U.S. blockade of Cuba is unrealistic, leaders say at U.N.
Heads of state and government from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia on Wednesday demanded at the United Nations General Assembly a lifting of the United States’ blockade against Cuba.
President Evo Morales of Bolivia described as “the worst genocide” the economic, commercial and financial sanctions imposed by Washington for more than half a century.
He also criticized the U.S. government for ignoring General Assembly resolutions that, every year since 1992, have asked for a lifting of the siege.
President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador called the blockade “a bitter aftertaste from the past.”
The brotherly Cuban people, like all other people in the world, have the right to seek their development and well-being through a complete integration, said Funes during the plenary session by 193 countries in their second day of general debate.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Winston Spencer, said that his country is very proud of its longtime relationship with Cuba.
“Our government forcefully condemns any discriminatory policy that keeps Cuba from exercising its right to participate freely in the affairs of this hemisphere,” he said.
Spencer added that Antigua and Barbuda rejects the unilateral and extraterritorial enforcement of coercive laws and measures that are contrary to international law.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, First Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, said that the Caricom – a mechanism currently presided by her country – considers the blockade to be anachronistic.
The president of Timor-Leste (East Timor), Taur Matan Ruak, asked for an end to the siege that, in more than 50 years, has caused multimillion-dollar losses and a strong impact on Cuba’s social sectors.
It is a measure that is not in tune with reality, he said.
President Idriss Deby Itno of Chad joined the call for an end to the sanctions against Cuba and “allow that country to find the path it deserves in the concert of nations.”
During the first day of high-level debates at the Assembly, the leaders of Uruguay, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Gabon and South Africa also demanded a lifting of the blockade.
(From Radio Angulo, Holguín)
