[Marxism] Address by Cuba Foreign Minister in Geneva

[Eli Stephens]

One of the reasons the U.S. is so threatened by Cuba...because it is threatened 
by the truth...


http://america.cubaminrex.cu/Derechos%20Humanos/Articulos/ConsejoDerechosHumanos/2008/2008-03-03-IntervencionING.html

Statement by Felipe Pérez Roque, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of 
Cuba at the High Level Segment of the Seventh Session of the Human Rights 
Council. Geneva, March 3, 2008.

Excellencies:

I am speaking on behalf of Cuba, the country who is suffering under the longest 
and cruellest blockade known to history; the small rebel country which is 
threatened with "a change of regime", never to be forgiven its noble spirit and 
integrity.

That Cuba should be founding member of this Council is proof that, finally, 
reason conquers force, the defence of principles defeats power and wealth. Proof 
of the fact that you cannot fool all of the people, all of the time.

During 2007 we concluded, in essence, the institutional building of the Human 
Rights Council. It was the victory of our majority –the Non-Aligned Movement in 
particular – over a very paltry group of countries –one or two of the powerful 
ones – who conspired up until the last second to frustrate the process. It was 
the result of a delicate balance, we all know this.

When in December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 
62/219, as a result of the action of the Non-Aligned Movement, approving the 
institutional building of the Human Rights Council, we who struggled for years, 
convinced that it was possible and indispensable to create a new body to replace 
the discredited Commission on Human Rights, finally saw the fruits of our 
patience and our serious and honest labour.

And so we arrive at this moment in time. And now we should ask ourselves: can we 
be sure that the new Council will be different from the old Commission? Will it 
truly be a body that will contribute to the promotion and protection of all 
human rights for all the inhabitants on this planet?

No, we really cannot ensure that just yet. It is now that the Council will be 
put to the acid test.

The legitimacy of the Council will depend, to a great extent, on how the 
Universal Periodic Review Mechanism will end up functioning.

It will not be enough that every country be subject to the new mechanism. The 
Council has to function under the strictest respect for the principles of 
objectivity, impartiality and non-selectivity. Otherwise, it will be a 
resounding failure.

If the conclusions and recommendations end up depending of the powers and 
influence of every country, the Council will be repeating the same errors that 
caused the old Commission to blow up.

If, once again, a tribunal is set up to judge the South countries, to be an 
instrument made to threaten those who rebel, while it turns a blind eye to human 
rights violations committed by a powerful country, the Council will be an 
abysmal failure.

And it would be far worse because it would be a copy of the former Commission on 
Human Rights but this time clothed with the bogus cloak of presumed universality.

Will those powerful countries that imposed their petty interests and their 
vision on the Commission on Human Rights be ready to correct their error?

That is the question they are going to have to answer with deeds and not with words.

The Human Rights Council must now show that it is truly a different body, based 
on cooperation and respectful dialogue, with no selectivity or impositions, an 
organ that indeed contributes to the promotion and protection of human rights 
the world over, from the viewpoint of full respect for the independence of all 
countries.

To the overly critical, to those who have been pitilessly attacking the Council 
because they lost their old rights and privileges, to those who have not 
understood that the world is changing and that the people have said “Enough!” 
and have started up, to the United States and to any other “sceptic”, to all of 
you I suggest humility and reflection. To cause the Council’s work to fail will 
be an enormous responsibility that would have to be shouldered for the rest of time.

Delegates:

The Non-Aligned Movement that has become a key player in the process of 
institutional building defends the need for the Human Rights Council. The 
Council must live and, furthermore, it must act.

While threats to bomb 60 or more countries, the ones that are disdainfully named 
“dark corners of the planet” exist, this Human Rights Council must live and act.

While five Cuban anti-terrorist combatants are being submitted to 10 years of 
unfair and cruel incarceration in American jails, this Human Rights Council must 
live and act.

While there is one person justifying asphyxiation as a legitimate method to 
extract confessions, this Human Rights Council must live and act.

While people are still being kidnapped anywhere, clandestine flights are being 
organized to move them and hold them in concentration camps, in full 
twenty-first century, this Human Rights Council must live and act.

While the heroic people of Palestine remain Stateless and are denied their 
rights, this Human Rights Council must live and act.

While injustice and inequality still exist in the world, while every day we 
suffer from almost 900 million starving people, 800 million illiterate people, 
11 million children dead before their fifth birthday and 600 thousand 
impoverished women dead in childbirth, this Human Rights Council must live and act.

While the right to development is a chimera for more than 100 countries, while 
1600 million people still have no electricity, while an unfair and excluding 
international economic and political world order still exists, this Human Rights 
Council must live and act.

Delegates:

But 2007 has also marked a historic victory for Cuba, also enjoyed and 
celebrated by all those who admire the steadfastness and honesty with which our 
country had faced up to, and still faces up to, the lies and manipulations by 
the media.

