Statement by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez at an event in Solidarity with Cuba.

Statement by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez at an event in Solidarity with Cuba.

Dear friends of the solidarity movement with Cuba in India;

My deepest gratitude to each and every one of you and to the vast international movement that you represent, for your persistent, tireless and victorious solidarity with the Cuban people.

It is an honor and a deeply moving experience for me to be here today, in this place, named after Surjeet, a man who embodied, like few others, solidarity among peoples.

More than three decades ago, Surjeet traveled to Cuba heading a delegation that brought down to the country ten thousand tons of wheat and ten thousand tons of rice for the Cuban people. Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, in a grateful and humble gesture, called that act "The Bread of India". Today, as we gather in his name, we are renewing that pact of solidarity.

Friends all;

Cuba is currently facing one of the most serious junctures in its contemporary history.

My country is under the threat of a direct military aggression by the US government. This is neither a paranoia nor a misjudgment. Statements made repeatedly by high-ranking officials and the very actions of the US government corroborate this.

Cuba is neither an unusual nor an extraordinary threat to the US security, as is claimed in the Executive Orders signed by President Trump on January 29 and May 1st this year, which is a deliberate lie. It is my country the nation that is being threatened and under attack.

In a radio interview on January 8 last, the president of the United States said: "…well, I don´t think we can put much more pressure than entering there and destroying everything". He had been asked if he would apply additional economic pressure measures against Cuba. He recognized that the US had almost completely exhausted its arsenal and that the only thing left was to enter and destroy everything.

No one should have any doubts about the determination of the Cuban people to defend their sovereignty, their independence and their self-determination. If the most reactionary sectors of the US extreme right prevail in their aggressive approach, they will find a united people, ready to confront any aggression against our homeland.

Our appeal today to friends, peace-loving peoples and advocates of just causes is to confront the lies and mobilize in order to prevent a foreseeable military aggression against Cuba.

We are not naïve. A military aggression would have unpredictable consequences for the region and for Cuba in particular. It is our desire to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, the shedding of blood and the death of both our compatriots and American youths. Should a military action take place, the warmongering zeal of the current neo-fascists in the White House will clash with the resolve, preparedness and traditions of struggle of our people.

And anyone would wonder: What justification could the government of this superpower possibly have for such a barbaric, brutal, crude and uncivilized act?

This poses a great dilemma for the entire international community. In the face of these actions, no State will be able to act in a sovereign and independent manner or exercise the sovereignty of its people. No State will be able to consider that the only sphere of application within its territory is its national laws. No State will be able to defend the concept that only its national courts will have jurisdiction over its own affairs -unless they take a stand today in favor of justice, in favor of Cuba.

It is this US administration the one that is encouraging the intensification of the economic offensive against the Island.

The tightening of the blockade over the past 10 years has obviously had an impact in terms of social and humanitarian consequences and on our economic performance. Since 2019, with the introduction of 243 new coercive measures, the US government has made increased efforts to deprive Cuba from its supplies, including fuel supplies during the summer of the year 2020.

The cruel implementation of the blockade measures and the strengthening of these measures in the areas of health, medical equipment and medicines will never be forgotten by our people as one of the worst episodes in the implementation of this imperialist policy against Cuba, which have included the refusal to send ventilators to Cuba and the hampering of medical oxygen supplies to our country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the approval of an Executive Order on January 29 this year, the United States has introduced an additional and extraordinary measure, which is to impose retaliatory tariffs on any country from whose territory, companies or business organizations, fuel is exported to Cuba. This is, in fact an equivalent to a complete energy blockade that adds to an already tightened economic blockade and the accumulation of its effects over more than 60 years.

On May 1st, the US government issued a new Executive Order reiterating the designation of Cuba as an unusual and extraordinary threat to the US national security and foreign policy, which is a blatant lie.

For the first time ever, this order establishes secondary sanctions which can be applied against any person, entity or company engaged in activities related to Cuba, even if their interests in the US economy have no connection with my country. This represents an extremely aggressive and unprecedented step in the extraterritorial implementation of the blockade against my homeland.

