NEW YORK – Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s president, used his time at the United Nations General Assembly to criticize the United States’ “coercive measures” and “merciless economic warfare.”
During his speech, which lasted about 20 minutes, Díaz-Canel said Havana recently hosted The Group of 77 at the United Nations, a coalition of 135 developing countries.
Díaz-Canel criticized the U.S. sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and said the intensification of “the hostility” has prompted an immigration crisis.
“The government of the United States lies and causes great harm,” Díaz-Canel said.
Díaz-Canel called for “a new and more just global contract” and said The G77 “will continue to demand a profound transformation of the current international financial architecture because it is deeply unjust, anachronistic, and dysfunctional.”
A small group of protesters stood outside the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday to protest the “inefficient” centralized “socialist economy” in Cuba.
“There is no blockade in Cuba! There is an embargo and sanctions on a murderous dictatorship,” a protester said. “When we talk about human rights: Cubans have none.”
Cuba’s deep economic crisis worsened during the pandemic. Food and medicine shortages have become common and fueled a new mass exodus and unprecedented protests.
Díaz-Canel didn’t talk about the economic model in Cuba. Instead, he said the U.S. policy was designed to “perpetuate a system of domination that increases underdevelopment and replicates a pattern of modern colonialism.”