FOREIGN Minister Felipe Pérez Roque qualified the imposition by blackmail and pressure of the resolution against Cuba in the Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva as a huge moral victory for the Cuban Revolution.

Speaking to employees of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MINREX), Pérez Roque stated that Cuba totally rejects this spurious attempt to condemn the island, which does not feel condemned but, on the contrary, proud of its record in favor of human rights for an entire people, and of its genuine democracy.

He recalled that exactly 40 years ago the Cuban people, dressed in militia uniforms, defeated the mercenary army that was trained, financed and organized by the same ones who are now trying to use human rights as a weapon to attack our country and to justify their economic blockade of the island.

"No honest man or woman on earth will be deceived by this maneuver."

He stressed that the island has never employed torture, political assassination, nor repression on its street, and that the Cuban Revolution, for the first time in the history of the 20th century, gave the country back its dignity and true enjoyment of its rights.

Pérez Roque expressed his gratitude and admiration for those countries that resisted the blackmail and pressure exerted in Geneva, and disdain for those who were incapable of standing up to the pressures, above all for the promoters of this abhorrent resolution directed against Cuba.

The minister stated, "Cuba does not and will not accept this resolution imposed on the basis of blackmail and pressure. It rejects every letter of this text and feels under no obligation to adhere to it."

He reiterated the fact that this is a selective, discriminatory exercise, an act of revenge against a nation that dared to defeat the empire and which raises its voice in favor of the world’s poor.

He denounced the Czech Republic for acting as a U.S. lackey during the UNHRC, as well as Washington’s draconian pressures and persecution of Latin American, African and Asian nations in order to gain backing for this spurious document.

"Our small country, like a 21st-century David, is facing the pressure and blackmailing policy of the imperialist Goliath," he said, adding that Cuba’s battle has gained the support and admiration of Third World nations, of every honest man and woman on the planet.

He also mentioned the numerous examples of support for the island in the face of this web of lies, particularly from Latin American left-wing forces in countries like Uruguay, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina and Guatemala.

He mocked the sad role that Britain and Sweden played in aiding and abetting the United States’ dirty work in Geneva.

The Cuban foreign minister spoke with Carlos Amat and Iván Mora, Cuba’s representative on the Commission and interim ambassador, respectively; with Juan Antonio Fernández, MINREX’s deputy director of multilateral affairs; and with Cuban diplomat Mercedes de Armas.

Pérez Roque also read aloud President Fidel Castro’s statement on the issue, released the night before the vote, along with a further two statements from the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, which unmask the humiliating U.S. pressures exerted at the UNHRC.

The U.S. campaign of pressure and intimidation focused on the Commission’s African members. According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Washington even openly threatened several African governments with their exclusion from the alleged benefits of the Trade and Economic Opportunities Act for Africa, if they did not bend to U.S. interests. The height of the blackmail was an offer to give those nations help in their fight against AIDS, "if they renounced their position of support for Cuba." (AIN)

How did the countries vote?