Statements to the press by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, on October 22nd, 2025

Thank you very much for attending. I apologize for calling you at such short notice, but we want to share with our people and the international community relevant information regarding the sessions of the United Nations General Assembly on October 28th and 29th for consideration of the issue and resolution entitled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba." This will be an opportunity to once again approve, in the most representative and democratic body of the United Nations and the international community, an overwhelmingly majority, almost unanimous call from the international community to end the blockade against Cuba. This session will take place at a time when the international situation is characterized by the intensification of economic aggression against Cuba, which the Assembly has rejected for decades, year after year, and by the United States government's implementation of an extremely aggressive and intimidating foreign policy, even against its closest partners and allies.

We have reliable information about intimidating and deceptive pressure being exerted by the United States government on several countries, especially in Latin America and Europe, intending to coerce them into modifying the traditional, historic position they have taken and maintained in support of the resolution against the blockade.

The U.S. government combines this policy of extreme pressure, an extraordinary, totally unusual, perhaps unprecedented deployment in relation to this issue in all latitudes, with a slanderous, mendacious campaign of misinformation, aimed not only at distorting Cuba's image, but also at generating pressure on third countries precisely in relation to their position on the blockade against our homeland. To generate a climate of misinformation and confusion, to try to provoke despair and demoralization, try to generate a feeling of insecurity or fear in the member states of the United Nations.

I am going to show irrefutable evidence of this campaign, which is currently being waged with extraordinary intensity and has been going on for the last two weeks. You will recall the Reuters cable, which, based on State Department documents to which it somehow had access, exposed the State Department's active strategy to coerce several governments into changing their stated position or their vote in the General Assembly. It was a timely revelation that included excerpts from the State Department's communication to governments.

I don't know if Reuters had access to the full text. I have it here in my hand. This is the text of the mendacious, slanderous communication, disrespectful of the sovereignty of the states of the planet, of independent states, of governments, which includes pressure and crude threats if they maintained their vote for Cuba.

And it has a very curious structure. It has a fraudulent, deceitful, shameless approach, in which, on the one hand, it tries to demonstrate, and this is one of the subtitles, that "the Cuban regime does not deserve your support." This is directed at governments that have consistently and overwhelmingly voted for decades, some for more than 30 years, in favor of lifting the blockade, restoring the rule of international law, and ending a crime of genocide as defined in the relevant convention. These governments make up an overwhelming majority of the member states of the United Nations, reflecting the thinking and position of the vast majority of U.S. citizens. who pay the emissaries, the U.S. diplomats involved in these efforts; which also reflects the majority opinion of Cubans living in the United States, all of whom are themselves victims of this policy of aggression, hostility, and blockade.

A second approach is the clumsy, Cold War language, which reflects ignorance. They do not feel the need to argue seriously with governments; they seem to think that brutal pressure and acts of intimidation are sufficient. I read the document and realized that they do not seriously intend to convince anyone, but rather to intimidate and pressure.

They say: "The blockade is not the cause of Cuba's economic problems." I have proven this beyond doubt with data, and I am willing to do so again. We are willing to debate this issue; Cuban experts, experts in our economy, are willing to do so, to prove that yes, the blockade is the main cause of our economic problems and the main obstacle to our development.

Thirdly, "human rights abuses in Cuba are greater than ever." This is said by the country that is now practically the author, rather than an accomplice, of genocide in Palestine, of atrocious human rights violations in other countries, which has a pattern of massive, flagrant, and systematic human rights violations, especially against low-income people and minorities, as we have seen in the large demonstrations. The country whose government is in blackout, whose government is closed, among other things, because of protests against cuts to social policies, to health care, for example. Or it is said by the country that today has a brutally anti-immigrant, repressive, and racist policy. Or it is said by a country that is currently carrying out extrajudicial executions with impunity, systematically and repeatedly, in its military deployment that threatens Venezuela and all of Our America.

But the most ridiculous and mendacious part of this document is the last chapter. It says: "Cuba is a threat to international peace and security." It seems like a joke, it seems like a joke.

If our Foreign Ministry received a document of this kind asking us for something, it would feel offended. We would say: respect our intelligence, respect our seriousness. These are shamefully mendacious and slanderous messages.

The statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 11 was clear and precise, and I reiterate here each of its assertions and words. To accuse Cuba, whose capital was the site where the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace was signed by the heads of state and government of all of Our America; to accuse Cuba, which is a country of peace; to accuse Cuba, which is a country under attack, which has suffered even direct aggression from the United States, is extraordinarily cynical.

What the State Department, its Secretary of State, and some other undersecretaries are doing is not diplomacy. It is not diplomacy.

It is pressure with arguments that no one believes and that no one will believe, in an attempt to alter the debate that will take place on the 28th all morning and part of the morning of the 29th. To divert attention from the main issue, which is the abuse perpetrated by the government of the United States, a great superpower, against a small, noble, hard-working, supportive, and peaceful people. To prevent the international community from focusing on the serious human rights violations against Cubans that constitute the blockade.

