In his address at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly on Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said that the big challenge facing the UN is serving the legitimate interests of all its member states.

This must be the objective of the international organization instead of supporting arbitrary and abusive actions by a handful of rich and powerful countries, said the top Cuban diplomat, who called for the recovery of the leading role of the General Assembly and the re-founding of the Security Council.

The Cuban minister also said that the UN has the moral, political and juridical obligation to recognize an independent Palestinian state with the borders established before 1967 and with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital city. “This must be done with or without the Security Council, with or without the US veto, with or without new peace negotiations,” he stressed.

In another part of his statement at the Session Bruno Rodriguez said that the countries of the South undergo the distortions of a world economic order that excludes their legitimate interests, and he noted that the weakness of the global economy reveals that the crisis that started in 2008 has not yet been overcome.

After stressing the need for South countries to be united in the face of growing danger of war, and a new distribution of the world, as well as the challenge posed by climate change, minister Rodriguez noted that the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our Americas is a small but morally powerful group of nations, and that the setting up of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean countries, later this year in Caracas is already a reality.

Referring to the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters held in US jails, Bruno Rodriguez said that Washington offends the memory of the victims of 9/11 by holding in inhumane and prolonged incarceration the five Cubans, after they were collecting information on terrorist groups that have acted with impunity against Cuba from US territory and caused the death or disability of 5 577 Cuban citizens. “I respectfully urge, once again, President Obama to use his faculties and release them as an act of justice or humanitarian action, which would be deeply appreciated by their children, wives, parents and by the Cuban people.

The Cuban foreign minister reiterated Cuba’s willingness and interest in advancing towards the normalization of relations with the United States through a dialog aimed at solving bilateral differences, including humanitarian issues. He also reiterated the Cuban government’s willingness to reach cooperation agreements against drug trafficking, terrorism, the smuggling of persons, natural disasters and in favor of environmental protection.

However, he said the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba keeps intensifying and has inflicted damage calculated at 975 billion dollars at the current prize of gold; while the attempts to subvert Cuba’s constitutional order keep on the increase, the minister concluded.

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