Belgrade, September 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuba’s First Deputy Foreign Minister, Gerardo Peñalver, reaffirmed today the validity of the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), during the Commemorative Meeting of the organization’s 65th anniversary.
The Cuban diplomat, who is attending as a special envoy of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, conveyed his country’s gratitude to the Ugandan presidency of the Movement and to the Serbian authorities for organizing the meeting, while also expressing Cuba’s “genuine pride” in being a founding country of the Non-Aligned Movement.
According to the text released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peñalver stressed that the founding principles of the Movement remain fully valid in the current international context and that its activism as the voice of the countries of the South “is more necessary than ever in the face of the colossal challenges of today.”
The first deputy minister denounced that the US administration has intensified the blockade against Cuba through an “energy embargo that amounts to a naval blockade,” secondary sanctions against third countries, and a persistent threat of direct military aggression.
Peñalver explained that these policies have generated painful consequences for the Cuban people, including a waiting list of more than 90,000 patients for surgical procedures, the depletion of the basic list of medicines and the impossibility of thousands of containers with food and medical devices reaching Cuban ports.
“There is no doubt about the genocidal dimension that the policy of economic strangulation against Cuba has acquired,” the diplomat stated, while reaffirming the island’s determination to resist and seek development alternatives through its own efforts in defense of its sovereignty.
Peñalver quoted Cuban Revolution leader Raúl Castro to emphasize that “the security and peace of the rich are not those for which poor countries fight,” and recalled that Cuba aspires to “peace with sovereignty, with independence, with dignity, with justice, with development.”
The deputy minister thanked the Non-Aligned Movement for its historic condemnation of the blockade, the energy embargo, and the inclusion of Cuba on the unilateral list of state sponsors of terrorism, as well as for its recognition of the cooperation that the island maintains with numerous member states of the Movement.
He made special mention of the interventions of the President of Ghana and the Minister of the Presidency of Namibia, who supported Cuba and rejected the blockade in the plenary session.
Peñalver closed his speech with words from the historical leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, who warned that “the success and future of the Non-Aligned Movement will depend on not allowing itself to be penetrated, confused or deceived by imperialist ideology.”
“It is time to reaffirm our anti-imperialist, anti-neocolonialist and anti-fascist ideas, which are at the heart of the history of the Non-Aligned Movement,” the Cuban diplomat concluded.
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