Cuba Calls for New World Order Based on Solidarity

Addressing the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Cuba’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina called to safeguard the future generations from the scourge of war and its disastrous suffering.

‘Working tirelessly to preserve international peace and security, and promote friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principles of sovereign equality and free determination of peoples, must remain a commitment of the UN and its member states,’ he stressed.

The diplomat denounced that military expending in 2017 was $1.74 trillion USD, the highest figure since the end of the Cold War.

He regretted that every year, exorbitant sums were invested in the war industry, existing nuclear arsenals were modernized and new systems of that kind of weapon were being developed, instead of allocating those resources to promote peace, fight hunger and poverty, and implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

‘Nuclear disarmament remains frozen and the existence of huge nuclear arsenals, 100 of whose warheads would be enough to provoke the nuclear winter, are a serious and imminent threat to the survival of humanity,’ he warned.

The first deputy foreign minister stated the great importance Cuba grants to promote multilateral ideas as a basic principle of the negotiations on disarmament and non-proliferation.

Medina expressed concern over the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or Nuclear Deal with Iran and, more recently, from the Short, Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty signed with Russia in 1987.

‘The international community cannot remain passive, or in silence, much less when the strengthening of the role of nuclear weapons in the doctrines of defense and security of certain possessing States is confirmed,’ he said.

The diplomat warned that these nations are increasingly ready to consider the use of these weapons, even in response to so-called ‘non-nuclear strategic threats.’

The Cuban representative denounced the escalation of pressure and actions of the U.S. government to prepare what he called a military adventure, disguised as ‘humanitarian intervention’, against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

We have the responsibility of preserving the future generations from the scourge of war, saving the planet and creating conditions under which justice and respect for obligations emanating from international treaties can be maintained, he concluded.