This is an act of war. It is equivalent to a naval blockade. It is an action that causes extraordinary harm to our people and to every Cuban family, and that is also having a very serious impact on our economy.

In fact, it started to affect us from early on, when the US military commanders began to pursue, interdict and confiscate foreign oil tankers in the Caribbean and beyond.

It is known that Cuba cannot, for the time being, produce all the crude oil or fuel required to sustain the life of the people and our economy. Cuba needs to import fuel, in the exercise of an internationally recognized right to freedom of trade and navigation.

When the US pursues fuel, it not only stops a vessel or harms a supplier, a shipping company or an insuring company. It halts transportation in Cuba; affects medical services, health services, the lives of millions and millions of people; it harms our children, the elderly, the ill, and does so with an intent to so despair.

This is an unprecedented situation in a world in which a superpower abuses, on a customary basis, its capacity to impose, on virtually all States, the prohibition to act in a sovereign manner and, in the case of Cuba, it bans the exports of its own domestic products to any country it wants and prohibits the US citizens from visiting Cuba.

This is not only a criminal attack against Cuba, but also against the sovereign prerogatives of States. It is an unacceptable act of intimidation against any country. The brutally reinforced blockade has a devastating and incalculable impact on the daily lives of the Cuban people. It is an act of genocide and a collective punishment that causes extraordinary humanitarian harm, suffering, deprivations and extreme hardships to Cuban families.

The energy blockade has had an impact on power generation, which have led to prolonged power outages; difficulties in water pumping and disruptions in the supply of LPG; the production and distribution of food, goods and services. Transportation and medical services are affected and the lives of millions of people are disrupted. Currently, the infant mortality rate in Cuba has doubled. At the end of the year 2025, it stood at 9.9 deaths per 1000 live births. Similarly, the survival rate for children suffering from cancer dropped from 85 per cent to 65 per cent. Around 100 000 patients, including 12 000 children are awaiting surgery.

Creating shortages, deprivations and complete suffocation to provoke a social situation that would lead to the overthrow of the Cuban Revolution has always been the true purpose of the United States' hostility and perverse policy towards Cuba.

The consequences are not as severe for Cuba as they would likely be for the vast majority of nations, precisely because of the orderly, human-centered nature and social justice of our socio-economic and political model.

It is remarkable to see how Cuban families have adapted to these critical circumstances, and how our people, in a creative, innovative, resilient and steadfast manner -yet, at the same time, optimistic and cheerful- face the consequences.

Some wonder how long would Cuba withstand the energy blockade or the current conditions. The answer is to be found at our public squares and the streets across the entire nation. Our people are determined to overcome these challenges and move forward, even in the worst-case scenarios. In Cuba, we produce nearly half of the oil that we consume. We are able to refine using a new Cuban technology.

We have one of the largest reserves of nickel and cobalt in the planet. These minerals are critical. We have sufficient arable land. We have water, despite the drought and the circumstances of climate change. We have innovative and competitive industries and technologies, such as the one of the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors. But what is most important is the people, which are the key actors of the Cuban Revolution.

Under the current threatening circumstances, the government has not remained idle.

It has updated and relaxed regulations for direct foreign investments in Cuba. New opportunities have been opened for Cubans residing abroad to participate in our social economic development program.

Priority has been given to speed up the transformation of the energy matrix in our country through investments in photovoltaic solar energy sources, for which we are receiving invaluable assistance from friendly countries.

We are promoting the production of foodstuffs to achieve food sovereignty by improving our financial and banking systems, always trying to reduce and mitigate the existing social inequalities without renouncing the fraternal assistance and cooperation with other countries.

Paradoxically, the US government has publicly formalized, through a State Department statement, an offer of assistance to Cuba that is one hundred million dollars' worth. It has not established any contact with the Cuban authorities. So far it is not clear if this will be an aid in cash or in kind, or whether it would be destined to cover the most pressing needs of our people, namely fuel, food and medicines.

