- 6 minutes ago
Interview with David Lopez, international analyst and human rights specialist, on the recent UN General Assembly vote against the U.S. blockade on Cuba. teleSUR
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00:00what has happened just a few moments ago at the united nations we have a special guest
00:04david lopez international analyst and also human rights specialist hello david welcome to from the
00:11south thank you very much for your time now thank you thank you very much and thank you to to
00:18to
00:19diffuse and inform about this important issue who uh give again a victory to the cuban diplomacy
00:28on the multilateral organizations the resolution have been once again overwhelmingly supported by
00:36the international community the great majority of the international community and member states at
00:42the un what is the political message that the world is sending at this hour so the the vote
00:51the votes matters um because it show how most states view the unilateral measures against cuba this is
01:02very important it not and uh the embargo by itself the general assembly resolution is not legally binding
01:14but it's scary diplomatic ways and express a stainless demand to review a policy that affects cuba's
01:25economy relation and those of third countries as well and this is i think the most important message
01:32we have with this rotation and was this year's debate why was unpospondable the fact that cuba
01:42presented for example the record numbers in damages in affectations regarding economic losses imposed on about
01:49because of the u.s economic blockade on the island what is the assessment on these year's discussions
01:58yeah i think this is very important to to to talk about it because um we we we know and
02:07we see
02:07we see until which point the unilateral coercive measures could affect the human rights of all of the cuban
02:15people this is like a genocide but a step by step implemented by the u.s government unilateral coercive measures
02:24who are illegal on the framework of the international law we see here in geneva uh many times at the
02:33human
02:33right council on the right council on the statement um righted by the special rapporteur uh uh specialized on
02:41the on the unilateral coercive measures that this behavior and these applications of the of the sanctions
02:53caused a very internal crisis in cuba who could not be sustainable on the framework of the human rights
03:02the cuban situation has both internal and external causes and it's fair to discus the cuban's
03:10government's economic decision but that does not um erase uh the effects of u.s financial trade and
03:19energy uh restrictions uh or measures that affect companies or banks in other countries this is a serious
03:27assessment should consider uh good factor um and focus on the impact on the people without using human
03:38rights as a tool of a geopolitical pressure also this year's vote took place in the midst of a diplomatic
03:45pressure an unprecedented diplomatic pressure on behalf of the u.s why do you think that the u.s had
03:53to
03:53resort to this kind of pressure in order to try to to affect the vote however we've seen that it
04:02did not
04:02succeed yes i think that maybe for the first step it could be very important to recommend to the united
04:14states that the the this behavior who is similar to the empires existing in the current of the humanity
04:24are not the solution of the 21st century this is not good for cuba but this is not good as
04:29well for the
04:30diplomacy of the united states this is not good as well for the people of the united states who today
04:37are as well on the streets reclaiming the social uh rights uh who uh may be uh by the system
04:47are not
04:47guaranteed totally by the united states but with this behavior uh it uh it not represents uh all the
04:56interests of the u.s people and uh of course at the end it leave a very um uh bad
05:06message for
05:07the united states that at the end i think u.s will pay because the world decided to be much
05:14more
05:14multilateral in the united states has today two countries and special one who can affront them on
05:22the economical level and this is uh russia and the first one china and of course the people will see
05:29that the with these behaviors of the united states um the people and the countries will be
05:37much more near of china because china propose all the issues all the proposals all the initiatives
05:44who can make that the other countries could negotiate in the same steps without subordination to the
05:54countries like the united states or the europeans at the end who will pay the prices it will be paid
06:01by
06:01the us people and in general as well by the western countries when we see the behavior as well of
06:07the
06:07european union no because of course here we have a votation about regarding the the unilateral
06:13coercive measures against uh cuba and of course many people votes against it but we know that at the
06:22end uh on the on the international uh levels of the of the rule of law uh it don't have
06:29a validity it
06:30will have a validity maybe later when the crisis we are living today will be uh resolved and of course
06:39it will be resolved uh on the right of the global south because actually we have our next the united
06:46states who are declining with the european union and at the end they will and they have to negotiate
06:52with the countries of the south and this president they are uh today who is today marked by this
