The Brecht Forum
122 West 27 Street, 10 floor
New York, New York 10001
(212) 242-4201
(212) 741-4563 (fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail)
Following is the complete text of the speech concerning the February
24 incident given by Roberto Robaina, Cuba's Minister of Foreign
Affairs, to the General Assembly of the United Nations on March 6,
1996. It was posted by Karen Wald in Havana and is distributed by NY
Transfer News Collective. Redistribution is encouraged, but please
retain all header information and NY Transfer's signature logo.
*****
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Karen Wald , Periodista - APC)
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 96 21:56:39 EST 0
>From Karen Wald in Havana -
Although the speech by Roberto Robaina at the UN was very long, I
encourage you to read it as carefully as possible, since it responds
to most of the questions that many people have been writing to ask me.
Tomorrow I will try to post key excerpts from the speech. In the
meantime, I would add for those who still believe that this was an
unwarranted attack against a "civilian" plane, to think about this
question: If you doubt that the US is and has been at war
(unilaterally) with Cuba for the last 37 years, and that the Cuban
exiles who act on its behalf are merely foot soldiers in this war,
then how can it ban trade and travel with Cuba on the basis of the
"Trading with the ENEMY" act? -- klw
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF CUBA,
MR. ROBERTO ROBAINA, AT THE RESUMPTION OF THE 50TH
SESSION OF THE U.N. GENERAL ASEEMBLY, MARCH 6, 1996
Mr. Chairman:
Distinguished delegates:
The Revolutionary Government of Cuba has requested the
reopening of the session of the United Nations General Assembly to
inform about the events concerning the repeated violation of our
sovereignty by airplanes coming from the United States territory and
to give notice to the international community and to the world's public
opinion of the inadmissibility of these actions and their dangerous
implications for regional peace and security. Coming to this Assembly,
Cuba wants to express her deep gratitude to all who one way or
another, have helped our country to have today the opportunity to
express its opinions.
Cuba's critical position concerning the role of the main bodies of
the United Nations is well known, particularly concerning the
functioning of the Security Council. For that reason, and because we
are certain that this General Assembly represents the international
community much more fully, we come before you today .
In the case of the incident that took place off our shores the 24 of
February last, we all are well aware of the tremendous pressures the
members of the Council were subjected to by the United States
delegation, interested in getting a fast and undeserved condemnation
of Cuba and, in addition to that, abusively taking advantage of the
fact that it was then holding the rotative presidency of that body.
Cuba wants to express here her appreciation for the position
maintained throughout this process by some of the members of the
Security Council who disagreed with the evident manipulation they
wanted them to participate in, and who made it impossible for the
United States delegation to achieve in the end the absurd and unjust
condemnation it had intended.
To understand this episode it is necessary to know the
background. The history of aggressions against Cuba and actions in
violation of her sovereignty and territorial integrity did not start
this February 24, but 37 years ago. Also in South Florida, exactly as
nowadays, one of the first acts of violence against the Cuban
Revolution originated October 21st, 1959, when small pirate airplanes
dropped subversive propaganda and bombed the capital of the
country, an aggression that cost our people valuable lives. In the
same Opa Locka base, even under the cover of a civil agency, part of
the air force that went into action during the Bay of Pigs invasion in
April 1961, was trained and prepared, almost 35 years ago. This was
a military air force, but in this case they had painted on the planes
the emblem of the Cuban Air Force, something as fraudulent as the
repeated use of civilian airplanes for military aggression.
Throughout all these years, the expressions of a hostile policy
toward Cuba by consecutive United States administrations have been
innumerable, ranging from attempts of diplomatic isolation to a
systematic policy of blockade and economic aggression, the
promotion of domestic subversion, illegal radio and television
broadcasts, infiltration of spies and saboteurs, plans to murder the
leaders of our Revolution, the encouragement of terrorist activities,
biologic warfare, the support of armed counterrevolutionary gangs,
giving shelter to incursions of planes and boats coming to Cuba from
U.S. territory to carry out aggressions, among many other actions. The
highest points of this aggressive policy were the already mentioned
armed invasion of our territory, organized by the Central Intelligence
Agency of the United States in April 1961, which later ended in a naval
blockade and a threat of nuclear war which, to say it clearly, was the
consequence of the measures that Cuba had to take in the face of the
danger of a direct military invasion by the United States.
