Nobody
can make the Argentine people an enemy of Cuba
• Says Cuban foreign minister,
referring to the Argentine government’s measures against the island • Confirms
that our position is and always has been one of solidarity with a people who have been
victims of the terrible ordeal of murders, bloodthirsty dictatorships, disappeared persons
and the forcible occupation of part of their territory
BY ALDO MADRUGA (Granma
International staff writer)
"NOTHING and nobody can make the
Argentine people an enemy of Cuba, and that people knows that our country has never been a
part of any maneuvers against Argentina," confirmed Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Pérez Roque during a press conference held at his ministry and attended by both local and
international reporters.
"The Argentine people know very well
that we have expressed solidarity and support for their most just causes. The Argentine
people know very well, and every serious and respected Argentine politician knows very
well, that we are approaching the 20th anniversary of Cuba’s co-authorship of the
United Nations resolution that has been approved recognizing Argentina’s rights to
the Malvinas Islands," he emphasized.
He added that Cuba is also one of the
countries that has spent two decades as co-author of the draft resolution on this subject
in the United Nations Decolonization Committee.
"Our position is one of solidarity with
the Argentine people, who have had to suffer the terrible ordeal of murderers,
bloodthirsty dictatorships, disappeared persons and also the consequences of the forcible
occupation of that territory, and the thousands of Argentines who have found help and
support in our country know that," he confirmed.
"I’m sure that nothing and nobody
can deceive the Argentines. People are wise. Nobody can make the Argentine people an enemy
of Cuba, there is no way to distort such an evident reality," he stated.
At the beginning of the press conference,
Pérez Roque refuted Argentine Foreign Minister Adalberto Rodríguez Giavarini’s
claims that Cuba has escalated the conflict while he has been attempting to cool it down.
"I completely reject that because it is
untrue," he said, reiterating that Rodríguez Giavarini is precisely the person
responsible for the situation. He has been at the center of the anti-Cuba campaign, since
he not only gave the instructions for his country to join the U.S. maneuvers against the
island at the UN Human Rights Commission (HRC) in 2000, but is also evidently preparing
the conditions to repeat that stance this year, he said.
It is impossible for him to publicly explain
that he opposes the policy of the blockade and yet, at the same time, vote in favor of the
U.S. resolution against the island, added Pérez Roque.
"The greatest violation of human rights
in the hemisphere is precisely the blockade that attempts to force our people to surrender
through hunger and illness," he remarked.
The Cuban foreign minister recalled how
Rodríguez Giavarini had traveled to the United States on a very delicate and pressing
mission, how he had wanted to draw attention with a carefully worded, obliging speech in
line with his urgent plea for help, and how he had chosen Cuba as the theme, something
that would be most agreeable for some of those with whom he was meeting.
He confirmed that the comments made by
Alejandro González Galiano, Cuba’s ambassador to Argentina, exactly represented the
opinions of the Cuban Foreign Ministry and that the ambassador enjoys the
government’s full support and confidence in continuing the work entrusted to him.
He noted that Rodríguez Giavarini had
recalled Argentina’s ambassador to Cuba and given him instructions to remain
indefinitely in Buenos Aires. Despite this, he confirmed that Cuba’s ambassador has
instructions to remain in the Argentine capital and continue working and explaining the
Cuban position coherently to the Argentine people, the country’s authorities, and its
solidarity movement with the island.
In response to questions about a possible
Latin American initiative to propose an alternative resolution with regard to Cuba at the
next HRC meeting in Geneva, Pérez Roque said that Cuba would be opposed to that and only
asks for Latin American countries to take an independent position and not assist the U.S.
maneuvers.
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