Cuba defeats U.S. isolation policy

Today, Cuba has diplomatic relations with 181 of the 192 nations that comprise the U.N. General Assembly. During the past 16 years, “the most difficult period”, Perez Roque underscored that the number of diplomatic missions in Havana actually increased. In 1991 there were 76 foreign missions in Havana, with the figure increasing to 102 in 2007.

The foreign minister commented that today Cuba has a diplomatic presence in 116 nations and four international organizations. He further announced the opening of Cuban diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia and New Zealand.

Perez Roque also recalled that rejection to the U.S. blockade is practically unanimous, “a success of the resistance of our people.” If in 1992, 59 U.N. members voted together with Cuba against the blockade, in 2006 there were a total of 183 countries rejecting that hostile policy of Washington, he noted. The overwhelming support is something the top diplomat described as “of a high political, moral and ethical value.”

Perez Roque also commented on Cuba’s victory at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and appraised as very positive the role of Cuba as the chair over the 118-member Non Aligned Movement.

In his dialog with the members of parliament, Perez Roque detailed aspects about Cuban cooperation abroad, especially in the Third World.

“We don’t hand out what is surplus to us, what we do is share what we have,” he assured when explaining that more than 42,000 civilian Cuban collaborators are providing their services in 101 nations. He also announced that 47,000 young people from 130 nations have graduated in Cuba during the years of the Revolution.

Perez Roque noted that despite the evident failure of the U.S. policy against Cuba, the U.S. Interests Section in Havana continues to try and create internal subversion. To do so, it supplies equipment and money for that purpose. He also insisted in that the list of aggressions against Cuba is growing.

Finally, the foreign minister recognized the strengthening of relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, and made reference to the need to continue the battle for the freedom of the Cuban Five, unjustly held in U.S. Federal prisons.

The legislators rejected the meddling in Cuban internal affairs by the Senate of Chile, and appealed to them to spend their time on the severe violations of human rights in their own country, like the reduction of the legal age to be tried as an adult from 18 to 14 as well as discrimination and violence against the Mapuche indigenous communities.