With the disappearance of the USSR and the socialist camp, with
whose help Cuba was able to better resist the aggression and the
blockade of the United States, the violent attempts against Cuba by
groups of Cuban origin established in the city of Miami grew stronger.
Since 1990 fourteen infiltrations and pirate attacks have taken place
against our country, carried out with boats coming from the South of
the United States, and dozens of terrorist plans were aborted by us.
Some of the participants in the last serious actions were captured and
any time now they will be able to explain in court how and with whose
support they got weapons, explosives, boats and advanced location
and communications equipment. In addition to all this, the anti-Cuban
radio broadcasted a total of 4.480 hours monthly in 1995, inciting
people to violence and to the subversion of the order established in
the country, and Cuba has the distinction of being the only country in
the world with a television station aimed against it, financed with
federal funds of the United States.
The last pattern in all this long history of aggressions has been the
provocations by the airplanes belonging to the so-called "Brothers to
the Rescue" organization, which during the last twenty months has
violated the Cuban airspace 25 times, always coming from the territory
of the United States.
In September 1994, a bilateral meeting between the representatives of the
civil aviation administrations of Cuba and the United States took place.
At the meeting the American party expressed its concern in view of the
information received from the Cuban authorities about the violations of
the Cuban airspace, and admitted that those flights were also a threat to
the security of the genuine efforts to rescue Cuban illegal emigrants,
carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard
In brief, we will mention just a few of the violations committed after
that meeting.
On November 10, 1994, two Cessna 337 airplanes, which took off
from the naval base occupied by the United States in the Cuban
territory of Guantanamo, flew over the eastern end of the country and
dropped subversive flyers.
On April 4, 1995 another Cessna 337 aircraft entered the Cuban
jurisdictional waters north of the city of Havana and flew over more
than 40 kilometers along the coast, at a distance of from 5 to 10
nautical miles off shore.
On July 13, 1995, two airplanes again entered the Cuban
jurisdictional waters north of our capital, went into a zone which is
forbidden to air traffic and flew over the city at a very low altitude,
dropping propaganda in support of the flotilla of boats carrying anti-
Cuban elements which, having departed from Miami, had gotten
together at some 22 kilometers northeast of Havana and had also
entered our jurisdictional waters.
On Saturday, September 4 of the same year, five Cessna airplanes
and five helicopters flew again in support of a similar flotilla,
which was supposed to come from Miami to the north of the beach
resort of Varadero in Matanzas province. That time the aircraft left
the operations zone when the aggression was aborted due to the
negligence of the participants, which caused the sinking of a boat
and the death of one of them.
On January 9 and 13, 1996, two actions of particular relevance and
importance occurred, which constitute the immediate precedent of the
February 24 incident: airplanes belonging to "Brothers to the Rescue"
dropped over the city of Havana tens of thousands of flyers with
subversive propaganda exhorting the population to carry out actions
against the Cuban constitutional order. This serious violation, like the
other ones, was officially notified by the Cuban Government to that of
the United States, but it was also highly publicized by its own
perpetrators on the United States media.
And here I stop to make a very important point. Many people, even
our own friends in the United States, ask us: why did you shoot those
planes down precisely now?, that is, why has it happened at this
delicate and dangerous moment when the mean and unscrupulous
electoral race is in full swing in the United States, on the eve of the
November elections?
The question is justified. But I should say, and beg to be understood,
that this incident was not the result of a deliberate action by Cuba.
This is what happened: After the provocations carried out on
January 9 and 13, for us the situation reached an intolerable point.
