00:00It comes amid an intensification of bullying, harassment, and political pressure against sovereign countries,
00:06particularly in recent weeks, in an effort to force them to change their vote on the Cuban resolution against the
00:13blockade,
00:14which will be considered this 27th and 28th of October.
00:18The U.S. Secretary of State himself, who, in my humble opinion, has an unhealthy obsession with Cuba,
00:27has been reaching out directly to head of a state and government in a desperate attempt to pressure them into
00:34changing their country's positions and votes on the resolution.
00:39This is an unacceptable campaign of political bullying and intimidation, aimed and interfered with the sovereign decisions of the U
00:48.N. member states.
00:49This exposes the lens to which Washington is willing to go.
00:54So, by the way.
00:59Good morning, everyone.
01:01First of all, I would like to thank you, all of you, to be with us today this morning.
01:08In the eastern of the time, I will read a brief statement, and later my colleagues, they will distribute it
01:16among you.
01:17So, good morning.
01:19We appear before all of you today to denounce the holding next Monday, 19 October, at the United Nations headquarters
01:29of an event convened by the permanent mission of the United States
01:33under the provocative title, Cuba Libre, the oppression, Havana Heights.
01:38We denounce this event in the strongest possible terms.
01:43It is a political motivated exercise, organizing in a questionable manner, whose clear purpose is to target Cuba, promote a
01:53hostile narrative against our country,
01:56and use the premises of the United Nations to advance political agenda of the United States government against a sovereign
02:03member state.
02:05Here I have the copy of the invitation.
02:09Of course, they didn't send us, but we have very good friends all over around the world.
02:15That is something that they cannot say.
02:18And it says, like we said in Cuba, if you have a friend, you have the sugar cane factory.
02:25So, here he said, the representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, ambassador, blah, blah, blah,
02:31blah, blah, blah,
02:32request the pleasure of the company, the permanent representative, blah, blah, blah, blah, Monday, October, 19, 13230, United Nations headquarters,
02:41conference room 6.
02:42And we have also the concept note.
02:45Here you have, we have some interest topics in this note.
02:50For example, it said, the panelists' names are not being shared prior to the event.
02:56Why is the reason for the secret?
02:59Why they don't know to present the people that are going to talk during this event?
03:04Of course, we know that these people, they are not coming to say that on January 29, 2026,
03:12the President of the United States, signing an executive order, establishing sanctions to any foreign company or foreign country that
03:20sell oil to Cuba.
03:22And that is the reason because Cuba has not received any oil tanker since during the last 10 months,
03:30just one coming from Russia as a humanitarian error.
03:34Or they are not coming to say that Cuba has 7,000 containers in the international ports that no shipping
03:44company wants to take to Cuba
03:46because they are afraid to be sanctions because on May 1, 2026, the President of the United States signed an
03:53executive order,
03:55establish secondary sanctions to any company, to any country that establish bilateral or maintain bilateral trade relation with Cuba like
04:03it is their rights.
04:06The paper said also the meeting will be open to invited press.
04:12I'm not sure if you have been invited, but it's obvious that they want to produce a media show.
04:19And to do that, they need a press that publish what they want to publish and not what you consider
04:25interesting to publish.
04:26It also said that there will be no ability to provide an intervention.
04:31So it's just to go there, listen to what they have to say, and halas, they are not interested in
04:39anything else.
04:40They are not interested to know your opinion about what they are talking about.
04:43And, of course, it's an event by invitation, which is not the practice in the UN.
04:50Like a practice in the UN is to organize events that everybody can attend, everybody has the right to make
04:58comments,
04:58and everybody has the right to have an exchange.
05:01So, going back to my statement, let us be clear.
05:05The United Nations is not a platform for political persecution, interferes in the internal affairs of the state,
05:11or campaigns aimed at undermining their sovereignty.
05:15Such an initiative violates the rules governing the use of UN premises,
05:20included administrative instruction ST-IA 2019-4,
05:27which requires that events held in the UN facilities be consistent with the purpose and principle of the UN Charter
05:34and respect the dignity of the organization.
05:38The double standards are also evident.
05:41The United States continues to accumulate unpaid access contribution to the irregular budget of the United Nations,
05:49undermining the organization's financial stability,
05:52while using public funds and taxpayer money to organize meetings that have nothing to do with the UN agenda.
06:00While the United States organized an event to attack Cuba at the UN headquarters,
06:07it deliberately avoids addressing the only item on the UN agenda specifically devoted to Cuba,
06:14which is the necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo that the United States itself imposes in our
06:24country.
06:24This is not an isolated initiative.
06:28It comes amid an intensification of bullying, harassment, and political pressure against sovereign countries,
06:35particularly in recent weeks, in an effort to force them to change their vote on the Cuban resolution against the
06:42blockade,
06:42which will be considered this 27th and 28th of October.
06:46The U.S. Secretary of State himself, who, in my humble opinion, has an unhealthy obsession with Cuba,
06:57has been reaching out directly to head of a state and government in a desperate attempt to pressure them
07:03into changing their country's positions and votes on the resolution.
07:07This is an unacceptable campaign of political bullying and intimidation,
07:13aimed and interfered with the sovereign decisions of the UN member states.
07:18This exposes the lens to which Washington is willing to go.
07:23Having said that, the upcoming U.S. event is nothing more than a political charade,
07:30intending to distract international attention from the mounting rejection of the blockade
07:36and to undermine support for the rush resolution.
07:39I have to be very clear. Cuba will not be intimidated.
07:45Blackmail or silence?
07:47We call on all member states to uphold the UN Charter, reject coercion and double standard,
07:54and support the resolution to end the U.S. blockade against Cuba on 27th and 28th of October,
08:01as the devastating impact on the Cuban people has reached an unprecedented level this year.
08:07The issue before the international community is clear.
08:11The United States should stop attacking Cuba and comply with the repeated demand of the international community
08:17to end its illegal and inhumane blockade.
08:22Cuba is not a threat.
08:24The blockade is.
08:25I insist.
08:26Cuba is not a threat.
08:28The blockade is.
08:29Thank you very much.
08:31Have a good day.
08:34This is a pleasure.
08:34No pleasure.
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