ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY MR. FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, FOR THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 60TH ORDINARY PERIOD OF SESSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS

NEW YORK, 19 SEPTEMBER 2005

Mr. Chairman,

We really have no cause to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. The chaotic, unequal and unsafe world we live in today does not exactly pay tribute to those who gathered in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 to found the United Nations.

Around the world, since the conclusion of the Millennium Summit in 2000 to date, more children have died of preventable diseases than all of the victims of the Second World War.

The invasion of Iraq was launched not only in spite of but also in defiance of the stance assumed by the international community. This took place a mere two years after we had solemnly declared, in the Millennium Summit, that “we are determined to establish a just and lasting peace in the entire world, in conformity with the aims and principles of the Charter”. The General Assembly was not even able to convene to discuss this action. The Security Council was ignored and later stooped to submissively accepting a predatory war to which the majority of its members had been opposed.

There is a simple explanation for this state of things: the bipolar world order and balance of forces reflected in the Charter no longer exist. “We, the peoples” —as the Charter says— suffer the scourge of a unipolar world, in which a single superpower imposes its whims and egotistical interests on the United Nations and the international community.

Thus, the hope of seeing the United Nations adhere, in its functioning, to the principles and objectives enshrined in the Charter is a mere pipe dream. It is not possible. And it will not be possible until Third World countries, the majority of us, unite and struggle, together, for our rights.

If the government of the United States abided by resolution 1373 —approved by the Security Council on 28 September 2001— and by international conventions on terrorism, it would extradite terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela and would release the five Cuban anti-terrorist activists who have been serving cruel and unjust prison sentences for 7 years.

If the government of the United States allowed the United Nations to act in accordance with the Charter, the invasion of Iraq — launched to rob it of its oil— would not have taken place, the Palestinian people would have a sovereign nation in the territory that belongs to them and Cuba would not still be blockaded. Neither would there be a billion illiterate nor 900 million hungry people around the world.

All of this explains the failure of last week’s Summit, called to review the progress that had been made towards the modest commitments we had assumed as Millennium development goals, a Summit which turned out a sad and poor imitation of the serious debate, committed to addressing the serious problems faced by humanity today, which we should have held. The Summit was a complete farce. It was not something the powerful were interested in. Their egotistical and hegemonic interests run contrary to the hope for a fairer and better world for everyone.

The way in which the Ambassador of the United States brandished a bludgeon and tried to shove 750 amendments down the throat of the United Nations, using scandalous forms of blackmail and brining pressures to bear upon member nations, shall go down in history as a telling testimony, attesting that we need to build a new world and a new United Nations, which respect and recognize everyone’s right to peace, sovereignty and development, a world without genocidal wars, blockades or injustice. The final negotiations, from which the majority of UN members were excluded, and the final document approved, which omits issues of vital importance for our countries, vividly attest what we are saying.

Until the time that a new world and a new United Nations can be built, we, peoples of the world, shall continue to struggle and, holding our ground, shall claim for ourselves the rights that are today denied us.

The powerful speak only of preventive military interventions and wars, about imposing unfair conditions on countries, about the most efficient ways of exercising control over the UN, hoping to legitimate concepts such as the so-called “responsibility to protect”, which could one day be used to justify acts of aggression against our countries.

Let us spell it out: weak countries have no right to peace today.

We Cubans understand this well and rely on the solidarity of peoples, on the unity which keeps us abreast and on our rifles, which have never been used for anything except defending a just cause. Our brothers in Africa know this well.

We are not pessimistic. We are revolutionary. We do not cave in, nor are we satisfied with today’s world. And we say it today, more certain of it than we have ever been: we, the peoples, shall overcome.

Thank you very much.