followed by a long list of speakers who endorsed the Special Rapporteur’s report.
The Special Rapporteur’s exhaustive legal analysis categorically refutes this. It demonstrates that the blockade must be lifted because it violates international law and infringes upon the sovereignty and jurisdiction of other states, the Cuban ambassador emphasized.
At the same time, the official denounced the United States’ perverse and deliberate purpose: to provoke extreme shortages and total suffocation for Cuban families.
With this, they are attempting to create a humanitarian tragedy to destabilize the country and achieve their political objectives, he asserted.
In what constitutes an unprecedented strengthening of the blockade, the United States imposed a brutal energy embargo against Cuba last January. They threaten reprisals against any country that supplies oil to the island, he noted.
The fuel shortage has a devastating impact on almost every sector of society, the ambassador emphasized.
Due to a lack of electricity and supplies, the national health system is forced to postpone non-urgent surgeries to prioritize life-threatening procedures, the diplomat noted.
Since May 1st, the United States has implemented a comprehensive scheme of secondary sanctions against entities or individuals in third countries simply for having ties to Cuba, he recalled.
The consequences are serious. It suffices to mention that more than seven thousand containers, mostly containing food, medicine, and medical devices, remain stranded in various countries and cannot be transported to Cuba due to the intimidation of shipping companies, he pointed out.
Cuba is under the threat of military aggression. As a pretext, the United States goes so far as to absurdly designate our small island as a supposed threat to the security of the military superpower, the diplomat stated.
Furthermore, he asserted that remaining silent about what is being done to Cuba today weakens international law and makes the world even more insecure.
“Let us not forget that part of the world looked the other way when the horrors of the genocide in Gaza were unleashed, and today we all have to bear the terrible consequences. The United States wants Cuba to become a silent Gaza. We must prevent this,” he declared.
“Silence or indifference endangers everyone. Before it was Gaza. Today it is Cuba. Tomorrow it could be any of the nations represented here,” he warned.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
