New York, 29 October 2019."It is time to demand that the largest weapon-manufacturing countries put the safety and well-being of their citizens before the petty interests of military industrial complexes and the war machinery," said Lilianne Sánchez Rodríguez, Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations at the thematic debate "Other disarmament measures and international security," of the First Committee of the international organization.
The representative of the island referred to the United States Department of Defense's Cyber Strategy in 2018, which authorizes the use of offensive cyber-weapons and offensive cyber-operations, including the possibility of carrying out preventive cyber-attacks to deter adversaries.
She reiterated that the hostile use of telecommunications, with the declared or covert purpose of subverting the legal and political order of States, such as the establishment of the Cuba Internet Task Force, is a violation of internationally agreed norms in this matter.
The young Cuban diplomat explained that, during 2019, 1,865 hours a week were illegally broadcast against Cuba, on 21 frequencies, from the territory of the United States, in contravention of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the provisions of the International Telecommunication Union.
During the debate, Sánchez Rodríguez demanded the immediate lifting of unilateral coercive measures, such as the economic, commercial and financial blockade and the Helms Burton Act imposed by the United States against Cuba, which limit access to and the use and enjoyment of information and communications technologies, as well as the materials and equipment that countries need for their development.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations