Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, announced this Monday that he will defend this week before the United Nations the right of the Cuban population to "live without the energy siege, external suffocation, and threats" from the United States against the island.
"This July 7, I will be in New York to participate in a session of the United Nations General Assembly on the need to end the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba," he said in a statement released by his department. He stressed that he will attend with the purpose of "denouncing the aggressive actions" that are being carried out against the country.
"We come to the UN with the truth of our people and with the force of International Law, to denounce the aggressive actions of the United States against Cuba. We will defend our sovereign right to live without an energy siege, without external suffocation, without coercion, without threats of a bloodbath, without collective punishment," he asserted, insisting that it is a matter of national sovereignty.
In this vein, he warned that Washington would be trying to "prevent the General Assembly from ruling on the matter." As he explained, it "pressures governments and seeks to coerce the sovereign will of member states, but the voice of the peoples cannot be blocked," in reference to the diplomatic maneuvers that, in his opinion, seek to stop the debate.
Rodríguez called on the international community to closely follow the discussion within the UN. "Accompany this debate. Let us defend the United Nations Charter, peace, and sovereign equality among nations. Cuba is not a threat. The blockade is," the minister concluded, recalling that last week he reported that Havana has asked the organization to analyze the damages caused by the blockade and by the most recent sanctions imposed by the United States.
The head of Cuban diplomacy also described the energy siege against Cuba as a "crime against humanity" that causes "increasing damage and suffering" to the island's citizens, and reiterated his call to end these restrictive policies and measures.