Trying to divert attention from the crime that is being committed and that today causes our people deprivation, suffering, difficulties, and shortages, such as those you share with us every day. Trying to prevent our people from continuing to denounce that behind the blackouts and the fragility of our national electrical system is the U.S. persecution of fuel supplies, is the prohibition on third countries. A few weeks ago, as I said, an international corporation and the government of a country that has a favorable relationship with Cuba refused to supply spare parts or technical assistance to repair one of our three largest thermoelectric plants. Or the persecution of shipping companies that carry fuel supplies, or insurers or reinsurers.

They are trying to prevent the international community from speaking out again about the consequences and extraordinary humanitarian damage caused by the extreme hardening of the blockade, deliberately aimed at causing suffering to Cuban families behind a smokescreen that no one can believe.

This document was distributed by the U.S. government in numerous capitals. Its purpose is to distort reality, to fabricate a pretext, but above all, I repeat, to intimidate. But the document they circulated on October 8th was not enough for them. It seems that it was not enough, it did not work, it seems that no one believed it, no one was scared. And so on October 17th, they had to repeat another dose of the document. The October 8th document contains some brutal statements. For example, it says that "Cuba is using this debate and this resolution as a weapon."

What does that mean? Well, the United Nations adopts hundreds of resolutions, and no one thinks that way. The U.S. government places a lot of emphasis and works hard, generally with little success, to have its policies backed by General Assembly resolutions.

It says that the U.S. government has evidence that "the regime has the support of the international community." What a discovery! But that acknowledgment is still striking. It reminds me of Mr. Mallory when he said that the government has the majority support of the Cuban people. Well, here the Yankees are saying, "Well, we recognize that almost all of you support the lifting of the blockade."

In the October 17th installment, that is, almost a week later, nine days later, I have the other document here. Is Reuters here? Do you have it? All right. Well, if you had it, you could have published it, couldn't you? As you did with that one at the time.

Well, I have the other one here. It must be acknowledged that it is more concise, but more mendacious and threatening. This document allows itself the luxury of mentioning sovereign countries, for example. Unusually, it mentions Latin American countries.

It is disrespectful to circulate a document like this around the world, and it gives ridiculous figures to try to back up its lies. It says, for example, and I quote: "To be clear, there is no blockade against Cuba." That's what it says.

The document is here. It's the one I just showed you. "There is no blockade against Cuba." But then it says: "Nothing is preventing Cuba from establishing economic interactions with third countries." The Helms-Burton Act, Title 3; the Torricelli Act; the policies of intimidation and coercion; the lawsuits in U.S. courts against companies from any country or individuals from any country, arbitrarily extending the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and their laws extraterritorially. In other words, the lie is truly shameless.

And then it asks itself: "Where is the blockade?" It says so on paper. But it returns to the same theme of trying to prevent, to pressure the vote in relation to the blockade of Cuba, under the pretext that Cuba is a threat to the United States. This is nonsense, but it is very dangerous nonsense because this is how aggressive actions begin that can have incalculable consequences, as we have seen in the past with numerous countries in various regions, or as is happening now in the southern Caribbean with that extraordinary and unusual deployment that threatens the whole world.

It says, and I quote: "at the international level, Cuba actively undermines peace and security." This is something that cannot be taken seriously. And, like the previous one, it also contains phrases that are directly threatening: "We urge you to reject this resolution."

It has not only been officials paid by U.S. taxpayers, their Secretary of State, and others, but also toxic platforms and anti-Cuban congressmen. It is as if those who draft these papers had not read Mallory's memorandum, as if the Secretary of State were not Mallory's reincarnation.

It is as if the blockade had nothing to do with Cuba's electrical infrastructure, transportation, communications, water supply, food production, and medicine production. But U.S. congressmen, some very anti-Cuban U.S. congressmen, some from Florida, instead of dealing with the issue that should be their priority, instead of working for what the U.S. taxpayer pays them very generously, which is to try to open up the U.S. government, which is closed, tens of thousands of U.S. government employees are not receiving salaries, payments; instead of dealing with it, trying to find solutions to issues that are of greatest interest to the American people, as we have seen in recent demonstrations, such as access to healthcare, instead of trying to vote once and for all and reopen the government, they are focused on the issue of the blockade against Cuba.

Instead of addressing the issue of the fierce persecution of their migrant constituents, or the relatives of their constituents and Cuban, Latin American, Caribbean, and other migrants, whom they helped bring to Cuba with their policies; instead of dealing with the Cubans who went there to reside permanently or temporarily, attracted by its privileges, their calls to do so, using migratory flows as a political tool; instead of dealing with them, who are being persecuted in hospitals, in schools when they take their children, in markets when they go shopping, who are being deported en masse, oh no, they are dealing with the issue of the blockade against Cuba.

