Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has called on the United Nations to stop the United States from starting a war in the region amid growing tensions over the buildup of military forces in the Caribbean to combat drug cartels. This was reported by Reuters.
"I call on the UN General Assembly and the Security Council to fulfill their duties and exercise their prerogatives under the mandate of the Charter to preserve peace in our region," Rodriguez said at a press conference in Havana to launch the annual campaign for a UN resolution condemning the trade embargo. He pointed out that the fight against drug trafficking in the name of US national security is a crude and ridiculous pretext for aggression. According to him, the US is the main center for laundering money from foreign assets originating from transnational organized crime, mainly from drug trafficking.
Tensions between Washington and Venezuela, Cuba's most important political and economic ally, are growing after US military strikes in the Caribbean on three Venezuelan ships allegedly transporting drugs. The interception and destruction of ships, the extrajudicial killings of civilians, and the interception of fishing boats create a dangerous situation that threatens peace and security, according to Rodriguez.
Over the past 32 years, the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution calling on the United States to lift its comprehensive sanctions regime against Cuba. Rodriguez noted that what is new this year is an international context characterized by increasing unilateralism and an intensification of aggressive US policies against Cuba and against almost every country on the planet.
President Donald Trump has doubled down on sanctions since taking office in January, returning Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening financial and travel restrictions, and sanctioning third-country nationals who receive Cuban doctors.
Rodriguez blamed the sanctions for the debilitating crisis in which the country is mired, the worst economic downturn in decades, characterized by shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure, and runaway inflation. The Trump administration blames Cuba's communist system.