Rodriguez explained that Cuba presented its contribution in February of this year, which “resulted in a rigorous exercise, in compliance with the global call to increase climate ambition and considering the circumstances of a blockaded country” like the Caribbean nation.

The Cuban foreign minister argued that Cuba’s nationally determined contribution covers, among others, the energy and agricultural sectors, and has a broad component of climate change adaptation.

However, its implementation, he emphasized, “will be fundamentally limited by the United States blockade against Cuba.”

The diplomat pointed out that just one month of US blockade is equivalent to the cost of the National Solar Energy Plan for 2025, approximately 609 million dollars, and with which it is foreseen to install 1,015 megawatts across the country.

We cannot speak of climate ambition without shaking the foundations of the current unjust and unequal international economic order, he insisted.

The foreign minister emphasized, “Foreign debt, protectionism, unilateral coercive measures, and other harmful manifestations of the prevailing order endanger collective action in the face of climate change.”

Rodriguez added: “Let us also demand that developed countries pay the ecological debt they owe humanity, to fulfill their obligations by virtue of their historical responsibilities, and provide developing countries with the resources to advance climate action.”

As Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz warned in 1992 at the historic Rio de Janeiro Conference, and I quote: ‘Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we should have done long ago.'”

Rodriguez also participated in this Wednesday’s 49th Ministerial Meeting of the G-77 and China, where he called for preserving the group’s unity and noted that more than six decades after its founding, the challenges are growing and diverse, and “to face them, our unity is more essential than ever.”

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