Cuba’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, addressed the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Thursday to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
Cuba is a co-author of Resolution 80/106, which convened the meeting.
The Ambassador emphasized that honoring the Declaration requires political will and collective action to eliminate all contemporary forms of domination, including economic blockades, unilateral coercive measures, and hegemonic practices contrary to the Charter of the United Nations.
In regional matters, he condemned the renewed colonialist ambitions in Latin America and the Caribbean and warned against attempts to restore interventionist approaches contrary to the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
He also denounced the threats and use of force by the United States government against Venezuela, including the military deployment in the Caribbean Sea under false pretenses, air interference, the announced naval blockade, and the psychological warfare waged against its population. He rejected the economic strangulation and unilateral coercive measures imposed on that country and reaffirmed Cuba’s firm support for the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, the Bolivarian Revolution, and the Venezuelan people.
At the same time, the Cuban diplomat reiterated Cuba’s solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico in their right to self-determination; he supported Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and surrounding maritime areas; and advocated for a political solution for Western Sahara, based on the self-determination of the Sahrawi people, in accordance with resolution 1514 (XV).
The Cuban representative recalled the historical debt owed to Palestine and condemned decades of illegal colonial policies, warning that the suffering of its population demands an urgent response from the international community.
Finally, he noted that colonialism remains an “open wound” and that the nations of the Caribbean and Africa deserve historical reparations for the horrors of colonialism and slavery. Cuba reaffirmed that decolonization will continue to be a priority until its complete eradication and defended the inalienable right of all peoples to independence, sovereignty, and development.
IMAGE CREDIT: Ernesto Soberón / United Nations
[ SOURCE: CUBA MINREX ]