While acknowledging the inconsistency of the apparent generosity on the part of those who subject the Cuban people to collective punishment through economic warfare, the Cuban government does not, as a matter of policy, reject any foreign aid that is offered in good faith and for truly cooperative purposes.

The best assistance that the US government could provide to the noble Cuban people at this time or at any other time would be to de-escalate the energy, economic, commercial and financial blockade measures which have been strengthened as never before and are severely affecting all sectors of the Cuban economy and society.

Just consider that the damages caused by the implementation of the blockade for 5 days is equivalent to 100 million dollars. A similar in fuel would be enough to generate power for only 15 days with a limited consumption.

The blockade is not the only form of aggression. With tolerance and impunity violent and terrorist acts are being perpetrated from the US territory against Cuba. There is a continued instigation to violence and sedition.

This is also accompanied by a government multi-million program that supports a cognitive warfare against the Cuban people.

According to the social media, the two most frequent trending topics are the US blockade and solidarity with Cuba, which reinforce the same narrative: Cuba is a State under harassment. Cuba is a State under attack. Cuba is not an inefficient State. It is the denial of one of the main trending topics that imperialism has attempted to plant in the consciousness of persons.

We have started a process of exchanges with the government of the United States. This is nothing extraordinary. We did so in the past with almost all US administrations. If my memory serves me right there have been thirteen since the triumph of the Revolution.

Fidel, Raúl, Díaz-Canel, the leadership of the Party, the State and the government have always been willing to establish a respectful, serious and responsible dialogue to try to solve our profound differences. There has been former experience, and we are ready to move forward down that path. There are bilateral issues on which we can discuss and both peoples would find it convenient to find a solution.

Cuba's political and economic order is not part in any way of that exchange. No domestic issue in relation to our people or our Revolution would be part of the talks with the United States.

We will never discuss with the United States those issues that are only inherent to the sovereignty, independence and the free determination of Cubans.

I can assure you that we keep on struggling and that we will keep on struggling, dreaming, committed to the continued improvement of our socialist construction process. We will continue to move on down the path towards the achievement of the greatest possible social justice, its maximum protection and defense and its sustainability.

This is the Revolution by the humble, with the humble and for the humble.

This is the socialist and antiimperialist Revolution of the Cuban workers who took to the streets.

We will remain faithful to the ideas of Martí, feeling that homeland is humanity, and we will continue being profoundly internationalist like Fidel and Che until the ultimate consequences.

We know that Cuba is not alone. You can count on and unswerving and unrestricted loyalty, regardless of the risks, from all Cubans to the just causes in this planet and the antiimperialist struggle.

We resist thanks to the unshakable determination of my compatriots and the solidarity of millions of friends around the world.

With particular gratitude, I wish to highlight the historical relations that we have had with the Indian people and the solidarity movement that is gathering with us today.

We deeply recognize and appreciate every initiative to collect funds; every campaign of denunciations; every expression of support

That has been organized from different regions of India. Every action you carry out reaches Havana as a big hug.

Cuba has a long antiimperialist and humanist tradition in solidarity with the peoples. That is the legacy of our Commander in Chief; an inheritance that we will always defend. This year, when we celebrate his centennial birthday, the close relationship between the peoples of Cuba and India should be preserved and strengthened as a positive example of what solidarity among sister nations can achieve.

The international context demands the permanent mobilization of the movements in solidarity with Cuba. Today I ask you, in full honesty: strengthen your support. Do not allow it to wane down. Speak about Cuba in your communities, within your families, in your organizations. Tell the truth about what is really going on in our island. Condemn the blockade with the same conviction with which Surjeet carried rice and wheat to Cuban ports, being reassure that we are on the right side of history.

Cuba resists! Cuba does not give in! We know we have friends in the world and that certainty makes us feel stronger.

Long live the friendship between the peoples of India and Cuba!

Thank you, very much.

(Cubaminrex)

Source

• MINREX

Tags

• Cuba
• India
• Solidaridad

Categories

• Ministro
• Eventos y Conferencias Internacionales
• Discursos del Canciller cubano

Relaciones Bilaterales

• Asia y Oceanía
• India