Caracas, September 16 (RHC/Granma)-- Addressing the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Margarita, Venezuela, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez warned that most principles adopted by the organization during the Havana Summit in 2006 “are systematically violated.”

Rodriguez said core values like respect for sovereignty, self-determination, and equal rights are not observed and that actions continue to be committed daily that violate these fundamental precepts.

The Cuban foreign minister voiced concern that peace, international security and cooperation among nations are yet to be achieved. “War, aggression, soft coups and attempts at regime change are a constant,” he said, pointing to the current destabilization attempts against the constitutional government of Venezuela.

Bruno Rodriguez noted that the Havana Declaration established that countries should abstain from exerting pressure or coercion over others, including the promotion of any unilateral coercive measures contrary to international law.

The economic, commercial and financial blockade by the United States against Cuba remains in place, it hurts the Cuban people and is the very antithesis of this principle, he stressed.

Pointing to the importance of the Non-Aligned Movement in today’s world, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that “despite voices that predicted its disappearance,” the block of mostly Third World nations has prevailed.

Rodriguez stressed the need for Non-Aligned countries to work together in defense of sovereignty and international law even when doing so may entail “open confrontation with the hegemonic interests and intents of the great powers.”

The Cuban foreign minister referred to the circumstances when the Non-Aligned Movement was founded, a time when countries of the South were in need for a bloc of anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist and anti-racist positions that could defend their sovereignty and self-determination, justice and international law, and work toward the peaceful resolution of conflicts and disarmament.

He stressed, though, that despite a different international situation today, the fundamental principles of the Non-Aligned Movement continue to be valid.

A world where there’s peace, free from nuclear weapons, and in which all have access to food, health care and education continues to be needed, said the Cuban foreign minister, a sustainable world in which future generations can live in harmony with the environment and with their neighbors.