Speech by the representative of Nicaragua at the UN General Assembly
The need to eliminate extraterritorial unilateral coercive economic measures used as an instrument of political and economic coercion is being discussed in the United Nations General Assembly. teleSUR
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00:00Let's go live again to the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly underway in this moment
00:04regarding extraterritorial coercive measures. We're going to now listen to the representative
00:10of Nicaragua.
00:12...measures is recognized, negative effect on developing nations' economies. It also recognizes
00:19the fact that these illegal measures do not benefit multilateralism at all, nor do they
00:25contribute to creating an environment of peace or peaceful relations between states.
00:32Since 2000, the imposition of unilateral coercive measures has become a key tool of the foreign
00:43policy of some countries such as the United States and member states of the European Union.
00:49They have issued more than 26,000 sanctions, affecting almost one-third of the world
00:57population. These coercive measures are aggressions against the rights of peoples
01:06and their right to self-determination and the right to be free.
01:11It has been 40 years since the adoption of Resolution 38-197 of the year 1983,
01:18entitled Economic Measures as a Means of Exerting Economic and Political Pressure
01:25on Developing Countries. And yet the United States and its allies continue imposing its
01:32imperial arrogance with complete impunity, leveraging its dominant position in the
01:39international economy and using these measures economically to bring pressure to bear or impose
01:47duress on the sovereign decisions of developing countries. The General Assembly has recognized
01:54the extraterritorial nature of these measures or administrative legislative policies and practices
02:03which are coercive in nature, which are adopted unilaterally against the development of peoples
02:09and the full enjoyment of their human rights. The General Assembly has established that
02:17developed countries must refrain from the threat of or the application of trade restrictions,
02:26blockades, or embargoes or any other economic measures which are incompatible with the
02:31provisions of the United Nations Charter. The Charter of the United Nations enshrines
02:38sovereign equality of all states. Yet both the Charter and international law are applied
02:46in a manner that is convenient to the imperialist powers, which have granted themselves the powers
02:54to create unilateral lists which not only manipulates human rights and democracy,
03:01but it also creates false pretexts which are contrary to international law and use
03:08false accusations which are leveraged accusing countries of sponsoring terrorism.
03:16The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States adopted in Resolution 3281 by the General
03:24Assembly in 1974 establishes that, quote, no state will use economic or political measures
03:31of any nature to promote the use of such measures with the view to coercing another state to obtain
03:41from it or the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights or to bring about advantages
03:46of any nature, end quote. Despite the fact that this charter is fully enforced, the blockade
03:52against the sister nation of Cuba continues to cause damage which is incalculable to that nation.
03:59It limits Cuba's access to medication, food, and basic elements necessary for health and life.
04:07We also condemn the inclusion of the sister nation of Cuba on the infamous list of
04:15state sponsors of terrorism. This is an instrument that is used by the United States
04:21and its allies to justify the adoption of illegal, coercive measures with the view to bringing
04:27economic and political pressure to bear. This is in clear violation of the sovereignty of the
04:32Cuban state. Nicaragua demands the exclusion of Cuba from this unilateral list. Nicaragua,
04:41like other sister nations, continues to be a victim of these measures which are in breach
04:48of international law through extraterritorial laws and executive orders imposed by the United States.
04:56These are all clearly geared to destroying our economy, to attacking our national sovereignty,
05:03and to attacking the right of our people to its right to self-determination without foreign
05:10interference. It is unacceptable that a country or a group of countries would come here to this
05:17General Assembly to justify or pretend to justify the implementation of these criminal measures,
05:26self-proclaiming themselves as judges of humanity and imposing what they call sanctions.
05:33This is a violation of international law. No country – no country can unilaterally,
05:41according to international law, be empowered or has the powers to establish these sanctions.
05:48The International Monetary Fund recognized Nicaragua for the implementation of appropriate
05:55economic policies and for its efforts to implement norms that relate to transparency
06:01and oversight of public funds. Also, in 2022, the Financial Action Group recognized Nicaragua's work
06:12in order to bring its efforts in line with fighting money laundering and financing terrorism
06:20and bringing them in line with international standards, which resulted in Nicaragua's being
06:24removed from the so-called gray list. In March of 2023, the president of the Central American
06:30Integration Economic Bank qualified Nicaragua's implementation of these policies as exemplary
06:40with regard to the projects financed by international bodies. In the area of security,
06:45through our national policy implemented for the citizen and human security strategy,
06:52which is focused on persons, communities, and families, and with a gender focus,
06:59it includes all state institutions which undertake action which is multidisciplinary in nature,
07:07comprehensive, balanced, educational, or preventive. We also have a strategy called
07:13the Wall of Contention to combat drug trafficking, which is implemented
07:18in an inter-institutional coordinated fashion, which seeks to contain and capture as many
07:27drugs as possible and limit access to our national territory for these drugs.
