Latin America Advisor

William M. LeoGrande, professor of government at American University: “Miguel Díaz-Canel will speak to the General Assembly not just as Cuba’s president but also as chair of the Group of 77, and he will call for greater cooperation among the nations of the Global South to cope with the problems of climate change, public health, food insecurity and the inequities of the international economic order. Cuba has played a leading role in the Global South ever since it joined the Nonaligned Movement in 1963, leadership that has helped break the economic and diplomatic isolation Washington has tried to impose on the island. Díaz-Canel will warn against the rise in international tensions that threaten to plunge the world into a new Cold War, for which he will place the blame squarely on U.S. hegemonism. If he addresses the issue of Ukraine, it will be to reiterate Cuba’s opposition to the use of force to settle international disputes and to call for a diplomatic solution to the war. The recent arrests of Cubans involved in trafficking mercenaries to fight in Ukraine underscores…”