“BRICS: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”
- Written by Redacción ¡ahora!
- Published in Cuba
- Hits: 48
Address delivered by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at 18th Summit of BRICS in New Delhi, India / Sunday, September 13, 2026.
His Excellency Dr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India:
I thank India for its invitation to this important Summit and for its generous hospitality.
The BRICS have the potential to be a factor for peace and security for all, development, justice, and progress in the Global South, indispensable for building a new multilateral, equitable, and democratic international order based on the sovereign equality of states and on international law.
It is necessary to fight against “the philosophy of plunder” so that “the philosophy of war” that plagues this era, 66 years after Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz’s denunciation in 1960, will cease. This philosophy now manifests itself in the so-called “peace through strength” and in aggressive and violent imperialist consequences.
In the centennial year of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, we are deeply moved to have arrived in this city, coinciding with the date of his first visit to India in 1973.
It is essential to replace the exploitative international financial architecture with one that democratizes its institutions and governance mechanisms. Along this path, it will be necessary to establish an alternative financial system that allows progress toward the dedollarization of the international economy. The use of national currencies is a proposal from the BRICS that is of paramount importance to alleviate the imbalances of the current monetary system.
The BRICS New Development Bank must increasingly reaffirm itself as an alternative for our countries to access financial resources on more favorable terms.
The structural problems of our economies are the result of colonialism, unfettered neoliberal capitalism, and imperialism. The decline in exports, the precariousness of commodity prices, the decrease in foreign direct investment, the external debt—already paid several times over—and capital flight seriously hinder our development. The inexorable advance of climate change threatens everyone’s existence.
It is urgent to strengthen development finance efforts, as well as international cooperation, including South-South cooperation mechanisms, and the transfer of resources, technologies, and knowledge without conditions.
It is essential to build an open, transparent, inclusive, and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system that guarantees special and differentiated treatment for all developing countries.
The BRICS can also contribute significantly to the democratization of and access to science, technology, and innovation for the Global South, helping to close the digital and technological divide.
No one is better positioned than the BRICS to advocate for and contribute to creating democratic and participatory governance systems for the development and application of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to serve the development and well-being of peoples, ensuring their peaceful, responsible, and ethical use. We celebrate the work carried out by the BRICS focused on digital technology and AI.
By their very nature, the BRICS have the undeniable responsibility to prevent and act against the proliferation of unilateral coercive measures.
In recent years, the criminal US economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba has been intensified to unprecedented levels.
With the executive orders of January 29 and May 1, 2026, the U.S. government has imposed an energy embargo against Cuba that amounts to a naval blockade, which constitutes an act of war under international law; and it threatens “secondary sanctions” against the entire world.
This has violently disrupted supply chains to the country. Threats against shipping companies registered in various countries have resulted in more than 7,000 containers, primarily carrying food, medicine, and medical devices, being held up in various ports, even though most of them were contracted and paid for by Cuban private companies.
It is a silent genocide that is claiming lives. The nation’s infant mortality rate has doubled from 4 per 1,000 live births to 9.9, and the life expectancy of children with cancer has fallen from 85% to 65%. Causing human harm, suffering, and anguish is the objective of this cruel policy, deliberately designed for that purpose.
It is an act of collective punishment against the entire Cuban people. Its indiscriminate and humanitarian effects are incalculable and cause great suffering to Cuban families. It is the instrument chosen to achieve “regime change.”
It is the same logic that underpins Cuba’s unjustifiable continued presence on the fraudulent list of supposed state sponsors of terrorism.
The U.S. government attempts to justify its aggressive actions against Cuba, as indicated in the text of both Executive Orders, with the flimsy pretext that the island is an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security and foreign policy of the nuclear, economic, and technological military superpower.
Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is!
All these actions violate the Charter of the United Nations and International Law, including International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law, and international trade and navigation regulations.
If the U.S. government were allowed to destroy a small nation for the purpose of changing its political system, or for any other reason, the world would become even more dangerous than it already is. What would come next? Who would be next?
We thank the member countries and partners of the Group for their statements in favor of lifting the blockade and the energy embargo against Cuba, and for the countless and genuine expressions of support and solidarity with our country from the peoples of the world.
We are a country of peace. We are not a threat to anyone. Reason and justice are on our side. We will continue to defend, to the very end, our right to self-determination, and nothing will deter us from the path of socialist development that our people, in close unity, have freely chosen.
With broad consensus, our people and government are working diligently, and we are now rapidly undertaking momentous economic and social changes to resolve structural or past problems and to respond to the economic war being waged against us. No one will be left behind, and we will not waver in our social policies.
We trust, first and foremost, in our capabilities, comparative advantages, experience, and in the awareness and mutual solidarity of the Cuban people. We will revitalize productive sectors, increase our exports, and make the most of our resources. We will continue to move forward decisively with the transformation of the country’s energy matrix. Under any circumstances, we will advance the recovery of our economy and the well-being of Cuban families.
We are also ready to contribute, with our modest experience, to the strengthening of this increasingly important BRICS group, which we aspire to join as a full member.
Thank you very much.
[ SOURCE: AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
