Our colleague, Aissa Garcia, talks to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, in a special interview. The Cuban Foreign Minister refers to Cuba's recent victory in a United Nations vote to end the illegal U.S. blockade of the island. teleSUR
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00:00 Greetings.
00:07 Well, after the historical vote cast at the United Nations on Thursday, 187 countries
00:17 voted in favor of Cuba, backing the resolution that condemns the financial and commercial
00:24 U.S. blockade against Cuba.
00:28 We have the opportunity to talk today with Foreign Minister of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez.
00:32 Thank you for being here with us.
00:34 My pleasure.
00:35 It's been a historical vote.
00:38 How did you see the atmosphere of such vote, Minister?
00:42 It's a message of extraordinary rejection of that policy.
00:49 It's a demand to put an immediate and unconditional end to it.
00:55 Likewise, it's a message of support for the Cuban people in their enormous effort.
01:02 Indeed, it's already been voted for 30 years.
01:09 Is this resolution number 31?
01:11 This is vote number 31.
01:15 An overwhelming majority cast their votes favoring Cuba at the United Nations General
01:23 Assembly.
01:24 In the votes, the results have been just over 50 countries in favor of the resolution, and
01:29 many abstentions and non-participation.
01:32 Today the vote is practically unanimous against the United States blockade, backing the Cuban
01:39 claim.
01:40 Secondly, it's very significant, not only the act of voting, but also the delegation's
01:47 speeches and the balance of the interventions.
01:53 I was very struck by the depth level of interventions, how they were aware of the blockade's effect.
02:00 It is something that is known worldwide.
02:03 In addition, there is an annual report presented by the United Nations Secretary General, which
02:08 includes the number of countries' contributions in this regard, as well as those of Cuba,
02:14 of course, and of the international organizations and agencies that is always important from
02:22 the point of view of information.
02:27 It was significant, for example, the repeated condemnation of Cuba's inclusion in the
02:33 unilateral and spurious state-sponsored terrorist list.
02:41 It was Donald Trump who included Cuba on that list, nine days before leaving the White House.
02:48 As the list worsens, does it tighten the blockade even further?
02:55 This list has political implications due to its slanderous nature.
03:02 It has implications on a wide range of areas, but it has a truly extreme impact on the international
03:10 financial system, that is to say, it has a devastated impact on international financial
03:20 transactions, since it is known that Washington exercises disproportionate and absolute influence
03:32 in the control of finances.
03:37 International transactions flow, including electronic or digital flows.
03:43 For instance, it increases the known country risk, which forces us to complete added disadvantage
03:50 on the international market and to have to pay prices above the ordinary market price,
04:00 which implies the refusal of many banks nationwide to establish or maintain financial relations
04:12 with Cuba, because they would subject it to United States sanctions or would lose their
04:22 financial ties with international financial institutions or with United States banks.
04:31 In recent years, for example, there have been 909 direct actions cutting off services to
04:39 Cuba by third countries.
04:44 As a result of including Cuba in that list?
04:48 As a result of Cuba's inclusion on the list, there are dozens of Cuban embassies that have
04:52 lost financial and banking services, precisely due to the intimidating and punitive exercise
05:00 of placing a country on this list.
05:02 For example, at the instance of Europe, of some of the around 50 countries that enjoy
05:09 privilege of using United States visa, which is almost automatic, someone takes his mobile
05:19 phone, tapes in some data, and with that he boards an airline and travels to the United
05:32 States without any difficulty with his ESTA visa card.
05:46 This is a special visa system in which the person who has visited Cuba is immediately
05:54 cancelled.
05:55 So, this has a punitive impact on travelling on tourism to Cuba, which derives precisely
06:01 from the inclusion of Cuba on the state-sponsoring terrorism list.
06:06 It has serious effect, even from the practical point of view on the Cuban economy.
06:14 And also, it has a very serious effect in relation to third countries.
06:22 This was another denunciation that was heard quite frequently in the speeches of the different
06:27 countries that took part in the two-day debate, the extraterritorial nature of the blockade
06:32 laws.
06:33 How is it reflected in the day-to-day relations with other nations?
06:42 It is a fundamental quality that makes it a violation of international law, of the sovereignty
06:49 of all countries.
06:51 And it is very extraterritorial.
06:53 Firstly, because it compels third countries to submit to blockade regulations.
07:00 Secondly, because it seeks to extend the jurisdiction of the United States court to third countries,
07:10 proceeding causes that have nothing to do with the specific jurisdiction in United States
07:15 territory.
07:18 On the other hand, it penalizes any commercial relationship involving any intangible component,
07:28 any Cuban raw material.