06:59votation will define many things so this is our recommendation we can make to the united states
07:05to stop this policy because at the end unfortunately it will be paid and overall by the u.s citizens
07:12and
07:12this is very sad and also in that same vein is it possible to understand what has happened at the
07:18united
07:19nations as also an acknowledgement that washington has been isolated in its efforts of of trying to
07:26divert the vote and against the blockade yeah so i i think that um so what happened today and inside
07:40us
07:40well of the united nations is very important and i think that the united nations many times made some
07:46efforts uh in the middle of the um politicization uh who is used by the western countries over the united
07:54nations and this is very important to understand it because united nations it's unfortunately not
07:59independent the it depends of the corporations who pay behind and maintain the financement of the united
08:07nation to function as it it wish be functioned or something like that and this is not this is not
08:16uh what happened today we have an organization who unfortunately depends of many uh interests of the
08:25uh globalistic corporations and the global globalistic policies who at the end only respond to the
08:33interests of the capital and not the interest of the people and behind of that you have all the
08:38interests of the human rights could be loose united nations uh i think uh it's of course the space where
08:46we can defend the u.n charter and when it has to be defended because this is the only the
08:52the base we
08:53have today to have our world may be less uh unequal and less uh catastrophical uh but it's not an
09:03out
09:03and this is the reason why united nations and with in articulation with the states have to decide to
09:12make an alternative uh to make an alternative uh of the international roles uh of law uh on the
09:19international uh level of the human rights uh and maybe proposing uh the as it's proposed by the
09:27international association for human rights and social development and other associations uh like malloc
09:33international and others to decolonize the human rights and uh in this sense if we if we if we can
09:41decolonize the concept of human rights if we can decolonize the concept of the international law and we
09:47can stop the double standards of these policies for sure we're gonna have a better world and we're gonna
09:52have for sure as well a better organization like the united nations who at the beginning were created
09:59to maintain the peace but the peace in the equalities of step and with the social justice who is the
10:07much
10:07more important today also on tuesday witness um minister foreign affairs minister of cuba bruno rodríguez
10:15barilla challenging mike waltz who is ambassador to the u.n because waltz was trying to justify the imposition
10:23of the blockade while also blaming havana the government of cuba on the situation that that cubans are facing
10:32what is the political significance and the diplomatic significance of this of this challenge that we
10:39witness on tuesday yes so what we see uh what happened yesterday as as you mentioned show again
10:48first the desperation of the united states to maintain the power before us didn't need to to have this kind
10:56of speech at the general assembly of the united nations to maintain the power it means
11:02that the united states has not more the same influence has not the same power of the international
11:09level and in the diplomacy as well and at the same time it showed the real face of the international
11:16policy of the united states uh since the beginning of the end of the second world world this is very
11:24important to understand it because the behavior we have yesterday it's the behavior that uh has not to
11:32to to to to to happen in so international uh spaces where cuba has normally by the international role the
11:44same rights and this is very important to understand it this is not the united state who has to decide
11:50about the roles of the general assembly about who has to function the international order all the countries
11:57are in the on the international law on the same level and the same level they have to respond to
12:04the
12:04obligation of the international law as were ratified by cuba and the united states even if they don't want
12:10to recognize it so this is very important to understand it also to what extent did the u.s pressure
12:19on
12:19its allies were more like a proof of loyalty rather than speaking actually about the humanitarian
12:26consequences that the u.s blockade is having on cuba sorry could could you could you repeat again the
12:35question of course to what extent is this diplomatic pressure that the u.s put on their allies more
12:42like a proof of loyalty on them for for the u.s towards the u.s then rather speaking actually
12:49about
12:49the humanitarian consequences that the u.s blockade is having on cuba yeah so it show actually it show
12:57again the the difficulties we have actually right now on the international level and the diplo and
13:02in the diplomacy and as well we have this situation where um of course the international law are are not
13:13responding again to the necessities of the international order who actually uh make that the situation become
13:21much more hard to have a minimum of uh understanding between the countries and um of course it show us
