This is the second occasion in the history of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) that Cuba will be honored with the responsibility of hosting a summit meeting and of assuming the presidency for a three year term, the first time being in 1979.
This 14th NAM Summit, to be held in September of this year, will take place in the midst of an adverse and complex international situation, characterized by unilateralism, globalization, neoliberalism and increasing threats to world peace by the US empire.
These same factors have negatively affected the NAM, slowing down its action and neutralizing some of its force.
The first official NAM summit was held in Belgrade in 1961 after the historical 1955 African Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, set out the principles that would govern this new organization. The goal was to come up with a united front to regulate relations between large and small nations and to counteract the two super powers’ antagonisms during the Cold War.
The NAM was based on five founding principles: mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in domestic affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence.
The Non Aligned Movement has maintained these principles that have become even more relevant for the military weak and economically underdeveloped nations that today are often victims of a belligerent and hegemonic policy of the single superpower.
The offensive nature of US and NATO military doctrines that advocate for hegemony and the right to use force and threats in international relations and even the use of nuclear weapons against Third World countries, oblige a revival of the Movement and a strengthening of its unity and cohesion.
Formed by 114 countries, the Non Aligned Movement is an important force in spite of its heterogeneity and diversity of interests. There is no other group that involves such a high number of members, representing the majority of the world population.
Cuba confers the Non Aligned Movement a fundamental strategic value, especially in this moment of unilateralism and hegemony. Cuba is making every effort to revive and strengthen the role of the NAM in defending underdeveloped nations in the South against industrialized nations of the North.
During the 13th NAM Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Cuban President Fidel Castro stated: “Our next encounter in Havana in 2006 should serve to express that the Non Aligned Movement has reestablished itself as an effective force in the international arena. Today, this movement is more necessary than ever. If before we worked hard to occupy a worthy place in the middle of the struggle between two superpowers, today we face the risk of unipolar hegemony. The only possible and acceptable way of surviving is in a multilateral world where peace, development and progress prevail for all.
This is what our peoples need; we can not let them down.”
