• SPEECH BY DR.CARLOS LAGE DAVILA, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE STATE COUNCIL OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA,
AT THE 55^TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION. GENEVE, MARCH 24, 1999.

ON Tuesday, March 22, at 9 p.m. local time, after a long journey via London, Comrade Carlos Lage arrived in Geneva to head the Cuban delegation to the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Commission, where he was due to speak the following day.

Cuba's message on human rights had been carefully drawn up on the basis of principled positions, with precise data and the necessary arguments reflecting our sound and exemplary revolutionary history in that field. Cuba's words assumed special significance in the face of the cynical policy of the United States, which has constantly harassed and slandered Cuba on this issue in order to justify its blockade and its crimes against our people. It has been a long battle. For many years it was unable to garner sufficient votes to condemn Cuba.

The collapse of the socialist bloc and the disintegration of the Soviet Union drastically changed the correlation of forces within this extremely politicized commission. Many of those who were former friends went over to the imperialist camp. It is enough to recall some of them, like Uzbekistan, which went as far as to vote, on its own with Washington, in favor of the blockade of Cuba in the UN General Assembly. In that way, with the bastard support of these new "democratic" allies, between abstentions and votes against the resolution condemning the blockade, the United States managed to keep Cuba in the minority.

Our country persisted in its valiant struggle. The Revolution did not disappear, as many believed it would, and in 1998, with the valiant support of its friends from the Third World, Cuba reverted the positions, putting the imperial power in the minority.

This year, relying on the enormous resources of its propaganda apparatus and the power of its mass media, and utilizing as a pretext the Revolution's supremely just measures for confronting Washington's criminal economic warfare and its subversive and destabilizing plans to destroy socialism in Cuba, the United States went on the offensive once again in the Human Rights Commission.

This time, it found the necessary straw man to present the resolution against Cuba, in the form of the Czech Republic, another byproduct of the division and subdivision within the countries of the disintegrated socialist bloc.

It has been a tradition in the Geneva commission that, during the annual meetings to cover the issues being debated, the foreign ministers and senior officials of countries participating in the debates could speak for 30, 40 and up to 50 minutes. Cuba had a lot to say, and the right and moral duty to say it, as a country implacably besieged and harassed by the United States, in order to denounce the insidious and dirty maneuvers of that country, the principal sponsor of the Czech resolution.

Our delegation discovered that the lady from Ireland who was chairing the debates, breaking with the tradition and the elemental right granted to foreign ministers and senior officials to put forward their arguments - as is UN practice - with complete freedom, without restrictions or humiliating restraints, especially when it concerns countries which are the victims of the big global powers' vile conspiracies, had imposed a 15-minute limit on speeches, under the outrageous threat of a strident and derisive gavel which would interrupt the orator.

In a matter of hours, in an intensive and exhausting labor, the Cuban delegation was forced to make an enormous effort to reduce its exposition by two thirds, which meant having to cut important aspects of the argument. Under those circumstances, in spite of everything, it was possible to present a compact statement based on just principles and irrefutable facts, whose initial paragraph denounced the arbitrary, irrational and inflexible time limit imposed.

The integral message, printed beforehand in Spanish, English and French, was distributed among the delegations present. Nonetheless, Comrade Lage was unable to conclude his speech, being interrupted by a discourteous gaveling when he was a few minutes from completing it.

The chairwoman explained the reasons for her action:

"I apologize for having to interrupt you. I'm afraid that we are confronting a problem of time limitations. Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding, because at the beginning of your speech, you made an allusion to the rigidity of the time limits imposed by the chair.

"I feel it is important to explain the existence of a time limit, approved by the Commission after listening to the Bureau's recommendations.

"The chair's role has been to try to apply this time limit in a fair and impartial way to all speakers.

"That is to say, personally I find it extremely difficult to be discourteous towards any representative in this room, especially when it is a matter of visiting dignitaries.

"At the same time, I have appealed and I appeal to all the delegations not to put the chair in this really difficult position. Therefore, with this petition, I ask you, Mr. Vice President, to proceed to the conclusion of your speech."

Taking the floor again, Comrade Lage replied:

"Those rules were not the ones in effect last year and we were informed of them upon our arrival here. I was two minutes away from completing my speech. We lament the fact that a besieged, threatened, blockaded country, subjected to a criminal policy of genocide, is not being allowed to conclude its remarks.

"I am grateful to everyone for their kindness in having listened to US.

