Our commitment to the defense and promotion of all human rights for all human beings is strengthened
Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, at the High-Level Segment of the 61st session of the Human Rights Council
Photo: Cubaminrex
Madam Vice President: A dictatorship has emerged in the globalized world. The order born from the Second World War to prevent a third is being destroyed, and the philosophy of plunder is proclaimed as the exceptional and supreme right of the United States of America to conquer and use force as an inherent, natural, and everyday way of being. Beyond ideologies, all nation-states are in danger, regardless of their cultural or political models.
The world’s largest reserve of hydrocarbons, Venezuela, was vilely attacked. What will happen to critical mineral and rare earth deposits, water reserves, the Amazon rainforest, the seabed, the Arctic and Antarctic, the occupation of s freedom of trade and navigation look like with the use of tariffs as an instrupposedly strategic enclaves, interoceanic passages, and trade routes? Weakness and opportunism fuel conquest. What wouldument of aggression and with the extraterritorial application of U.S. laws and the jurisdiction of U.S. courts?
The executive order of January 29th issued by the President of the United States declares collective punishment against the Cuban people and aims to create a humanitarian catastrophe through an energy blockade.
Can a great power be allowed to attempt to destroy a small, peaceful nation, provoke a humanitarian tragedy, destroy its national culture, and subject a noble and compassionate people to genocide under the flimsy pretext of national security? The Cuban people will defend with the greatest vigor and courage, in close unity and broad consensus, their right to self-determination, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and constitutional order.
We will do it with the help of Cubans living abroad. We will prevent a humanitarian crisis in Cuba, even though we will endure hardship and suffering. We are a conscious, educated, and courageous people, with highly qualified human resources and robust, universal education, healthcare, and science systems.
We have arable land, water, mineral reserves, and infrastructure; we produce almost half of the crude oil we consume; we have refining capacity; and we are making significant and efficient progress in solar energy. Through hardship, three generations of Cubans have overcome the United States blockade, which has lasted for more than 60 years. We have shown solidarity with everyone, especially with the nations of the Global South.
Even in the worst-case scenario, we will persevere. We will find creative solutions. Faced with all difficulties, we will mitigate the humanitarian damage.
We will be in solidarity. We are also open to dialogue with the United States based on sovereign equality and international law, mutual respect, and reciprocal benefit, without preconditions or interference in internal affairs, with the aim of achieving a civilized relationship despite our differences and even promoting cooperation in areas where possible. Our commitment to defending and promoting all human rights for all human beings is strengthened.
We will continue to defend the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the integrity of migrants. We admire the people of Minnesota in their community resilience. We will oppose double standards and political manipulation.
On the Centennial of the Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, our determination to defend the nation is absolute, and our commitment to safeguarding a society centered on achieving the full dignity of the human being and the broadest justice is unwavering.
Even with fuel shortages, Cuba will not be defeated by the empire
“Surrender will never be an option, and hard times like these must be faced with courage and bravery,” said the Cuban president.
Our premise will continue to be to prepare ourselves to move forward even when aggression and restrictions become more acute, Díaz-Canel said. PhotoPhoto: Estudios Revolución
“We are living in a time when imperialism is emboldened and has once again set its sights on Cuba with increased aggression, which grows with each passing day,” denounced Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, on Friday morning during the Extraordinary Plenary Session of the Provincial Party Committee in Havana.
The Head of State made an incisive analysis of the events that have unfolded in the region and the world since January 3, following the aggression against Venezuela by the U.S. government, and which now threaten the island.
Faced with imperialism’s aggression against Cuba, whose direct lines of action have been clearly announced by Trump, Marco Rubio, and other spokespeople for that government, “we,” Díaz-Canel said, “have to be prepared, and we are preparing ourselves.”
The president explained that these lines of action consist, first, of total suffocation, continuing economic pressure, as reflected in the decisions announced Thursday by Trump on the blockade through tariffs on oil supplies to Cuba, and second, military aggression.
He recalled the comments made by the White House occupant in early January, after the aggression against Venezuela and the kidnapping of its legitimate president, when he said that not much more pressure could be exerted on Cuba and that what had to be done was to go in and destroy the place.
The first of these comments, when he said “I don’t think much more pressure can be exerted” against Cuba, Díaz-Canel pointed out, is confirmation of the extreme levels of pressure of all kinds that have been exerted on our country, although, indirectly, Trump has had to acknowledge that we have resisted.
