United Nations, New York.- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel will address today the high-level segment of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly to denounce the U.S. blockade policy against his country.
Upon his arrival in New York 72 hours ago, the president said he was bringing the voice of Cuba against the siege that has lasted more than 55 years and it has already failed and will continue to do so.
We will ratify this denunciation with all our strength, the head of State told reporters. He stressed that this is the most lasting blockade in the history of mankind.
Diaz-Canel said that this visit, the first to the UN headquarters, takes place at a time of setback in the relations between the Caribbean nation and the United States.
The speech about the Cold War has once again revitalized the Monroe Doctrine, and therefore this is an administration with which to advance in a relationship between equals is difficult, he said about the current U.S. government.
Diaz-Canel is also expected on Wednesday to deliver a speech commemorating the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
His agenda includes holding meetings with UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio.
He is also expected to be received at the mythical Riverside Church, where the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and South African fighter against the segregationist apartheid regime, Nelson Mandela, were welcomed.
This site, opened since the 30s of the last century, has been a community and progressive center of defense, opposed to wars and in favor of civil rights.
There, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered from the pulpit his historical speech against the war in Vietnam in April 1967, one year before he was assassinated.
Fidel Castro, in his only activity outside the Millennium Summit held in 2000, pronounced there a four-hour speech among those who said he was sure he would find his best friends.
Diaz-Canel met on Tuesday with his Panamanian peer, Juan Carlos Varela; Angola’s João Lourenço; South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa; and Argentina’s Mauricio Macri; and President of Government of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, who accepted an invitation to visit Cuba.
He also exchanged views with Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley; the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena; and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.