"Thank you."

The courage, ethics and arguments of that document's inconclusive reading made their impact.

When he left the podium the head of the Cuban delegation was applauded warmly. Sufficient truths had been exposed. Once again many of the delegates observed among themselves, "As always, Cuba says what many feel and are unable to express."

The following is the integral text of the Cuban message.

Distinguished Mrs. Chairperson,

Distinguished members of the Chair,

Distinguished delegates,

We are here today to expose slanders, tell the truth and defend ideas.

For 40 years, we Cubans have been under a blockade, we have been attacked and consistently slandered, and more than once, we have been criticized and condemned for the laws and measures we have been forced to adopt in our defense.

Over the last few weeks, a lot has been said about the amendments to our Criminal Code and our Law on the Protection of the National Independence and the Economy of Cuba, both passed by our Parliament on February 16 last, and about a trial whereby, in full compliance with the law, four unpatriotic individuals were sentenced.

Amidst the resulting confusion, a rather large number of media reports have mixed up the new sanctions set forth in the amendments to the Criminal Code related to common crimes with the sentences applicable under a different law to those who act in the service of the enemy that wages a war against our nation.

The changes introduced in our Criminal Code are consistent with the characteristics and circumstances of the crime situation in the world today, and include three new crimes; i.e., money laundering, trafficking with persons and the sale of minors. In addition, increased sentences have been established for crimes and other conducts with a most deleterious effect on the citizens peace, societal morale and ethical values, and people's health.

We do administer the death penalty in extremely serious cases to the perpetrators of particularly obnoxious crimes --such as the use of our country for international drug trafficking-- and serious acts of rape and corruption of minors, since under the prevailing global circumstances we deem it indispensable to discourage such repulsive behavior.

We respect those who, in many parts of the world, are opposed to capital punishment and share the hope that the day will come when such sanction will not be required in any society. However, as a country where contempt of court is encouraged from abroad through thousands of illegal broadcasting hours each week, Cuba cannot, for the time being, give up capital punishment, a sanction currently applied in other countries that have not been under similar hostility and siege.

The reforms to the Cuban Criminal Code are based on internationally accepted legal principles and are widely supported by our people who, accustomed to enjoy the safety provided for by the Revolution, has demanded more severe sanctions for the perpetrators of such transgressions.

On the other hand, the Law on the Protection of the National Independence and the Economy of Cuba has been described by those who exercise the monopoly of information as a piece of legislation that runs counter to the freedom of thought and expression. To imagine that this is possible would be tantamount to assume that a people used to championing its ideas can be meek and poor in terms of its human condition. No one is penalized in Cuba for thinking or speaking up.

This law is designed to penalize any citizen whose actions supplement the goal of the aggressive power in its economic warfare; i.e., destabilize the country, subvert domestic order and destroy the Revolution. This law defines crimes of collaboration with the enemy, rather than crimes of opinion as some have deliberately misrepresented it.

The United States intense and unscrupulous war has prompted not only Cuba, but also the European Union and countries like Canada, Mexico and Argentina, to pass legislation designed to protect their individual sovereignty and independence in the face of extraterritorial decisions adopted by the US Congress.

Our new law protects not only the Cuban sovereignty and the rights of our country's nationals, but also the citizens of other countries who have been particularly targeted by pressures, retaliation and sanctions exercised as part of the blockade policy.

Orchestrated from the United States and for more than a year, a media campaign of malicious stories against the Cuban Revolution has been launched over the arrest of four citizens who were recently prosecuted for incitement to sedition and sentenced from three-and-a-half to five years imprisonment.

Their fate would have been different had any American court prosecuted them. There, for just some of the crimes they committed in Cuba, they would have been considered transgressors of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of the Treasury Department and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and forced to pay a $250 000 fine. In fact, any attempt to contact a foreign government or agent, let alone try to subvert or plot against the government, is punished with a fine of up to $5 000 and three years in prison under the Logan Act in force for the last 200 years.

Their trial produced abundant evidence of their consistent collaboration with the enemy through the US Interest Section in Havana, from which they received instructions, funds and means, aimed, among other goals, at obstructing foreign investments by resorting to all sorts of threats, internationalizing the criminal blockade suffered by our country and upsetting domestic order. As any other nation would do, we claim our right to penalize those who act at the service of a power that besets their own homeland.

As a result of the media power, interests at stake, confusing ideas, lack of information and irresponsible behavior, the attacker's lies earn more credibility than the evidence produced by those under attack.