They “have applied all the pressure they can, and here we are. And that statement, made with such arrogance, debunks the lie that Cuba is a failed state, because they have had to acknowledge that the fundamental cause of the economic crisis the country is experiencing has to do with that pressure, which they themselves describe as maximum.”
With this statement, the First Secretary added — Trump has also had to acknowledge that there is nothing left to deprive and block the Cuban people of, and now, with the executive order to impose tariff sanctions on those who supply us with oil, they want to deprive us of fuel, something necessary for any country to develop its economy, to develop its life, and “we must see,” he denounced, “with what malice, with what perversity, they are proposing this policy.”
Regarding the second part of Trump’s comments earlier this month, when he said that with Cuba, the only option left is to “go in and destroy the place,” Díaz-Canel pointed out that this is “a phrase that provokes outrage and popular revulsion because it implies the ruthless massacre of our country.”
The head of state condemned “the unveiling of the annexationist swarm” that is euphorically celebrating Trump’s executive order to block our access to oil on social media.
Imperialism, he emphasized later, “is concerned about the example of Cuba, what Cuba can do without the blockade, what another type of model, another type of construction, another type of popular empowerment can mean for the world, which, even under blockade, has had social results in 65 years that the United States does not have.”
Díaz-Canel analyzed the elements that are facilitating or imposing the behavior of the current U.S. administration.
He spoke about the updating of the Monroe Doctrine with the Trump corollary and the criterion of imposing peace through the use of force, although, he noted, we must see what that peace is, because wherever force has been applied, in all the conflicts in which the United States is involved, there is no peace; what there is is chaos. By using force, he stressed, the US is crushing the concept of multilateralism that is defended by most of the world.
Díaz-Canel asserted that “when an empire is in decline, it is totally irrational,” and what can be expected from it is “a reaction of arrogance, bullying, blackmail, pressure, coercive measures, violence, slander, and lies.”
EMPIRE OF EVIL
The President returned to his assessment of the Empire’s military invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife Cilia Flores.
This aggression, he recalled, was preceded by an intense campaign of economic, political, and propaganda pressure that intensified beginning in September 2025 and the largest U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean area in more than 20 years.
The way in which the aggression against Venezuela was structured, the Caribbean leader commented, also contains elements of the war we are facing, because this, he emphasized, is also an ideological war, a cultural war, and a media and communications war.
“Ideological, because what is being imposed here is the hegemony of an empire and its desire to conquer and dominate the world. And it is a hegemony that responds to the great imperialist powers and responds to the rich minorities of the world.
“It is a cultural war because, in order to conquer the world hegemonic ally, it is necessary to break each people’s relationship with their culture and their historical roots so that people see their values and history as obsolete and then accept the patterns that imperialist hegemony wants to impose.”
In the media sphere, the dignitary exposed the multiple communication matrices that were generated from the Empire’s propaganda platforms, including social media, to shape public opinion that would justify what they were going to do next, which intensified starting last September.
Then, following the thread of events, came the pressure, the naval blockade, the illegal bombing of ships allegedly involved in drug trafficking, the blockade on hydrocarbons and the hijacking of oil tankers, and finally, the invasion and kidnapping of the legitimate president of a country and his wife to try them illegally in another country.
And these, Díaz-Canel denounced, “are the same pretexts that are already being constructed against us to justify an aggression against Cuba, to justify coercive measures, to continue increasing pressure against Cuba.”
We are facing an imperial doctrine that also has its sights set on Greenland and Iran; in other words, he said, we are facing a stark imperialist and fascist aggression in which the president of the Empire is behaving like Hitler, with a criminal policy of contempt that aims to take over the world.
SURRENDER WILL NEVER BE AN OPTION
Delving deeper into the threats looming over Cuba, Díaz-Canel pointed out: “Now they are deluded into thinking that the days of the Revolution are numbered, that we are going to collapse under our own weight, that they are going to suffocate us, and that is, once again, an expression of imperial arrogance.”
It is an illusion that contrasted with the reaction of the Cuban people to the aggression against Venezuela on January 3. A people, he recalled, that “reacted with indignation, with patriotism, against imperialism and with unity.”
During the aggression, he recalled, “the Cubans fought and fought hard, confronting elite U.S. forces that had rehearsed an operation to kidnap the president in a matter of minutes, with superior manpower, superior technology, superior weaponry, drones, a sophisticated deployment of technology, and tremendous firepower.”