07:31 In addition, this policy prevents any country having relations with Cuba from exporting
07:41 to the United States.
07:44 And it rewards Cuba from important products from third countries that have over 10% of
07:53 United States components.
07:55 However, there is no doubt that the effects on the daily life of Cuba are tremendous,
08:01 particularly in the second half of 2019, when the blockade became not only more extraterritorial,
08:09 but also more aggressive, more cruel and cruelly effective, trying to cut off the country's
08:16 income.
08:17 In your speech, you were very emphatic about the blockade's effect in terms of the health
08:21 of Cubans.
08:23 Can you broaden on this issue?
08:26 The blockade has a direct effect in this sense.
08:31 It has a direct effect in the sense that it prevents Cuba from acquiring medical equipment,
08:39 technology, medicines, products that are protected by United States patents, that are registered
08:49 in the United States, some of which are only produced or exist in the United States.
08:58 This is the case of people who require treatments that Cuba can provide and ensure.
09:06 But there are ways, there are methods that could make them further effective, more lasting,
09:17 less painful.
09:19 For instance, in the case of interventional catheterization surgery, certain treatments
09:28 against cancer of different types or cells, certain treatments related to uncommon diseases
09:39 in our country, the need for specific medical equipment, for example, the need for extensible
09:52 prostheses for bone tumor disease in children.
10:00 Is there no access to that?
10:03 They are protected and produced by United States companies.
10:07 That's a direct impact.
10:08 Another direct impact is that they are produced by third parties, companies that are subsidiaries
10:16 of United States companies.
10:18 And hence, Cuba cannot acquire them.
10:21 Cuba cannot acquire these products because the United States government violates the
10:25 international right in a rude way, since every company has to comply with the country's
10:31 law of its legal home address.
10:34 So a subsidiary of a United States company in Europe violates European laws and the international
10:42 right if it allows being subjected to United States legislation or to the jurisdiction
10:50 of the United States courts.
10:52 Thirdly, there is an impact that is tremendous too, but it's indirect.
11:00 By the time it deprives Cuba of financial resources that would allow us to acquire medical
11:06 equipment components among other inferior countries.
11:10 They are very expensive technologies.
11:14 And it blockades Cuba from having the resources that would allow Cuba to purchase those products.
11:21 A practical example, Cuba is in capacity to produce over 30 of its medicines.
11:31 But to do so, Cuba needs equipment, inputs, and raw materials that are not Cuban and that
11:40 cost money.
11:43 Then these effects that are diverse, but all very harmful for Cuban's health.
11:51 And there are treatments to correct cardiac pulmonary defects in newborns that we can
11:59 assist, but we ought to do so with an open chest.
12:05 Surgery when these devices could avoid such surgery, as it could be done through catheterization.
12:15 So these devices would mitigate people's pain and side effects.
12:22 And doctors could apply for their efficacious treatments.
12:25 And we have to acknowledge that despite the extraordinary outcomes of Cuban science and
12:30 medicines and the concern of our government, in the last year there's been an impact in
12:36 the services offered to the population.
12:41 It is known there is a shortage of medical supplies.
12:46 There have been delays in certain treatments and it has to do with these factors regarding
12:52 the United States blockade.
12:57 And regarding the extraterritorial character of the blockade, it is very impressive, Minister.
13:03 And in the food area, you were very emphatic on your last week's briefing at the UN General
13:10 Assembly speech on Cuban's diet, intake and the blockade's impact on agriculture too.
13:16 Yes, the United States government lies every time by saying the blockade doesn't exist
13:23 or that it's bilateral or that it aims at helping out the Cuban people.
13:30 It's a deliberate and aware act aimed at causing humanitarian damages and suffering to the
13:40 population for political reasons.
13:44 But in that regard, for example, Cuba can access having a general license to United
13:53 States agricultural products, but it has to do it under discriminatory grounds designed
14:04 just for Cuba.
14:07 What are they?
14:08 For instance, Cuba has to pay in advance a meditator payment.
14:14 Isn't there any credits?
14:15 There aren't any credits, not even private ones.
14:18 There is no bidirectional commerce.
14:21 That is how commerce works worldwide.
14:24 Yes, in all the world.
14:27 Commerce nationwide works with credit in a bidirectional way.
14:32 No contract today pays in advance.
14:34 There is no other case that ever functioned in that way.
14:38 Thirdly, the shipments have to be transported using United States vessels as they have to
14:44 return empty to their original ports.
14:50 That is taking no load in Cuba.
14:53 No country moves a vessel to land and come back empty.
14:59 This is not a practice in any part of the world.
15:02 So this cannot be said to be trade.