The Cuban population reacted with indignation and concern about
those flagrant violations of our airspace. And right after those events,
the Cuban Government gave instructions to the air force, that what
happened on January 9 and 13 could by no means be tolerated.
However, it did not limit itself to that, but although it had repeatedly
warned the American authorities, publicly and by official notes, the
American authorities, it decided to warn the United States
Government, through serious and reliable channels, that the risk
existed of a serious incident, given the increasingly aggressive and
irresponsible actions of the airplanes which were violating our
airspace.
We actually begged the United States Government to do all in its
power to prevent those flights, which violated not only our laws, but
also the laws of the United States. It was an additional and special
request. Nothing was left for us to do to prevent the incident, except
giving up our dignity and the sovereignty of our country. We can
certify that our persistent request reached even the highest instances
of the Government of the United States. We were assured that
everything possible would be done to prevent it.
It was not us who could prevent those violations from happening. It
was the Government of the United States, from whose territory the
aggression originated, the only one who had the power to do so.
But we do not say this simply to be believed with no facts to
support it. There is irrefutable evidence that the United States
Government was also concerned about the actions of the above
mentioned organization, concern that was expressed in the different
notes that the American authorities sent to us during this time in
response to our warnings.
In Note number 577 from the United States Interest Section in
Havana, dated October 18, 1995, the Government of the United
States informed the Cuban one that members of the above mentioned
organization intended to approach the limits of the Cuban airspace the
21st of that month, with the purpose of "broadcasting television and
short-wave radio signals to Cuba from boats located outside Cuban
territorial waters, for a period of time of about a half-hour".
In the same note it was pointed out that "Officials of the United
States have warned the flotilla organizers of the provisions of
international law and of the United States law regarding
non-authorized broadcastings from ships or airplanes registered
in the United States, and have urged them not to perform illegal
broadcastings".
Before, in a State Department Note delivered on August 28,
1995, the Cuban Government was informed that the Federal Aviation
Administration was investigating the possible violation of Annex 2 of
the Civil Aviation International Convention by the head of that
organization. On October 5 of the same year, by way of Note 553 of
its Interest Section in Havana, the United States Government notified
the Cuban Government that the Federal Aviation Administration was
accusing that person of "having violated federal aviation regulation
(FAR 91.703) by piloting an airplane with a U.S. registration number
within a foreign country without complying with the regulations of that
country, and regulation 91.13 by negligently or recklessly piloting an
airplane, thus endangering other people's lives and property." That
same Note added that "the Federal Aviation Administration requests
from the Cuban Government evidence which may prove relevant to
these accusations" against the main leader of that organization.
On February 16, 1996, a week before the incident at hand, besides
thanking the Cuban Government for the information it had supplied,
the United States Government, by means of a State Department Note,
informed Cuba that the Federal Aviation Administration was continuing
its investigations concerning the head of the aforementioned
organization, who "is facing the charges of violating federal aviation
regulation (FAR 91.703)."
As can be clearly seen, the U.S. authorities were fully aware of the
existence of a group organized in U.S. territory, in possession of
airplanes, engaged in carrying out activities different from the legal
rendering of international air service, who were using these airplanes
with clearly provocative purposes, failing to recognize Cuban
sovereignty and ignoring the very regulations of the State where those
airplanes are registered and where the licenses to fly them were
issued to their pilots.
If we are to be blamed for any mistake concerning our behavior in
the events of last February 24, that mistake would be to have trusted
that a country as powerful as the United States had the ability to stop
groups of irresponsible people from performing perfectly avoidable
actions which could even drag it into a genocidal war against our
people.
On the morning of that day, airplanes belonging to the "Brothers to
the Rescue" organization flew north of Havana and entered our
airspace. These flights did not conform to international and national
civil aviation standards, since their take-offs and flight patterns
had at no time been reported, and, besides, before entering our flight
information region no communication had been established with our
aeronautical authorities. For that reason, at 10:40 the Cuban
authorities requested information from the Miami Air Traffic Control
Center and it replied that it had no information whatsoever. In view of
this, aircraft of the Cuban Air Force took off and the pirate airplanes
withdrew.