One day, Díaz-Canel emphasized, we will have to recognize how much the courage and example of the 32 Cubans who fell fighting the US invasion of Venezuela contributed to everything that is happening and everything that may happen in the future. And the Empire, he said, has to calculate “what an attack on Cuba would cost it.”
That is why, he said, our premise will continue to be to prepare ourselves to move forward even when aggression and restrictions become more acute. “Surrender will never be an option,” the Cuban president assured, “and hard times like these must be faced with courage and bravery.”
“Our Party, the State, the Government, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, and the united people are prepared to face any additional blockade measures and any military threat or aggression with the same courage and determination as the 32 Cuban combatants who fell heroically on January 3 in Venezuela,” he emphasized.
In view of the growing aggressiveness of the United States, the First Secretary said that an international complaint will be made in all possible forums about this new coercive measure and that work will continue with friendly countries and the international community.
“We,” said the president, “are a country of peace. Even in the midst of all this aggression and the blockade of all these years, we have said that we have the capacity and willingness to dialogue with the U.S. government. The thing is, dialogue cannot take place under pressure. Dialogue must be on equal terms, with respect, and without preconditions.”
Dear compatriots:
May 1st, International Workers’ Day is coming in tribute to those who produce and sustain life.
More than 30 years ago, after the fall of socialism in Europe, the massive celebrations of this day were limited to a few countries, Cuba among them.
With legitimate pride, today we can say that in the midst of the hardest shortages we never ceased to raise the banners of socialism.
During the following years, delegations from all over the world arrived and still arrive to celebrate the day in this small and exceptional nation where the workers rule.
They want to witness and share in the strength of our difficult, yet joyful resistance.
They do not want to miss the impressive example of this people, capable of celebrating the rights won, even under the worst economic conditions and at the same time criticizing and demanding that even with a blockade we are capable of defeating our own inadequacies and mistakes.
That is what the working class was empowered to do since the triumph of 1959, and that power was strengthened when Cuba declared itself the first socialist state in the Western hemisphere.
These days are no better than those, when utopia was an invisible horizon under the weight of the defeat of socialism in other latitudes.
Just as then we paraded celebrating the sustained power of workers and peasants, creators and artists, today we are here ready to parade to continue celebrating.
The hurricane winds of imperial power have blown and are blowing today over our economy, with more force than ever and determined to erase from the universal political map this example of daring creative resistance.
Let us demonstrate once again that we are not alive and standing because the greatest enemy of the Cuban people wanted us to be. We are alive, standing, resisting and creating by the will of Cuban men and women.
And this time with a special inspiration. May 1st marks the 25th anniversary of Fidel’s historic speech in the Revolution Square full of people, when he called on us to act with “a sense of the historical moment”, to “change everything that must be changed”, and to “emancipate ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts”.
As Fidel said at the time: “Revolution is unity, independence, fighting for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world”.
Let us parade on May 1st showing the strength of unity. For our independence and our dreams of justice.
Against the blockade and fascism. Against the genocide in Gaza and against the silent genocides provoked by the sea of injustice that threatens our species.
Let us parade for the better world that Cuba wants and deserves.
See you on May 1st. in the Revolution Square!
Cuba, from the Global South, denounced the coercive measures impacting development
The Cuban Foreign Minister pointed out that it is imperative to articulate a new international economic order and reformulate the current financial architecture
Photo: Cubaminrex
The impact of the suffocating economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States Government on Cuba, which the people have been enduring for over six decades, was the main denunciation made by the member of the Political Bureau of the Party and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, at the Third Summit of the Voice of the Global South.
During the virtual meeting hosted by India, the Cuban Foreign Minister stated that such coercive measures, intensified since 2019, constitute a “serious obstacle to the full achievement of the country’s economic and social development.”
He reiterated that the inclusion of the Antillean nation in the arbitrary and fraudulent list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism only reinforces the effects of such inhumane policy, and expressed gratitude for the international community’s support shown through the rejection of this system of measures.
Furthermore, he conveyed gratitude for the invitation to the forum, highlighting it as a space “to discuss and channel the efforts of developing nations in addressing the enormous challenges amidst a complex international context.”
He called on nations to multiply solidarity and cooperation in the face of coercion, unilateralism, and selfishness, recalling that these core values and principles defined Cuba’s presidency of the G-77 + China in 2023.
Rodríguez Parrilla emphasized that during that time, it was demonstrated that “when we act cohesively, developing countries are a relevant actor and a weighty interlocutor in defense of the interests of our peoples.”