15:04 It is not.
15:05 Nor can this be said to be a gesture of generosity, a gesture of kindness from the United States
15:12 government.
15:13 It must be recognized that the United States farmers are strongly opposed to the blockade
15:21 policy and that it has a conquest of the sectors that this can happen in a limited way.
15:32 But it occurs in open violation of the universally recognized rules of international trade and
15:38 freedom of navigation.
15:40 That said, the blockade has a tremendous impact on the resources that Cuba could have to acquire
15:47 food and to develop our agriculture.
15:52 I was mentioning, for example, that only a part of the direct damage caused by the blockade
16:02 in the last year, in the 12 months we are counting, we could have easily purchased the
16:10 foodstuffs and raw materials necessary for what we call the VEXI basic family package.
16:19 That is to say, this VEXI food package that assures the indispensable, which does not
16:25 satisfy the needs but assures the indispensable.
16:28 To whom?
16:29 To everyone.
16:30 To all families.
16:31 To all people.
16:32 And that it is mainly subsidized by the Cuban government.
16:36 Highly subsidized.
16:37 Extraordinarily subsidized.
16:38 And that this year's basic food package could easily be acquired with a part of the
16:46 financial resources that did not reach Cuba due to the direct impact of the blockade during
16:53 this period.
16:54 Therefore, in the difficulties that we have in Cuba, the Cuban families suffered in acquiring
17:01 the food, the shortages, the anxiety that is generated in this sense.
17:07 The blockade factor is quite present.
17:09 Of course, there are other elements that have to do with the efficiency of our economic
17:16 management.
17:17 But it can be affirmed without any doubt that the main factor that hinders the Cuban economy
17:23 today is the impact of the blockade, which is the main obstacle for the growth and development
17:31 of our economy.
17:32 I said that without the effects of the blockade, Cuba's GDP would have grown by 90 percent
17:39 and would have maintained a very significant growth rate in recent years, because the figures
17:46 are extraordinary for a small and underdeveloped economy such as the Cuban economy.
17:53 How much is the damage caused by the blockade in this more than 60 years?
17:58 At current prices, to more than $159 billion.
18:03 We are talking about billions, if it is the case of the United States.
18:07 We are talking about billions of United States dollars, which is billions.
18:13 But $159 million is an extraordinary amount of resources for a small economy like ours.
18:22 Or for any economy in the world, because we are talking about really important numbers.
18:30 But that calculation underestimates the impact, because it would have to take into account
18:35 the devaluation of the dollar and its relationship with the values of gold.
18:41 So if we calculate it at the value of gold, the damage is more than a trillion.
18:49 That is to say, more than a million dollars.
18:54 A very high figure.
18:58 An extraordinary figure for any economy.
19:01 There is a doubt that this is a very high figure for any economy, even industrialized.
19:08 So this means more than $400 million per month.
19:15 When the impact is compared with Cuba's income, it is an extraordinary proportion.
19:22 It is $1 million every two hours.
19:29 That number is very strong.
19:31 It has a tremendous devastating impact on the economy.
19:35 And 80% of the current Cuban population do not know a Cuba without this impact.
19:43 More under the blockade, more after the blockade was formalized.
19:50 Because the truth is that the blockade almost started with the Cuban Revolution.
19:54 There are blockade measures practically previous or simultaneous with the agrarian reform.
20:01 Minister, it drew a lot of attention that Cuba, despite the blockade, manufactured vaccines
20:07 against the coronavirus and removed its population forward when many countries have not yet been
20:13 able to vaccinate their population against COVID-19.
20:17 This effort, how is it achieved?
20:20 What is it about Cubans that can do these wonderful things in the middle of shortcomings,
20:25 difficulties and everything you're telling me?
20:29 Yes, many actors.
20:32 Cuba was the first nation in the South able to produce vaccines.
20:37 At times when some of the richest industrialized countries, even in Europe, had not achieved
20:44 or had failed in the war to do so.
20:48 It is a long history that begins with the development of a truly powerful health system
20:55 and science system, which starts from social policies that allow universal and free access
21:04 to very high quality health systems, which is recognized everywhere on the planet.
21:15 And it is a scientific addiction, also the result of extraordinary development in the
21:21 field of biotechnology, genetic engineering and the pharmaceutical industry.
21:27 It is true that the country was able to produce the five vaccine candidates and the three
21:36 highly effective vaccines in practically record time and with limited resources.
21:49 That is, today in scientific media, no one has doubt that the Cuban vaccines, if they
21:55 are not the most effective, they are among the most effective ones in the world.
22:01 This is demonstrated by the health indicator in the population that has only received the
22:07 Cuban vaccine.