07:33And thus, due to these efforts, these substances are no longer circulating through the country
07:38or continuing to transit through our country towards other markets, such as consumption markets
07:42in the United States or other consumer nations. And we are therefore preventing the destructive
07:48impact of these drugs and in this way contributing to the region and the international community
07:54by investigating, prosecuting, and punishing all persons involved in drug trafficking.
08:01As a result of our strategies and policies put in place for security,
08:07Nicaragua now has the lowest level of homicides in the region. Between 2019 to 2023, the average
08:16annual rate of homicides is 7.2 for every 100,000 inhabitants. This rate is twice as low as the
08:25average of the Central American region. Nicaragua is working for peace, security,
08:32and fighting hunger and poverty, guaranteeing access to education free of charge, universal
08:39access to health care. While we are doing that, the United States are working against our people
08:45by applying illegal coercive measures in order to impede our achievement of the Sustainable
08:53Development Goals agreed within this very organization. The United States enacts
09:01extraterritorial laws such as the so-called Law of Conditionality on Investment in Nicaragua,
09:06the NICA Act in English, approved in 2018. Or another example is the Law of Strengthening
09:12Nicaragua's Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform of 2021, known in English as the RENACER
09:19law. By way of these laws, it seeks to blockade – block loans from institutions at the
09:29financial level internationally to Nicaragua. The clear objective of this is to impact
09:34the development of our social programs, which are financed with external aid.
09:41Through other executive orders, the United States has imposed the ban on new investments
09:45in Nicaragua and on imports or exports of certain products. Moreover, this is in
09:50contravention of international law by imposing individual measures on specific government
09:58civil servants. The claim here is that they want to paralyze the functional direction of these
10:04institutions or leadership of these institutions of state and create obstacles for the capacity
10:10building of institutions such as our national police, the Army of Nicaragua, and the Supreme
10:16Electoral Council, not to mention the Public Ministry of Telecommunications.
10:21We also are implementing measures against the energy and mining sector of my country
10:26to slow growth economically in the country. Recently, in May of this year, the Treasury
10:32Department, in another attempt to destabilize Nicaragua, imposed coercive measures against the
10:37Center for Training from the Ministry of the Interior of Russia and Maragua. This Center for
10:44Training provides cooperation in the area of knowledge and capacity building for police
10:50institutions in Central America, not just Nicaragua, but the whole region. This measure
10:55is clearly geared to paralyzing international cooperation and is a breach of the principles
11:03set forth in the United Nations Charter. These unilateral coercive measures are one
11:10more demonstration of the use of force and of a mechanism of interfering in the internal
11:17affairs of other states, all of which are banned by the UN Charter. This is a collective
11:23punishment against peoples. It is destabilizing the economies of these countries and impacts
11:30the standard of living of entire populations, limiting their access to food, medicine, water,
11:37sanitation, health care, housing, education, and jobs, the goal of which is to lead to
11:45social discontent and overthrow legitimately constituted governments. Typically, these
11:51coercive measures are based on false information and news and go hand in hand with negative
11:58stereotypes and hate speech against China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Russia, Venezuela, and other
12:06victim countries, such as Zimbabwe, all of which are victims of these illegal measures.
12:15Coercive measures are not innocent tools of bland power. They kill just as much as bullets
12:23in a war. They kill with hunger. They kill with a lack of medication. And they are aimed
12:29at deliberately inflicting difficult living conditions on the people to lead to their
12:38physical destruction partially or completely, and that's called genocide. It is imperative
12:45that immediately economic, unilateral, and coercive measures are taken to limit or confine
13:01its actions to urging and condemning genocidal practice, which are in breach of international
13:07law. What is required is that this General Assembly adopt a resolution in keeping with
13:12Article 96 of the United Nations Charter, referring legal issues relating to the implementation
13:22of impunity of unilateral coercive measures that are illegal to the International Court
13:27of Justice, and request an advisory opinion on the consequences of ongoing imposition
13:32of these measures, and establish the obligation of indemnifying those countries which have
13:38been victims of the damage that has been caused by these measures. Thank you.