CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Speech Delivered by the Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque at the International Workshop “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Sixty Years After”, Held at the Conference Center of Havana on December 10, 2008

Dear relatives of our Five Heroes, who are political prisoners in the United States;

Dear fiends who have come from many different places to participate in this workshop;

Comrades from Cuba;

We welcome the initiative launched by the Cuban and Venezuelan Chapters of the Network of Networks “In Defense of Humanity”, and by the Cuban National UNESCO Commission of convening this international workshop “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Sixty Years After”. We warmly welcome to our homeland our friends who have come from other countries.

Sixty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its adoption was possible only after the victory of the progressive forces over fascism, which was, no doubt, a major achievement in the struggle of peoples to have their rights recognized

Despite the limitations of the times when the Declaration was proclaimed, this was a landmark event which inspired and incentivated the future development and codification of human rights of both persons and peoples, including the right to solidarity.

When the Declaration was approved in 1948, the so called Cold War had already started. Almost one half of the current member States of the United Nations remained then under colonial domination or were simply neo-colonies. That was the time when the opprobrious apartheid regime emerged in South Africa, a system that was defeated some decades later with the help of the Cuban combatants.

On a day like today I would like to evoke the memory of the more than 2000 Cuban combatants who died in Africa in the struggle to defeat the apartheid regime, attain the independence of Namibia, release Nelson Mandela, dismantle that heinous miscreation and preserve the territorial integrity of Angola. Today I would like to evoke the sacrifice they made thousands of kilometers away from Cuba, and pay my respects to their relatives in our homeland.

Although one of the purposes identified in the very preamble of the United Nations Charter that was proclaimed in 1945 was the respect for the principle of self-determination of peoples, it was not until the 1960’s that the United Nations General Assembly established that principle –the principle of self-determination of peoples- as a right.

All along these years, the battle waged by many developing countries and the progressive forces of the industrialized world has been paving the way for the ultimate vindication and recognition of other inalienable rights of peoples, particularly their right to peace and development.

In 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna gave a major boost to international cooperation in the field of human rights. The recognition of the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights and the need to grant them a fair and equitable treatment were some of the essential elements contained in the consensus achieved in Vienna in 1993.

The respect for diversity, the recognition of all national and regional particularities and of the different historical and cultural patrimonies as well as the right of all peoples to establish their own economic, political and social system, became essential elements required to promote an authentic international cooperation in the field of human rights, in accordance with the principles of objectivity, impartiality and non-selectivity.

However, successive US governments and their allies continued to manipulate the human rights issue at will, and used it as an instrument to blackmail and exert pressure against those countries which, like Cuba, remained adamant in the defense of their right to self-determination and independence. For years we witnessed the discriminatory and corrupted practices orchestrated at the discredited Human Rights Commission. Today we congratulate ourselves on the creation of the Human Rights Council, an agency free from those aberrant practices. However, we warn against the risk of a potential re-emergence of a climate of confrontation and selectivity inside the Council. Should this be the case, we would once again wage our battle. It is well worth to warn about this in crystal clear terms today.

The proclamation of the rights of peoples to international solidarity in a world characterized by the inequities and selfishness of the richest and the most powerful, has been the most recent achievement attained in the gradual development of human rights international law in favor of the interests of those in greatest need.

Esteemed friends:

Even when some progress has been made in terms of the international recognition of human rights, the realization and enjoyment of all human rights by all peoples and persons remains nothing but a pipedream today.

Our peoples suffer as a result of the selfishness, injustice, domination attempts, inequity, wastefulness and excessive consumerism of an insensitive and spendthrift minority in the midst of the state of neglect, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy and diseases that affect more than 2.6 billion people who are wondering today, sixty years after the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, why have they been doomed to live forever in poverty and despair.

Our voice is raised today to condemn these evils and express our solidarity with the one billion people who suffer from starvation and malnutrition, the more than 800 million who can not read or write, the 11 million girls and boys who will die this year before their fifth birthday as a result of preventable and curable diseases.

This cruel reality tends to become all the more serious. The selfishness and irresponsibility that have plunged the world into a profound crisis that becomes especially visible in areas such as finances, foodstuffs, energy and climate, are affecting, with an added strength, the countries of the South and mainly those in greatest need, while the ones responsible for this situation refuse to look for appropriate solutions as long as they can preserve their privileges.