On the afternoon of that same day, again three aircraft, violating
their flight plan, began to penetrate a dangerous activated zone,
despite warnings given by the Havana Traffic Control Center. The
chief of the band, which was taking part in the action, answered that
he knew it was prohibited to fly in that zone, but that they would do it
nevertheless, and from another plane it was pointed out that they were
heading for Havana.
Under these circumstances two intercepting fighters of the Cuban
Air Force took off, performed the preventive warning pass and, as there
was no response and, according to the Cuban pilots and air
command, two of the pirate planes were at a distance of from 5 to 8
miles from our coasts, with the possibility of repeating the actions of
January 9 and 13, the Command Post of antiaircraft defense, in view
of the instructions that had been received since mid January and the
powers vested in it--since these actions occur in a matter of
minutes--ordered the fighters to shoot down the two planes. The
third one, which by then was out of our airspace and flying away, was
not pursued any further.
The Cuban Government fully assumes the responsibility of the patriotic
action carried out in legitimate defense of the sovereignty and
security of our country.
Our helicopters and surface units of our Border Guard Troops
immediately began activities for the search and rescue of possible
survivors which were continued through February 25. And at 10 a.m.
that day, at a distance of 9.3 miles north of the Havana coastline, a
group of technical objects were found, among them navigation charts,
a traveling bag and a portable battery charger.
The Cuban Government was the first to publicly regret the loss of
human lives which occurred on February 24 as a result of
irresponsible and criminal actions against our people, before the
Government of the United States did and long before the Security
Council. The same day the events took place, the first statement
issued by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the matter informed
that Cuba had immediately accepted the request for units of the
United States Coast Guards to enter our territorial waters to
participate, together with Cuban units, in search and rescue activities
at the place where the two planes had been shot down, which, on the
other hand, also allows us to infer that the U.S. authorities themselves
realized from the very first that the event had taken place within
not take the effective measures to timely avoid those
events from occurring. The decisions adopted by President Clinton in
the last few days and carried out by the U.S. authorities on Saturday,
March 2, were able to prevent another provocation planned for that
day by the very same perpetrators of the previous violations. If those
decisions had been adopted and executed earlier, these events would
not have taken place; we would not have to regret the loss of human
lives.
It has even been stated that "Brothers to the Rescue" had a
humanitarian purpose. This Assembly should know that that band,
founded in 1991 and officially registered as a "nonprofit organization
without any political interests", is actually financed by the shady
money of the extremist Miami mobsters. It would be interesting to
investigate the links between the Cuban-American National
Foundation and that group, or to go deeper into the intense
negotiations carried out by Congressperson Ileana Ros-Lehtinen so
that the United States Defense Department would donate or cheaply
sell the group three planes of the type used against Cuba.
Cuba knows the main leader of that organization, Jose Basulto,
quite well. He was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency,
trained in Panama and later infiltrated into Cuba before and after the
Bay of Pigs invasion. In 1963 he was again infiltrated as the radio
operator of a terrorist commando, and in 1966 he worked for the CIA
in Brazil. The Cessna 337 airplane which he personally uses in his
misdeeds against Cuba has the number 2506 painted on it in big
characters. This was the number of the mercenary brigade which
under U.S. orders invaded our country at the Bay of Pigs in 1961,
which gives us an idea of his political and moral caliber. This is the
record of an individual who wants to present himself as a champion of
humanitarian causes.