13:31well that we need to change many steps and many um points of the structures of the united nations the
13:39international rules etc um this is uh very very sad i think that we have this kind of of uh
13:48of situations
13:49in um actually the united nations what happened yesterday uh by the so the situation created by the
14:00declaration of the u.s ambassador are very sad i think that many people of the western country hopes much
14:07more about the united states who in general during much more than 80 years show that this is the
14:15example of the world the example of the united nations the example of the international order but
14:21with the message delivered yesterday and the behavior delivered yesterday uh it's very it's very sad it
14:28and show that uh since 80 years the united states lies lies with uh with facilities only to respond uh
14:40to the
14:41economical interest to the interest of these corporations who don't respond even to the interest
14:47of the united states people they respond only to the interest of the corporations who actually they are
14:53desesperated and scared because they're growing up of china russia and the independence of the global south
15:01david one last question now we've seen that for decades for 34 years the international community has
15:08majorly condemned the u.s blockade what needs to change as of now in matters of the urgency faced by
15:17cubans
15:17what needs to change in order for this denunciation to be translated in in an actual change for cubans
15:27yeah so what we need to do is to change the structure so the question is if for change the
15:33structure we have to uh to to arrive to a third world war i hope that not but if we
15:40see what happened in
15:411933 when hitter arrived to the power they divided more or less the world in three so as it happened
15:48today us managed the americas uh germany manage uh managed as well on this time europe and part of africa
15:58and in the other side japan managed the situation in in in asia until the year 1939 when all the
16:06war
16:06exploded will it happen the same just to change the structure of the international law and the
16:14international order it will be very sad if it happened but actually it's very very hard to know
16:22uh what can we do to change the structure because we know that if we want to respect the decision
16:29of the
16:38the the decision of the world depend again of uh the the members of the security council uh
16:47without the consideration of the 193 countries members of the united nations this is not possible
16:53um with the united states and the western countries uh leave uh that it changed maybe not because they
17:03have again the power of the financial system the economical system the international order and of
17:10course this is like uh if you will to you you you go to the boss to to request him
17:16much more salary
17:17in your pocket of course he will tell you not and he will request for another one who is looking
17:22for
17:22uh have a job uh with the countries is the same if you want to and overall with the countries
17:29of the
17:29western countries if you want to to reclaim much more rights over them uh and in independence of the
17:37heritage of the decolonization they will tell you not and they will use all the international uh
17:42instruments uh as a tool to denigrate you as a country like they made with cuba russia china venezuela and
17:51many other countries um this is the reason why i think that uh this the structure has to change and
17:59i hope that by the way of the discussion but the situation where we have right now with the
18:05situation in gaza with the situation in the the illegal bombings against iran the sanctions against
18:10cuba who represent i repeat again a genocide a slowly genocide step by step this is very hard to have
18:21the possibilities to discuss with countries like the united states and uh and the european union
18:29who actually is is as well in a point of credibility that nobody uh believe even the european people we
18:38see what happens right now in france uh hold the french uh uh state proposed to invest much more money
18:45to the war in ukraine who is actually detained by the nazis parties that give the uh social rights needed
18:55by the french at the schools uh at the hospitals in the houses etc this is the situation we have
19:03right now
19:03if the western countries have the good voluntary the good volunteer to sit down and discuss in the
19:12equal terms with the countries of the south of course we're going to have a better world and we can't
19:18change the structure who can give the accomplishment to the resolution voted today in favor of cuba
19:25who is i repeat again a victory a successful victory for the cuban diplomacy but it's if not what we
19:33have
19:33to happen maybe to have a a very aggressive conflict i hope that not but uh what we have today
19:40don't give
19:41us many many hopes to to resolve this situation thank you thank you david thank you very much for your
19:49time
19:49here from the south and also taking taking us through the meaning of what has happened of the diplomatic
19:55victory as you mentioned of cuba at the united nations and also what is the stake for the international
20:00community in this in this in the current geopolitical context thank you thank you thank you very much
20:07and thank you cuba because you make a very great job in the middle of this complicated uh and this
20:14strategic uh world we have today