Briceño Calls for End to Genocide in Palestine, Renews Call to Lift Cuba Blockade
Prime Minister John Briceño devoted a significant portion of his UN General Assembly address to regional crises. He called for urgent international action on Haiti and renewed Belize’s call for an end to the United States embargo on Cuba.
In Haiti, Briceño framed the crisis as a direct concern for the wider Caribbean. “Haiti’s crisis is our crisis. Haiti is the Caribbean. While there are grounds for hope in elections now scheduled for December, there is also grave concern over a spike in violence threatening that process. Belize echoes the call of the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group. The gang suppression force must be urgently and fully deployed. A Haitian-led, Haitian-owned political transition deserves a security environment in which it can actually succeed. Belize stands with the people of Haiti and with CARICOM in asking for nothing less.”
Turning to Cuba, Briceño condemned the ongoing economic blockade against the country. “Belize also stands with Cuba. The economic blockade against our sister nation, compounded by restrictions on fuel, has severely damaged the Cuban economy. This crisis is unnecessary and unjustified. Belize renews its call for the lifting of the blockade and for Cuba’s removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.”
On Palestine, Briceño did not mince words. “In Palestine, the legal and moral test is unambiguous. It is an affront to this assembly and to humanity to be forced to listen to a man justify apartheid and genocide when he is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Our complicity lies in decades of failing to ensure Palestinian self-determination and in refusing to treat Israel for what it is, a settler colonial state. The genocide must end. The apartheid must stop. End the occupation and decolonize Palestine.”
He also addressed the war in Ukraine, framing it as a broader test of the international order. “Our actions must extend to every conflict and to every person displaced, destitute, or in despair. It extends to threats against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of any member state, as we witness in Ukraine. If borders can be redrawn by force, then every border is provisional.”
Briceño devoted particular attention to Taiwan, describing the island’s exclusion from the UN as a security concern and reaffirming Belize’s diplomatic relationship with it. “We are concerned, too, for the safety and security of the 23 million people of Taiwan, who have no seat and no voice in this hall. Taiwan is a friend of Belize. For more than three decades, she has walked with us on our development journey, not as a donor at a distance, but as a partner in the field. Today, that partnership is helping Belize close real gaps in climate resilience and in the technical capacity of our agricultural and public infrastructure sector.”
He argued Taiwan’s global technological importance strengthens the case for its inclusion. “But Taiwan’s contribution does not stop at the borders of our small and steadfast allies. She sits at the heart of global supply chains. She produces the most advanced semiconductors in the world. She’s a serious presence in artificial intelligence and the other technologies that will shape this century, and she has said plainly that she’s ready to share that expertise and those resources with the wider international community. Belize calls once more for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the United Nations system.”