22:09 Our scientists, our doctors and our health staff and our people in general have enormous
22:17 merit and the management of their government and the vision of President Díaz-Canel, which
22:25 develops Fidel's vision in relation to science and introduces it into government management
22:33 in a scientific way based on academic and based on information.
22:40 And in the direct relationship and in the incorporation of scientists into the decision-making
22:47 processes as happened during COVID-19, which has been an innovative model in the sense
22:59 in the world.
23:00 It is also present in this result.
23:03 It was also a feat in the face of the blockade because the blockade makes the development
23:08 of our biopharmaceutical industry difficult on a daily basis because it directly obstacles
23:16 the industrial production of the vaccines.
23:20 It needs in addition to the technology that is Cuban, needs equipment, industrial scale,
23:31 enrichment components per part.
23:34 But also during the pandemic, the United States government applied the blockade in a brutal
23:39 way.
23:40 How many measures?
23:41 Paradoxically, it has made it flexibilized in all the sanctions regimes which apply
23:52 with the sanctions of Cuba.
23:53 In the case of Cuba, it was clearly hardened in an opportunistic way.
24:02 The most comprehensive and prolonged sanctions system in history added to the 243 measures
24:18 applied by President Trump's government.
24:22 And at the same time, during the pandemic, it applied scientific measures in other areas.
24:30 For example, at the worst moment of the pandemic, Cuba was prevented from acquiring long ventilators
24:38 from intensive therapies, which are not produced by North American companies, which are produced
24:44 by European subsidiary companies of North American companies.
24:51 It was prevented.
24:52 Well, our engineers had to produce prototypes, and we produced high-performance Cuban long
24:56 ventilators.
24:58 It was a tremendous effort, and it was a cruel obstacle.
25:05 And back to the extraterritorial nature of the blockade laws.
25:10 Extraterritorial and inhuman.
25:12 And when we saw the failure in the main medicinal oxygen production plant, it was clear that
25:19 it is a lie that the blockade does not include medicines or medical equipment.
25:27 It is clear that to transport medical oxygen from the United States to Cuba in the middle
25:33 of the respiratory pandemic, at a peak of severe people in intensive therapy, a specific
25:42 alliance from the United States government is required to transport an oxygen balloon,
25:50 even beyond the deterrent and intimidating effect that the blockade has on companies
25:59 and countries.
26:00 On that occasion, the acquisition by Cuba of medicinal oxygen in third countries was
26:08 deliberately obstructed by the United States.
26:12 Many countries said in the United Nations that this is a genocide, something that you
26:16 have also said on different occasions.
26:22 It is not a phrase that reflects a feeling which would also deserve it.
26:30 It is not an emotional expression that would perfectly justify and ensure it.
26:39 It is not a definition of political scope.
26:45 It is in a strict sense a qualification of international law on the basis of the Convention
26:54 Against the Crime of Genocide of 1948 in its Article 2 and its subsection specifically
27:10 B and C, referring to the Punishable Criminal Act, illegal to cause damage to human groups
27:21 and the similar act of generating conditions that endanger the existence of groups of people.
27:32 And what I have said, it is only in matter of food, medicine and the blockade as a whole.
27:41 It allows me to typify the blockade in a strict law of the International Act.
27:48 Minister finally talking about genocide, I would like to see your position on another
27:53 very important issue, which is the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
27:58 Many Palestinian children are dying daily, many Palestinians.
28:02 The situation is very serious.
28:04 What is your position?
28:08 It's a crime that must stop.
28:12 The international community has to act to stop it.
28:17 The United Nations Security Council should fulfil its obligation and the United Nations
28:26 General Assembly should act determinately in the face of the paralysis caused by the
28:33 Security Council.
28:35 The United States vetoed directly, historically and currently, a guarantee impunity for Israel
28:42 and its permanent aggression and occupation of Palestinian territory.
28:50 But there is no doubt that a real international crime is being committed, a real massacre.
28:58 The images of Palestinian children are poving and that is why Cuba, even in approaching
29:06 the issue of the blockade, decided to denounce those acts as an expression of policies based
29:17 on what Fidel called, in a recent quote made by President Díaz-Canel, the philosophy of
29:26 dispossession and the philosophy of war.
29:30 It's a crime that the international community has to stop.
29:36 It is a crime that the international community has to stop.
29:39 I agree with you, Minister.
29:41 Thank you very much for being with Telesur today, making these important reflections
29:45 on Cuba, on the blockade and on what is being experienced in Palestine.
29:49 Thanks.
29:50 We go back to studios in Caracas, Venezuela.
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