After twenty long years of “Cuban struggle against demons”, the Human Rights 
Council put an end to the unfair and selective exercise conceived of and imposed 
by the United States as an excuse to legitimize its aggression against our Homeland.

And I have here the balance sheet on this uneven conflict: Cuba, the defendant, 
transformed into a founding member of the Council, presiding over the 
Non-Aligned Movement and working constructively to strengthen the Council. The 
United States, our accuser, transformed into a “failed State” in the matter; 
responsible for the most grievous crimes and human rights violations; foe to the 
new Council because it has not been able to manipulate or control it. We see it 
here, lacking direction and authority, thrashing around, always backing the 
worst of causes, defending torture, administrating secret prisons, organizing 
clandestine flights.

And so, for now this battle has reached this point: with a resounding victory 
for David, small but great in his dignity, against Goliath the giant, powerful 
with his nuclear weapons and threats of preventive wars but small in terms of 
moral authority and international respect, the greatest treasure any nation can 
aspire to possess.

And so, also, one day we shall defeat the criminal blockade which has been 
forced upon us in the attempt to force us to our knees in hunger and disease.

And now, and only now, triumphing over blackmail and lies, we, the Cubans, by 
our own free will, in an independent and sovereign manner, are doing what could 
not , nor will ever, be wrested from us as concessions.

Therefore now and not before, we once again invited a Special Rapporteur of the 
Council and, if the constructive climate prevailing today continues and the 
campaign against Cuba does not resume, we will invite others in the future.

Therefore now and not before, we have signed the International Covenants on 
Human Rights.

Therefore now and not before, we are ready to work seriously to present 
ourselves in 2009 at the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism.

Today Cuba repeats her will to cooperate in the work of the Council, to 
cooperate with the mechanisms for universal human rights that are 
non-discriminatory and based on the strictest respect for our sovereignty.

Cuba also reiterates her steadfast decision to confront any new attempt to 
install selectivity, politicization, double standards and hypocrisy within the 
Council.

Delegates:

A few words about Cuba, my Homeland.

Our country has just concluded an electoral process which, according to our 
Constitution and our laws, saw its beginnings last September. It has been a 
genuine referendum in which the people have massively supported the Revolution 
and socialism in our country.

Local authorities and National Assembly members were elected by secret and 
direct vote.

President Bush called on the Cuban people not to vote and, nevertheless, almost 
97 percent of the more than 8 million registered voters cast their ballots. 
Let’s see if in the upcoming U.S. elections these results can be matched.

President Bush called on Cubans to cast blank ballots. Less than 4 percent of 
the voters did that. He urged Cubans not to vote for all the proposed 
candidates, as the Revolution requested, and 91 percent of the voters supported, 
freely and conscientiously, all of the candidates proposed by the Revolution.

It has been an extraordinary political victory that has not been able to be 
either covered up or distorted.

The world has been witness to the civic spirit and political awareness of the 
Cuban people.

Over there in Cuba, after his historic decision, Fidel is still enjoying the 
stingy and mediocre reaction of those who thought that his authority stemmed 
from his office, of those who thought that if you removed Fidel from office or 
assassinated him that would be the magic formula for the downfall of the Cuban 
Revolution.

And it didn’t happen. Fidel is the people; his ideas are the ideas of the 
people; Raúl, with all the authority he is endowed with because of his own 
background, is also Fidel in his loyalty to our Homeland, to the Revolution and 
to socialism; at the end of the day, Fidel is every man and woman in the world 
who fights for justice and liberty for people everywhere.

And that is where the Empire stands, impotent, not knowing what to do or what to 
say. Conscious of the fact that it cannot prevent Cubans from making their own 
decisions and from following a path they have freely chosen. It is the result of 
having carried out a profound social Revolution in our nation. It is the result 
of the people truly being in power. It is the result of, finally and in a case 
that has not happened very often in history, the lower classes, the 
ever-forgotten ones, now becoming the deputies, the ministers, the military 
leaders; it is the people in power, masters of their own destinies and masters 
of their own country.

That and no other, my fellow delegates, is Cuba's crossroads. Either save the 
Revolution and continue being a free people or return to the condition of being 
an enslaved people, a virtual colony, like we were at one time, of our powerful 
and voracious neighbour.

To those who support our struggle, who are many, who are the majority, we thank 
you. Our battle is also one for the independence and the respect for peoples 
everywhere that you represent.

To those who support our adversary, either because of convictions, hypocrisy or 
fear, it is not important. We know how to carry the sense of decorum that they 
are lacking.

In the year commemorating the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Cuba renews its commitment in the 
struggle for a world of justice, liberty and equality for all. The challenge is 
enormous, and our optimism is greater.

Thank you very much.




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