President Xiomara Castro’s speech at G77 + China

Speech by the President of Honduras, Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento, at the G77 + China Summit

His Excellency President Miguel Díaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic of Cuba, also Pro tempore President of the G77 + China.

Your Excellencies, Heads of State, and Government, Your Excellencies Heads of Delegation, representatives of international organizations, ladies and gentlemen, very good afternoon.

It is an honor for me to attend this meeting of the G77+ China in the Republic of Cuba, home and symbol of the dignity of Latin America and the Caribbean, a people that, due to its irreducible resistance to the greatest genocidal blockade that humanity has ever known, has earned a prominent place in history.

I am here representing the Honduran people and millions of Latin Americans and Caribbeans, today united in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), whose Pro tempore Presidency I will assume in January 2024.

I am the first woman President who emerges from the streets in popular struggle, together with a people in resistance for twelve years and seven months fighting against the infamous Coup d’état that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, friend of Cuba, Fidel and Raúl .

Today I face the result of that rupture, where an elite grew in the shadow of corrupt practices that turned Honduras into a narco-state, and a tax haven that indebted and impoverished our people.

With my electoral victory in 2021, we begin an era of changes and actions for human benefit and in defense of nature, the recovery of the public, the rights of the working class, and our true independence is underway, that is the mandate that the people gave me at the polls.

My dream is to help build the great homeland of Martí, Morazán and Bolívar, in which our continent is a territory of peace, fair, socialist and democratic.

We cannot even think about this condition going back a single millimeter and to do so we must support CELAC, a space where the use of science, technology and innovation in our development is encouraged.

Finding points of agreement despite our differences is a categorical imperative, what use would the G77, the World Bank, CELAC, and the United Nations be, if we are not capable of eliminating the unjust blockades or sanctions imposed, the neoslavery, neocolonialism, the hegemony of capital over human beings and the wars promoted by the military industrial complex that cause so much suffering and pain in the world.

Globalization shows a negative balance for our countries, and now we come before you to propose unity and a new order that considers the following fundamental aspects.

First, accelerate the process of global trade exchange in various currencies so that we can open a global development cycle that produces growth in our Gross Domestic Product.

Second, establish a realistic, achievable agenda of sustainable development objectives.

Third, that the member countries of the G77+China commit to rejecting and not complying with coercive measures, such as sanctions or blockades against our member countries, we strongly denounce the unjust blockade against Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Fourth, establish a permanent commitment not to wage war, and develop strong negotiation and debate mechanisms to resolve our conflicts.

Fifth, that the costs of knowledge and its products are democratized, we must create a global scientific community capable of reversing the serious process of climate change, as well as the rescue and restoration of the Environment and our Natural Resources.

Sixth, we must unrestrictedly commit ourselves to the respect and self-determination of peoples and under no circumstances will we try to impose our lifestyle, our culture, our religion or our economic model on any of our members.

For us, achieving democratic socialism is a mission and reason for being to radically change and improve the quality of life of our people and to respect the Popular Consultation as the path we have chosen to achieve this objective.

The time has come to put an end to the backyards because we are not pieces on a chessboard of those who are apologists for dependence. Our nations should not continue to suffer the mass privatization of their territories.

Distinguished heads of Government, I want here to recognize President Díaz-Canel for continuing the historical legacy of the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, Army General Raúl Castro, Commander Hugo Chávez Frías, Lula Da Silva, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, Cristina, Rafael, Evo, Daniel, Nicolás Maduro and other founders of CELAC, for having resisted the systematic neoliberal and lawfare attack and to maintain the will to grow our integration.

What I have raised here is undoubtedly something that may sound bold, but for us it is vital to build the world in which we all have a place of equality, freedom and justice.

Quick translation by Kawsachun News