Cuba demands respect for sovereignty at CELAC-EU summit (+Photo)

Buenos Aires, Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez today demanded respect for sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of States, in a speech delivered in Argentina before representatives of over 50 countries.

During the III Summit of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU), Rodríguez denounced the devastating effects of imperialism in this region and defended the right of each nation to define its political system, economic and social.

The United States, in its expansionist and interventionist desire, based on the Monroe Doctrine, always tried to turn our countries into its backyard, pointed out and recalled the long history of plundering wealth and plundering of natural resources in the area.

On the other hand, he thanked CELAC and the EU for rejecting the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by Washington on the island for more than 60 years.

That unjust and illegal policy was intensified in an extreme manner, inflicting greater damage on the Cuban people with the aim of causing the collapse of the economy, he asserted.

Likewise, he recognized the condemnation of CELAC and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, for the inclusion of the Caribbean nation ‘in the fraudulent list of the US State Department of alleged sponsors of terrorism’ .

On the other hand, he warned that, ‘when speaking of a rules-based multilateralism and international order, it seems to refer to the imposition of new dubious paradigms, at the convenience of rich countries, without democratic intergovernmental negotiation processes.’

There is a problem of coherence, of consistency. Double standards are not admissible. Sovereign equality, non-interference and the inalienable right of each State to decide its own system without impositions of alleged cultural paradigms, democracy and human rights must be respected, he added.

On the other hand, he assured that Cuba will continue to contribute as much as possible to strengthening the dialogue and cooperation between CELAC and the EU, for the benefit of the peoples of both regions and the world.