The unprecedented rise in the price of foodstuffs, the irresponsible speculation with the prices of basic commodities, the unequal exchange, the huge burden of the foreign debt, the selective protectionism that rich countries impose on trade and the subsidies they apply, the reduction of the already insufficient resources destined to the Official Assistance for Development – which account for hardly 0.28 per cent of the GDP of developed countries, a figure even farther away from the 0.7 per cent of the GDP they promised to allocate to the Official Assistance for Development in 1970. Thirty eight years have elapsed since the moment when that promise was made, and nowadays, in a world where those resources are so much needed to palliate and cope with diseases, poverty, illiteracy and the lack of opportunities for billions of human beings, they hardly give up 0.28 per cent of their GDP. The country that contributes the least –below 0.2 per cent- is the richest and most powerful of all: the United States. The increase in the frequency and strength of natural disasters, as well as all other elements I already mentioned, are only some of the threats facing our peoples today.

Like never before, we are called to struggle for the establishment of an equitable, just and democratic world order. It is unacceptable that the overwhelming majority of peoples be condemned to live in poverty and underdevelopment by a few rich countries.

A just, equitable and democratic world order is an indispensable condition so that the efforts being made by each and every country could render the results we all expect. No country could exercise the right to peace, development, and equal opportunities for its people as long as the current world order, which is the biggest obstacle that prevents all national efforts to render results going beyond those made by governments and peoples, remains unchanged.

That unjust and antidemocratic world order that is imposed on us is also responsible for the abyss that separates the North from the South in terms of the production, access and exchange of information. Besides, that order supports the violation of our peoples’ right to receive truthful and objective information, an indispensable condition for the exercise of freedom and
self-determination.

We are continuously bombarded with false allegations or distorted perceptions about our own reality. The dissemination of lies has become a daily practice. An attempt is made to interpret and re-write history from the point of view of the powerful and to justify discrimination and xenophobia. We are made to believe that we are the ones to blame for the underdevelopment imposed on the countries of the South.

On a day like today, Cuba vindicates its right to a New Information and Communications World Order so that there could be freedom of expression and information for all under conditions of objectivity and justice.

Cuba demands respect for the cultural diversity and the promotion and defense of our peoples’ cultures as a guarantee of their identity and an irreplaceable weapon in the protection of the sovereignty of our peoples.

Our world, dear friends, has witnessed the most abominable violations of human rights. In the not too distant past, hundreds of thousands of Latin American families went into mourning as a result of the atrocities carried out by the military dictatorships sponsored by the United States. We hereby express our solidarity with the victims of those crimes and their relatives, and we call for justice.

On a day like today that marks the sixtieth anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is worth remembering that our Revolution, which has been viciously attacked, blockaded, besieged, invaded and bombed, which has been a victim of terrorist actions, sabotages, disparagement campaigns and has been forced to defend itself for fifty years, has done so under the leadership and guidance of Fidel, with absolute respect for the loftiest principles of ethics.

On a day like today it is worth remembering that in the course of the last fifty years there has not been a single Cuban family that has cried over a missing relative; there has not been a single Cuban family that has cried over the loss of a relative as a result of an extrajudicial execution; not even one. There has not been a single Cuban family that has denounced any inhuman and degrading treatment or torture as the ones applied in those Latin American countries that had to endure the sinister dictatorships supported by the United States; or the ones that were applied during the implementation of Plan Condor: kidnaps, unlimited tortures and rage against defenseless inmates.

Today, there is not a single Cuban family crying over any missing or assassinated relative, just as there is not a single Cuban family feeling sorry for not being able to send its child to school or because a sick relative is unable to exercise its right to receive medical assistance.

None of the almost 1 billion illiterates that regrettably exist in today’s world is a Cuban citizen unable to send its child to school for not having the indispensable economic resources.

The participants in this workshop could go out and walk down the streets of Havana right now trying to find out if there is any child at any traffic light cleaning windshields or asking for something to eat. There are none.

We have defended the Revolution. We have all built this work which is far from being perfect; however, like every other human work, it is perfectible. We ourselves are the most unsatisfied with what has been done; we have a clear notion that we need to do a lot more than what has been done, and we hope that justice prevails not only for our people, but also for all the peoples on Earth, because we believe that the world is also our homeland, because homeland is humanity, as Marti taught us. But now, when the mist of the campaigns and lies about Cuba is dissipating, it is worth recalling that the Cuban Revolution defended itself without ever claiming “an eye for an eye” or “a tooth for a tooth”, without ever believing that “the end justifies the means”. These precepts have been wiped off the Cuban revolutionaries’ praxis, even while defending a country that has been continuously harassed and threatened.

Today we join our voices to demand justice together with the hundreds of thousands of Latin American families who are still suffering and crying over the loss of their loved ones, while claiming for a ceasing of the repressors’ impunity.

Using as a pretext an alleged war on global terrorism or the hypocritical and false promotion of freedom and democracy, an attempt is being made to legitimize aggressions and military occupations; serious violations against human rights are committed, blockades and coercion are justified. There is also an attempt to impose the political, economic, and social order that serves the interests and designs of the powerful. Cultures and religions are discriminated against.

One of the most abhorrent examples of contempt for the human condition is the creation and permanence of the centre for arbitrary detentions and torture put up at the illegal Naval Base that the United States has imposed on us at Guantánamo.

We condemn the abuses and violations that are committed there; we call for the immediate closure of that centre and the devolution of that territory to our homeland.

Giving an unequivocal proof of the falseness and hypocrisy of the US anti-terrorist policy, the authorities of that country elude their obligation to prosecute or extradite terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela for engaging in terrorist actions. Posada Carriles was one of the masterminds behind the destruction in midair of a Cubana de Aviación airliner carrying 73 people in 1976. Here among us there are comrades whose relatives were victims of that terrorist action. On a day like today we reiterate our demand that the terrorists be finally brought to justice and call for the ceasing of the impunity and protection that the US government has granted to those men who bear on their shoulders the responsibility of having assassinated tens of innocent persons. However, at the same time, the US government has kept five Cubans imprisoned for ten years now for having challenged the impunity enjoyed by the terrorist groups that for decades have acted against the Cuban people from Miami.

On the World Human Rights Day, we also call for the immediate release of Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, René and Fernando. Their firmness, integrity and profound ethical values are a source of inspiration for the Cuban people and all other human rights defenders in this world.

Before their relatives present here we reiterate our commitment not to ever give up, get tired or desist from the battle that is being waged so that they return back to their families and their people.

Comrades all; esteemed friends;

Cuba, a country that has been blockaded and besieged by ten consecutive US administrations over almost five decades, can show nowadays substantial and irrefutable advances which have been the result of the implementation of national plans and programs aimed at improving the living conditions of our people and the full enjoyment of all human rights.

I reiterate, however, our hope to build the society of justice, equal opportunities and wellbeing for all Cubans we dreamed of and for which several generations of Cubans have struggled and fought. This is still a goal that we intend to achieve.

On this World Human Rights Day, I would like to specially recall the more than 37 000 Cuban health professionals who are right now saving lives in 73 countries. They are the proof that “Revolution” –as Fidel said- “is modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism.”

To the thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses, and health technicians who are right now climbing up the labyrinthic mountains of Guatemala or living together with the inhabitants of the neighborhoods of Caracas, the Bolivian Altiplano or the African jungles; those men and women who are right now assisting or relieving the pain of a sick patient, or are conveying words of comfort or administering a medication, far away from their children, thousands of kilometers far from their homes, we convey today, the World Human Rights Day, a special message and the thoughts of their people and relatives.

In the year that marks the sixtieth anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Cuba renews its commitment to struggle against all forms of discrimination, for a world of justice, freedom and equality for all.

On a day like today, we would like to express our satisfaction for having welcomed you here and being able to exchange, share and discuss about this indispensable dream that guides our actions and our struggles: to have a world with justice, equality and peace for all.

In a very special way, I would like to remember Fidel, who has been the architect who has guided Cubans in their struggle to conquer respect for the human rights of our people and all of our brothers and sisters beyond our borders.

I would like to renew our commitment to create a new and united Latin America, struggling as one for the rights of its peoples.

I would also like to reiterate our hope to be able to see one day a free and independent Puerto Rico, where its people could exercise its right to self-determination and become a UN full member State like all its sister nations of Latin America and the Caribbean.

On behalf of our people, I would like to greet all those who elsewhere in this planet are struggling day after day to build that better world we all dream of.

Be welcome. May our International Workshop be a successful one.

Thank you, very much (APPLAUSE).

(Cubaminrex)

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