Lula condemns a US block against Cuba at the Brazil-Caribe Summit meeting

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned, on Friday (13), at the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasilia, the economic blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, which has lasted more than six decades. He highlighted the present leaders that the sense of solidarity between countries “is more necessary than ever.”

“We must follow the embargo against Cuba and its misleading inclusion in lists of countries that support terrorism,” he said.

For him, the world is lacking “voices that speak in the name of what is right, fair and sensible.” “Brazil has always seen this vocation in the Caribbean,” he says.

“Without the Caribbean, we will never have a strong CELAC (community of the Latin American and Caribbean states),” he said.

Lula also stated that, in a scenario of intensifying geopolitical disputes, the approximation between Brazil and the Cariber reaffirms the search for autonomy against old and new hegemonies.

Read more: Lula: “Latin America and Caribbean need to redefine themselves in the new global order”

“Ensuring that we will walk side by side and with the look in the future will be the most urgent task of the Brazil-Caribe Ministerial Forum we created today,” he said.

The meeting brought together 16 countries that seek approximation and strengthening of partnership. “We are resuming ties with our continent and strengthening Brazilian foreign policy, which is one of the greatest assets of our nation,” he said.

The president spoke in areas where the collaboration between Brazil and the Caribbean has the potential to yield concrete results, such as climate change.

“We need to come together with COP30 in Belém. Our success measure will be the degree of ambition of the new NDCs (nationally determined contributions in Portuguese) to be presented. The new goal of Brazil, which provides for reduction of emissions between 59 and 67%, was the product of intense internal exercise,” he said.

NDCs are the voluntary commitments each country assumes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and adapt to the impacts of climate change within the Paris Agreement.

Energy transition

The president also highlighted the area of ​​energy transition: “A fair transition means not penalizing, once again, developing countries. Holding from different sources of energy is part of this strategy. The Brazilian option by biofuels has allowed sugarcane to symbol the passport to a sustainable future. The Caribbean, which divides this past with Brazil, can also be part of this future.”

Regarding food safety, Lula accentuated data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) according to which hunger still haunts more than 12 million Caribbean.

“This challenge will only be overcome by reconciling good public policies with adequate funding. This is the purpose of the global alliance against hunger and poverty, which now has St. Lucia, Cuba and the Caribbean Development Bank,” he said.