After Cuba and the United States signed the migratory agreements
which put an end to illegal emigration, the apparent purpose of the
aforesaid organizatio--promoting illegal emigration to the United
States--ceased to exist. That was how the provocation, planning and
execution of terrorist actions became its sole, evident purpose. They
began to use their planes to act in a more overt, hostile and
dangerous way in Cuban territory. To carry out their actions, they
have used twin-tail Cessna airplanes of military design from the United
States armed forces, which were used for exploration and combat
actions in the Vietnam War. If any doubts remain concerning this
matter, one can always consult the July 19, 1992 issue of El Nuevo
Herald of Miami and observe the photo of a "Brothers to the Rescue"
airplane which still has the acronym of the United States Air Force.
Cuba has more than enough proof that this organization made
plans to dynamite high tension towers in Havana, to sabotage the
Cienfuegos oil refinery and to carry out attempts on the lives of the
main Cuban leaders, among other actions. All these antecedents
must be borne in mind in order to understand the reasons for the
Cuban decision of not allowing the planes of that organization to fly
over Cuba with impunity. This band's aggressive plans leave no room
for doubt that it is a paramilitary, terrorist organization in open war
against our country.
Its activities do not only constitute hostile and provocative actions
against the Republic of Cuba, with the seriousness and
dangerousness they imply and their flagrant violation of the
sovereignty and integrity of a State. It must be stressed that all the
activities carried out by this organization also constitute violations
of the norms which regulate international civil aviation and,
consequently, may endanger the lives and safety of many people and
airplanes.
Let their intention of making radio and television broadcasts from
international airspace, denounced as I have said by the U.S.
authorities themselves, be proof of this. Also the altering of the flight
plans which they must present to the aeronautical authorities of the
country where they come from, the flights at low altitudes or over
unauthorized zones of the very territory of the United States, the use
of radio communication for purposes other than those they are
intended for. Let also be proof of this the dangerous, irresponsible,
uncontrolled, not regulated intrusion of this organization's planes, for
purposes other than rendering air service, in a zone of important
international civil aviation activity, where one of the most active
international air corridors of the western hemisphere is located.
Around 400 regular commercial flights go through the Cuban air
corridors every day, to which our aeronautical services offer the
necessary support and cooperation. Thousands of American citizens
and citizens of other nations cross the Cuban skies daily without any
risks or difficulties. There has never been a single incident which has
affected civil transportation through Cuban airspace. We are, in short,
one of the world's countries which renders more aeronautical services
to the companies and travellers of the country which, nonetheless, not
only blockades us but also hinders the normal development of Cuban
activities in this sphere, and from whose territory hostile actions
violating international air navigation standards have been carried out
throughout the years and continue to be carried out at present. What
is more, we are the country which they are trying to condemn without
having any grounds for crimes which it has not committed but of which
it has been the victim.
Cuba quickly expressed its willingness to collaborate with ICAO,
because no one is more interested than Cuba in totally clarifying these
developments and above all in ensuring that they are not repeated.
We request that the United States also facilitate all the investigation
and clarification work.
By coincidence the ICAO Council is in session today in
Montreal, Canada, and although our representatives there will present
Cuba's position, I would like to share with the General Assembly some
relevant points. Cuba is a founder of the ICAO and its airline Cubana
de Aviacion is the oldest in the world. Cuba has never been taken to
task by that organization for any reason whatsoever. On the contrary,
our country gives adequate and satisfactory aeronautical services to
airplane companies and their passengers from around the world. In
the entire history of Aviation, Cuba has never violated the airspace
of any country, much less the airspace of the United States. We
are in New York city, one of the cities of greatest air access
in the world. However it would be difficult for you to imagine the
distance covered by a Cuban plane to get from our island to this city.
Cuba is prohibited from using the international air corridors that
cross over the United States.
To judge the legitimate reaction of Cuba in defense of its
sovereignty over its airspace, a legal instrument was invoked that, as
it was never ratified in the time frame required, is completely without
legal force.
Article 3-bis is nothing more than a proposal identified as
Resolution A 25-1, agreed upon at the Twenty Fifth Special Session of
the ICAO which, at the time agreed that the aforementioned
amendment in accordance with Article 94 of the Chicago Convention
would only take effect after being ratified by 102 members of the
Organization. It has only been ratified by 82.
