Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, addressed the BRICS Summit this Monday. Given its importance, we reproduce the Head of State’s speech in full, as published on the Presidency website.

Dear President Lula;
Esteemed leaders and heads of delegation:

I believe I must begin by thanking, on behalf of my country and people, our integration into BRICS as a partner. BRICS is today synonymous with hope. The hope that multilateralism will be saved from the chaos and ineffectiveness into which the arrogance of a few has plunged the UN – an organisation born 80 years ago to prevent war from being an alternative for conflict resolution, yet urgently requiring the profound reforms demanded by the Global South for over half a century.

This octogenarian institution is dangerously fragmented and gravely threatened by the progressive erosion of multilateralism, translating into heightened risks for international peace and security.

The horror of recent weeks and months clearly shows where the diplomacy of force leads. The United States Government, wielding and abusing its undeniable military, economic, financial, and all-encompassing power – save moral – consistently acts with absolute contempt for the principles and norms of International Law and the UN Charter. It withdraws from various international bodies and forums; declares plans for land usurpation and territorial annexation; justifies and promotes supremacist ideas; carries out mass, violent, and racist deportations of migrants; and no longer even hides its ambitious and spurious geostrategic interests.

It is the same power that supported Israel’s recent aggressions against Iran and launched a direct attack on the Persian nation through bombings against three nuclear facilities.

Cuba reiterates its solidarity with the people and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran following Israel’s aggression and vigorously condemns the attack initiated by the United States, as these acts constitute flagrant violations of the UN Charter and International Law, and a serious breach of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

We likewise reiterate the firmest condemnation of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, also perpetrated by Israel with the permanent political, military, and financial backing of the United States – whose government guarantees the Zionist regime’s impunity and obstructs, through the undemocratic right of veto, the action of the UN Security Council.

A comprehensive, just, and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an indispensable prerequisite for bringing peace to the Middle East in this delicate moment for international relations.

Until this barbarity ceases, we will remain living in the prehistory of what once created something as promising for peace as the so-called United Nations.

Hence why I speak of hope. Against the threatening scenario described, BRICS emerges – whose member and partner countries, so different, so unequal in development levels – advance by promoting shared ideals of peace, dialogue, mutual respect, cooperation, and solidarity.

The group’s commitment to building a fairer, more inclusive international order is deeply inspiring. Without this, sustainable development – which all deserve and has been so delayed for nations shackled by the underdeveloping curse left by centuries of colonialism and neocolonialism – will remain unattainable.

In this endeavour, it is urgent to reform from its roots the current international financial architecture and its non-transparent, undemocratic institutions, designed to perpetuate the exclusion and exploitation of Global South nations.

Equally indispensable is more inclusive and democratic governance of Artificial Intelligence, ensuring all countries access its benefits and preventing its use against peace and International Law.

Present and future generations have the right to live in a world of peace and security, where social justice prevails; where cultural, ethnic, and religious plurality is respected; and where democratic access to science and technology exists. A world where all human rights for all are realisable without politicisation or double standards, based on cooperation and respect for each country’s right to choose its political, economic, and social system without external interference. A world without cruel blockades or unilateral coercive measures contrary to International Law.

After six decades of an economic blockade codified into foreign laws – relentlessly tightened with the sole, declared purpose of provoking social unrest – Cuba today faces a new act of imperial arrogance contrary to International Law.

We arrive at this Summit with news that a new package of coercive measures, wholly aimed at economically suffocating the country, has been added to the historic blockade via Presidential Memorandum. The document revives the old imperial pretension that it falls to them to determine who should lead our nation’s destiny and how. And all in the name of supposed democracy!

No other country has had to build its social and development project under the prolonged, cruel, and systematic application of an economic, commercial, and financial siege by history’s greatest power.

The blockade is an act of aggression whose offensively extraterritorial application violates the sovereignty of all States. Its purpose is anchored in the past, lacks sense or justification, and must cease.

In the 21st century, there is also no place for unilateral listings and certifications based on unfounded criteria – like Cuba’s unjust and arbitrary designation on the list of alleged State Sponsors of Terrorism, which extends the siege to the rest of the world. The United States has neither the moral authority nor any international mandate to certify Cuba or any other country.

To confront shared challenges, humanity needs neither blockades, false supremacism, nor appetites for domination and exploitation. What our species urgently requires for survival is greater respect for our legitimate differences, more dialogue, cooperation, and integration.

A firm and renewed commitment to multilateralism is imperative to guarantee peaceful coexistence and promote sustainable, equitable, and inclusive development for all peoples. Hence the urgency to nurture and strengthen BRICS – which we are honoured to join with the noble aspiration to contribute and learn.

In this endeavour, you can always count on Cuba!

Thank you very much. (Applause)

Taken from Presidencia