We know that, based on comparisons with their home countries or other nations, there are people in the world, even friendly individuals, who have questioned the fairness of this legal proceedings conducted with full guarantees and respect for the human person.

However, when it comes to judging Cuba and its Revolution, it cannot be ignored that ours is not just any country. Cuba is a permanent target of hostility by the most powerful nation on Earth that has not ceased for a moment its threats and aggressions. We are a country blockaded by a superpower that forces us to be on the defensive and on the alert because we are determined not to add one more star to the US flag.

No one has the right to attack a country for forty years, nor try to criminally blockade it into submission, or finance the annexationist dreams and counterrevolutionary activities of isolated groups who are selling out their homeland, and accuse it later for having acted in its own defense.

If the Helms-Burton Act, the blockade and the economic warfare against Cuba that together intend to break domestic order, destabilize our country, and liquidate Cuba’s socialist state and independence were not a fact, then the Law on the Protection of the National Independence and the Economy of Cuba would not have been required. Only by recognizing both the unique conditions of our reality and the fact that no nation has ever been compelled to endure a most stubborn aggression by a voracious and powerful neighbor, can the current developments of our country be understood. The war waged by the United States and its annexationist servants against Cuba is, indeed, one and the same. There is no watertight compartment. Psychological warfare, bombing, sedition, propaganda; anything is valid, and everything is used. The faces are many, the purpose only one.

One may wonder, in this Human Rights Commission, who has authorized the United States to seize the right to act, apparently for life, as a prosecutor against Cuba? Who gave the US the right of self-appointment as "chief justice" for human rights worldwide also apparently for life?

Why should we accept that year after year, following a congressional mandate, the US State Department drafts thick reports describing the human rights performance of every nation, except, of course, the United States itself?

How could we possibly accept that the US passes its judgement on the world all through 5000 pages?

Must it be consented that a nation, whose unrestrained drug consumption encourages drug production and traffic, may unilaterally issue "poor conduct" certificates to drug producing, selling or transshipment countries?

Why can the United States ignore the international community heedless of the fact that the General Assembly has voted time and again opposing the blockade policy against Cuba?

Why is the United States allowed to pass 61 unilateral sanctions against a number of countries that account for 42% of the world's population, without even being admonished for it?

Why is the United States opposed to any Security Council expansion to include countries like India, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and others with the same prerogatives as the incumbent members?

The United States sets itself above everything and everyone to require accountability for human rights violations, while its records in that area leave much to be desired. In the US, the wealthiest and most powerful nation ever:

• Nearly one million people live on the streets, under bridges or in emergency shelters, while just one of its nationals amasses $80 billions.

• 43 million people, including 11 million children, have no health insurance.

• Millions of low-income people, ill persons, elderly and single mothers have recently been excluded from welfare coverage.

In the wealthiest and most powerful nation ever:

• 20% of the total population are functional illiterates.

• 17 million women have been raped or sexually abused, and over half the female population has been victim of violence.

• The 45 million poor people in the United States are mostly Hispanic, Blacks and children. Black children have twice as many chances to die in their first year of life as their white counterparts.

• The black population has been used for government-sanctioned experiments that have caused premeditated health damage.

The wealthiest and most powerful nation ever that attacks Cuba and asks you to condemn it:

• Is the leading drug consumer on Earth;

• Is characterized by police brutality against Blacks, Hispanics and immigrants;

• Has the largest penal population in the world, and its prisons accord inmates inhuman and degrading treatment;

• Enforces the death penalty quite easily, albeit hardly ever -- or exceptionally -- against a purely Aryan blood white national. The fact is that the electric chairs, gas chambers and lethal injections are constantly and amazingly used against Blacks, Hispanics and Third World immigrants.

The wealthiest and most powerful nation ever:

• Keeps in maximum-security institutions over 100 political prisoners, including 15 Puerto Rican men and women who have fought for the independence of their country. This figure does not include the hundreds of thousands of people who have been punished with excessive harshness just for being Blacks, American indians, mestizos or Hispanics whose lives under discrimination and dire poverty have led them to commit real or imaginary misdemeanors;

• Silently allows the spread of neo-fascist and xenophobic groups that advocate discrimination and increase their violent actions;

• Has created the deadliest weapons of extermination and has failed to stop that hideous machinery;

• Among the industrialized countries, is the lowest contributor to development aid, and among the UN members, the biggest debtor to this organization.