And they have also sent threatening letters to a lot of countries, even linking those countries' votes on this resolution to issues that have nothing to do with it, relating to the links between those countries and the United States, between their private companies and the U.S. economy, between their foreign policy interests, between their interests in peace, security, national or regional stability in relation to the United States, concerning United Nations operations, in a position of blackmail, regarding trade tariffs, regarding visa deprivation sanctions. In other words, these are truly insulting letters. Well, I have brought one of them with me and I am going to read some excerpts.

The big lie about Cuba's alleged involvement in the conflict in Europe, in the war in Ukraine. It says: "up to 20,000 Cuban citizens have been recruited." Everyone knows that's a lie.

It argues that those who reiterate their positions in their speeches will legitimize Cuba's propaganda and will undermine and damage the democratic allies of the United States in the Western Hemisphere, and will damage the United States itself. This seems to have been written in 1962 or 1963. It says: "They will legitimize one of Moscow's closest military allies."

But it argues that voting undermines their moral authority, that of the region, and that of the United States, and concludes by saying: "Let me be perfectly clear: being an ally of the United States means supporting the United States against forces that harm, weaken, and erode freedom and national security in the Western Hemisphere." In other words, being an ally means that you have to support the United States. It says: "If you do not do that, you will become a regional facilitator of authoritarian aggression from Moscow and Caracas, or you will also become an accomplice in facilitating the acts of illicit networks that threaten stability throughout the American continent." What is it talking about? Terrorism, drug trafficking. In other words, the same lie on which the military threat against the region is built, linking and mixing terrorism and drug trafficking with an offensive military deployment.

It goes on to say "justify," it is no longer even defending it, but justifying or defending that behavior, that is, voting in the United Nations, etc., is "counterproductive to common security interests." So this has been addressed to a dignitary, that is, it has not been sent to an organization of another nature; that is, this letter is addressed to foreign ministers, presidents, and ambassadors; that is, it is highly disrespectful.

It goes on to say: "My government has always supported its democratic partners." And then comes the threat: "I urge your government" – the word "urge" sounds much harsher in English than in Spanish – "I urge your government to show the same clarity and conviction of purpose and ethics by resolutely opposing this resolution."

And then it ends with the most direct threat I have seen in this brutal campaign of gunboat diplomacy: "I hope you will give this letter, which addresses this issue of the utmost importance, full and proper consideration, but do so in accordance with applicable statutes, regulations, and legal authorities." What does that sentence mean? That sentence means that if you do not do what I am urging you to do in this letter, you will be subject to sanctions. That is what that last sentence means. Read the letter and take it seriously, because behind the letter come actions protected by applicable statutes, regulations, and legal authorities.

The Secretary of State, some undersecretaries, and many U.S. ambassadors are currently engaged in intense and aggressive diplomatic efforts. These efforts are taking place at the United Nations headquarters, in Washington, and in the capitals of numerous countries. The pressure they are exerting, especially in Europe and Latin America, is brutal and extraordinarily disrespectful. There is even talk of some emissaries.

It is surprising that the Secretary of State, instead of focusing on his priorities, such as preventing Israel's bombing of Gaza after the peace agreement, which is causing civilian casualties, or the ban on entry and the restriction of humanitarian aid to Gaza; instead of devoting more time to working for peace, which is working for the Nobel Prize, supposedly for President Trump; instead of presenting other candidates, as he has done in the past; instead of dealing with the fundamental issues of U.S. foreign policy at this crucial moment, they are dealing with this issue.

We have considered it important that these facts be known to our people and to the international community.

I wonder: what could be the reason for this unusual anxiety on the part of the State Department and the U.S. government, if not the conviction that the blockade is causing them total isolation and profound discredit in foreign policy, and that they will once again be punished with absolute isolation, singling out, criticism, and direct appeals from governments around the world to lift the blockade?

This anxiety reflects the U.S. government's understanding that the overwhelming majority of the international community believes in and supports the need to end the blockade. I am absolutely certain that this will happen on the 29th, specifically on the 28th during the debate and on the 29th from mid-morning to noon in the vote.

I am convinced that it will be a victory for the peoples, for international law, for the peoples of the South. I am confident that the overwhelming majority of Member States will once again vote for the truth, and with the truth, for justice. With justice, they will vote to demand an end to the blockade. I am sure that truth will prevail over pressure, blackmail, and slander. I am convinced that the result will be humanity against the policy of the United States government.

The international community, the powerful United Nations General Assembly against the United States government's blockade. I am sure that the U.S. government will be isolated, perhaps with a few lackeys, and that this will be a great victory for the Cuban Revolution, a victory for Cuba, doubly meritorious in the difficult circumstances of international life.

Thank you very much.

Taken from Granma