Correa Condemns U.S. Blockade of Cuba at Inter-Parliamentary Meeting

Speaking at the opening session of the 128th Assembly of the World Inter-Parliamentarian Union (IPU), being held in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa denounced the U.S. blockade of Cuba, which has been condemned 21 consecutive times at the United Nations.In a speech interrupted by ovations by some 1,500 parliamentarians from 121 countries, Correa pointed out that unfortunately, historic human rights bodies have become political instruments of persecution of progressive governments.

Precisely, the reforms to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Commission (IACHR), which he described as totally dominated by hegemonic countries and ONGs, were discussed on Friday in Washington. They are dominated by capital, behind enterprises dedicated to communication, and the IACHR has become an echo of the worst mercantilist media, he stressed.

The first question we would have to ask ourselves is why we have to discuss in Washington, he said.

How irrational is that the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) is in the country that has imposed (for 50 years) a criminal blockade on Cuba and has openly violated the fundamental Charter of the OAS?, he wondered.

A blockade, he added, that has been condemned nothing less than 21 times (every year from 1992 to 2012) by almost all member countries of the United Nations, the latest condemnation was in October 2012 by 188 of 193 member countries.

“These things have to be said, let’s stop looking the other way, let’s stop keeping it to ourselves in light of these barbarities,” stressed Correa amid a standing ovation.

The blockade of Cuba is, undoubtedly, the worst violation of international law, inter-American law and human rights in our continent, but it is not even included in the IACHR annual reports, the Ecuadorian president stated.

While applying the law and taking a cunning journalist to court is considered an attack on human rights, nothing is said about the blockade of Cuba or the tortures in the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, he said.

Ecuador will no longer accept that shameless neo-colonialism, we cannot accept that kind of situations, he warned.

We could also wonder what the OAS is good for if it cannot even declare itself about such crucial problems such as that of the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, seized from Argentina by force in the 19th century.

The countries that talk most about human rights are those that have not signed the international treaties on the issue, said Correa, who wondered how it is possible that the IACHR is practically financed by countries that do not recognize it, observers that are not part of the Americas and pay to control it.

The world order is not only unfair, it is immoral, noted Correa, and the most aberrant stances are supported for the benefit of capital, above all the financial one.

That is the main challenge faced by humankind in the 21st century: capital or human beings, and the parliamentarians of the planet can legislate so that in the end, justice is not merely convenient for the strongest, Correa told parliamentarians from all over the world.