It is with great surprise that we discover that a body meeting in
an emergency session questions a State by invoking a legal precept
that in a strict sense is not in force.
In this decision that directly affects my country, fifteen States of
the Security Council are participating, nine of whom have never
signed the above mentioned document. Neither has it been signed by
Cuba or The United States.
With regard to the incident occurring on February 24 last, in
official statements by American spokespersons and in diverse media a
concerted effort was made to arbitrarily identify the actions against
Cuban territory as activities appropriate to civil aviation and to
stress the civil status of the downed planes. However, a simple
look at the facts and the events leading up to them and their context
show clearly that this pretense is completely without foundation.
With alleged civilian aircraft, Havana and other places in Cuba
have been bombarded and machine-gunned on many occasions.
With alleged civilian aircraft, incendiary devices and explosives were
dropped on our cane fields and other economic targets. With alleged
civilian aircraft, biological warfare has been waged against Cuba.
In all this long list of aggression including the most recent events,
these airplanes have changed their identity from that of civilian
aircraft to that of craft involved in military actions.
Would the United States have tolerated provocations of the sort
that Cuba has had to tolerate? Would the US authorities have
accepted aircraft coming from Cuba, or any other country for
that matter, entering illegally in their airspace to drop
subversive flyers?
What would have happened if civilian aircraft coming from Cuba had
disobeyed the instructions of US air traffic controllers? Could Cuban
civilian aircraft penetrate with impunity the security zones of Andrews
or Fort Meade air bases close to Washington D.C? Would The United
States have permitted the implicit threat to its air defenses and to the
protection of its borders? What would have been the reaction of the
US public opinion in the face of such a boast of impunity by such
incursions?
The answer does not require a big effort of imagination. But it is
not even necessary to make this effort. The answer was given a few
days ago by a spokesperson of the US Defense Department who,
when asked by journalists what the US reaction would have been,
declared that they would not have permitted it.
Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates:
My country has every right to not tolerate the inadmissable. We
exercise the same sovereign right of all States to defend the
territorial integrity of our country. No one has the right to play
with the freedom and independence of Cuba much less belittle and
make fun of them with impunity.
There is no moral leg to stand on to require from us explanations
especially in the light of the fact that the country which does so,
the United States, protects within its borders the material and
intellectual authors that masterminded and executed the bombing in
1976 in Barbados of a Cuban civilian aircraft that extinguished the
lives of 73 people. The same country went out of its way to prevent
the Security Council from examining the case. If humanitarian concerns
which are voiced today were genuine, if there had been the slightest
interest to do justice, considering only the dimensions of the tragedy,
a few hours in this Council would have been enough to take action against
one of the most damnable and shameful crimes in the long list committed
against our country.
Today we are asking this Assembly if the sovereign right to
defend the borders and national security of countries is only a
prerogative of the powerful and not of poor and small countries.
If the world tolerates what has happened to Cuba it would be tantamount
to giving a license to freely violate national sovereignty and to
convert all nations of the international community into potential victims.
These events suspiciously converge on one point: the passing
in the US Congress of the infamous piece of legislation directed
toward blockading Cuba from the rest of the world when over 35 years
of cruel and ever stronger economic, commercial and financial
blockade have failed, having been condemned on consecutive years
by this very sovereign Assembly. It is evident that what was initiated
was a mean conspiracy of the Cuban-American ultra-right in
complicity with the most extremist sectors of the Congress of the
United States not only against Cuba but also against that country's
administration to drag it into serious contradictions and problems even
of a warlike character in the midst of a ferocious electoral fight for the
presidency of that nation. The first serious consequence would be
their passing of the criminal Helms-Burton bill. The US Government,
which now is adopting measures against Cuba, should realize that
these provocations are also directed against it.
