The director general of Multilateral Affairs and International Law at the Cuban Foreign Ministry and head of the Cuban delegation, Rodolfo Benítez, said on Friday, at the high-level meeting in the city of Cuenca, that Washington is determined to suffocate the people and in order to achieve that the US implements unconventional warfare practices.
“The people of Cuba deserve to live in peace, without a blockade,” stressed the diplomat, who also condemned “the slanderous and unilateral” characterization of his country as an alleged sponsor of terrorism.
He added that this accusation has served as a pretext to tighten the blockade and its extraterritorial effects, “which also harm the citizens and companies of the nations represented here.”
Benítez thanked the majority of the members of the Ibero-American community for their position of rejection of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, despite the political differences that the governments may have.
The Cuban diplomat warned that the Ibero-American Conference cannot become a hostage to the isolationist positions of those who seek to roll back the consensus of positions reached over more than three decades.
“The future relevance and the very existence of this forum is at risk if we do not act in a united manner, as we have done in Cuenca in response to Argentina’s stance, and I demand that the historic heritage that we have built together be respected to overcome our differences,” he emphasized.
In response to Argentine Ambassador Eduardo Acevedo’s statements, Benítez said that that country went to Cuenca to make the Summit fail.
Argentina was the only one of the 19 participants that refused to sign a joint declaration that included, among other issues, a condemnation of the unilateral coercive measures and the US blockade against Cuba.
In this regard, the Cuban representative stated that “Argentina can consider the order of attack against Cuba, dictated from Washington, to have been fulfilled, but it will have to return with the dishonor of having been left absolutely alone and ignored at this forum.”
Nevertheless, Benítez supported Argentina’s historic claim to its sovereignty over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, because “the friendship between the Argentine and Cuban peoples surpasses any political ideology and the whims of any government in power.”
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