Cuba Denounces Blockade as an Obstacle to Its Right to Development
Geneva, Apr 29 (Prensa Latina) Cuba said at the United Nations in Geneva on Monday that the blockade imposed by the United States is the main obstacle to the people”s exercise of their right to development.The diplomat referred to Washington’s recent decision to take new aggressive measures against Cuba, like the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which violates the UN Charter and the principles of international law.
The enforcement of that title ‘is an unprecedented juridical aberration, it is a desperate attempt at making the Cuban people surrender and violating their right to development according to the model they have chosen sovereignly,’ Pedroso pointed out.
The ambassador stressed that ‘Cuba rejects in the strongest terms that decision and the tightening of the blockade’ and calls on ‘all members of the international community and the United Nations mechanisms to stop the irrational escalation, hostile policy and aggression by the Government of the United States’.
On the other hand, Pedroso stated that more than 30 years after its adoption by the UN General Assembly, the effective implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development has not been fulfilled.
‘The right to development is a universal and inalienable right and is a right of both individuals and peoples. It is a collective right that we all must enjoy and therefore promote and respect,’ the Cuban diplomat went on.
However, the great inequality between rich and poor nations, and within the countries, with huge economic, social and cultural implications, still constitutes one of the main obstacles to the realization of the right to development.
‘The lack of political will by several developed countries that deny the collective right to development is regrettable, and year after year, they hinder its implementation and its juridical recognition in international organizations,’ Pedroso stressed.
He noted that Cuba reaffirms that if there were a political will by the developed countries, and with relatively few resources, a lot could be done for the right to development of the States and of billions of people all over the world.