We want to make it perfectly clear that one of these measures
that has just been passed in the heat of recent events, like the one
that supports the Helms-Burton bill, is an open challenge to the
majority condemnation that this very Assembly has made in recent
years against the economic, commercial and financial blockade
imposed upon my country. We want to make it perfectly clear that the
Helms-Burton bill is not only directed against Cuba but also against
humanity. It is a law that is directed against you all, against all those
who desire to exercise their right to have relations with, trade with and
invest freely in Cuba. It elevates the contempt and disregard for the
sovereignty and self-determination of nations to incredible heights and
from that height rehearses a new world government that those people
responsible for the bill have reserved for the rest of us in the coming
century. It also constitutes a test of how far the agenda of the ultra-
right can be imposed on the political system and society of the United
States.
The extraterritorial dimensions of the Helms-Burton bill is also an
effort at legislation that goes well beyond national boundaries and
violates the laws of many countries which have had nothing to do with
promulgating the law. It also curtails the freedom of commerce that
seemed to be a sacrosanct principle of the contemporary economic
system and it creates legal international precedents through its Title
III, the effects of which no country on earth would seem to be able to
escape from.
If one were to go over each and every one of the measures
taken during these last days, they all seem to satisfy the political
appetite of the Cuban-American mobsters of Miami. This Cuban-
American mobsters rave in frustration at the efforts and results that
my country is obtaining in the strengthening of its democratic
institutions and its dignity and the recovery of its economy, in the
consolidation of the Socialism that it chose as the present and future
for our people. We have no doubt that this Cuban-American minority
will continue to be against everything we do and for it everything done
by us will be insufficient.
They are outraged that the world is opening itself up to Cuba
and that Cuba has done so to the world. They are offended that the
community of nations condemns year after year and in ever-growing
numbers the flagrant and massive violation of the right to life of 11
million Cubans, and that it is just what this blockade against Cuba
means. They find it galling that with each tourist and businessman
who visits the island, the wall of lies that for years was maintained
around my country is being taken down brick by brick.
For all those who long ago declared without merit any legal
provision of a foreign country against their businessmen and citizens,
we send a message of hope: Cuba is an island of daring people, we
are not going to turn back from the road we have taken, we are not
going to disappoint you, the hopes and trust of friends, nor the
partners of Cuba, in spite of threats or bilateral or multilateral
measures that some government might want to impose upon us.
We are steadfast and confident in our position. We learned a
long time ago that faced with an arrogant and bullying neighbor there
is no place for weakness. Living without fear is what has allowed us
to survive up to now. We know very well that that challenge is a price
we have to pay in order to live free and without a master. We do not
raise our voice, we do not make use of unjustified insults, name-
calling and vulgarity, we have no need of hysteria or mendacious
rantings.
We know very well, after 37 years of resistance, that the force of
truth lies not in the tone in which it is proclaimed but rather in the
convictions and the principles on which it is based. We are a small
country but our sky, our sea, our soil and our flag will never be
violated, humiliated or mocked by anyone ever.
Much blood was shed during the almost hundred year struggle
that Cubans waged in order to free themselves from all types of
colonialism and build the independent, sovereign, democratic and free
country we have today. Our history, our dead and our heroic people
deserve great respect and especially in the light of the peace and
tranquility that we desire so fervently to give to our children. We
will never renounce our vigilance in maintaining our sovereignty.
Our readiness to enter into dialogue has been demonstrated
time and again in the course of the development of our relations with
the United States. Cuba has given ample proof of good faith and her
desire to make headway in the search of ways to resolve the conflicts
that have been present in these relationships, as well as her
willingness to comply with all her commitments. We have
demonstrated this by scrupulously complying with the accords
reached at the termination of the war in Angola, after fulfilling our
duty to support with our generous blood the sovereignty of that country,
the implementation of Resolution 435, the independence of Namibia and
the end of Apartheid. We have demonstrated this by complying with
the travel arrangements between Cuba and the United States and
other forms of communication, by furthering the establishment and
development of relationships with the Cuban community abroad, and
by following the accords reached on migratory issues, only to mention
a few examples.
In these and other cases, it is perfectly clear that the problems in
bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States can be
resolved if there is a will to do so through appropriate procedures.
Cuba maintains that will. We are not interested in any sort of
confrontation nor is that our attitude. If the Government of the United
States is really interested in eliminating or reducing the points of
friction or conflict between our two countries through discussions and
negotiations, we emphatically reiterate here that Cuba is and always
will be ready to advance in this direction.
But if, on the contrary, the pretense here is to try to pressure or
threaten Cuba with sanctions or condemnations, let it be understood
that we have never retreated in the face of pressures or threats. We
did not do so when our people were faced by the imminent threat of
nuclear annihilation in the October Missile Crisis of 1962. We will
not do so now.
This is the time to show truly whether or not the world wants the
peace, the well-being and the right to freedom with justice that we
Cubans have given ourselves or if the world is going to back up those
who under a disguise of civility instigate war and prevent the
relations of good neighbors between Washington and Havana, the normal
and healthy connection that is the desire of the majority of Cuba's
children who live in the United States.
Cuba has come to the General Assembly to inform without
misrepresentations or errors about the events that have taken place
and to explain her point of view about a situation that affects her
directly. Nonetheless, we are convinced that the question goes
beyond Cuba. Today Cuba is the target but tomorrow any of us could
fall victim to this kind of manipulation.
>From my country's point of view, the role of the United Nations is
not to serve as an instrument for the powerful to promote their
political options. Its true objective should be to forge a world in
which the right to life with peace and dignity is respected by all
countries equally, where development takes the place of the poverty,
human misery and ignorance that beleaguer the vast majority of the
human race.
Its goal should be a world where cooperation is no longer a
senseless concept and becomes a common practice; where justice
and equality in international relationships become the highest law of a
different way of life, on a planet whose limited resources we all share.
Its goal should be a world where peace does not result from the
force of arms but naturally from the equal development of all countries
and where international law is applied equally to all nations.
Its goal should be a world where principles of sovereignty,
territorial integrity, national independence, sovereign equality and
non-interference in the internal affairs of States are respected without
limitations or restraints, with the spirit that should prevail in the
"Decade of the United Nations for International Law".
In the struggle that we all wage to obtain these objectives, the
international community has counted on Cuba in the past and can
continue to count on her unwavingly.
Our country has embarked upon a titanic struggle for its own
development in the midst of very difficult circumstances that result
from the iron-clad blockade imposed upon us for the last 37 years by
the government of the United States. Why does the Security Council
act so diligently in the case of the two planes that violated our
airspace, shot down on February 24, and has never acted to consider
the blockade against Cuba which has been condemned no less than
four times by overwhelming vote in the General assembly? Why
does the Security Council not deem it worthy to discuss the present
plans within the US government to harden and extend the blockade
against Cuba and to criminally aggravate its brutal effects on Cuba's
people? Why does it not analyze the behavior of a member State that
disregards, disdains and rebuffs the decisions of the General
Assembly of the United Nations?
We trust that this time the same double standard to which we are
unfortunately accustomed will not rear its ugly head: that is, that
the attempt will be made to condemn and sanction the victims and not
the aggressors.
Threats have meant nothing to us nor the abuse of power that
corrupts and humiliates those who join and submit to it. Ever since
the time that the generation of our parents started the final battle to
win our freedom, we have learnt the lesson that there is no brute force
that can reduce to abject obedience a people who were born and
learned to walk in this world with their heads held high.
Thank you very much!
*****
PS Cuban television not only showed the entire presentation, but also
all of the US ambassador's two responses to Robaina and his replies.
It concluded panning the US ambassador leaving the General Assembly
floor, alone, while dozens of representatives gathered around Robaina
to speak to and congratulate him on his presentation.
-30-
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
For more info, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], or
gopher://ursula.blythe.org/11/NY-Transfer-News/
=================================================================
