For the 28th consecutive time, the General Assembly will take a position on the longest commercial siege in history, an unjust and genocidal system of sanctions that constitutes the main obstacle to Cuba’s development, and that clearly violates international law and the will of the Assembly, which has condemned it on 27 previous occasions.
Precisely because of the discredited nature of this policy, the United States resorts to pressure and coercion to change the votes of nations supporting Cuba, something that was denounced Monday by our Minister of Foreign Affairs, who cited maneuvers by officials of the U.S. government to pressure mainly Latin American countries.
Recalling the State Department’s miserable failure in 2018, when it “attempted to amend and change the nature of the resolution that has been traditionally presented to the General Assembly,” Rodríguez stated, this year’s objective is to reduce the margin of victory which Cuba’s resolution has traditionally obtained by pressuring countries around the world.
Nonetheless, he concluded, “Cuba knows it can count on the unanimous support of the peoples of Latin America and the entire planet, and expects that none of the governments of the region will give in to Washington’s anti-Cuban designs, which would mean turning a blind eye to the recognized will of their respective peoples, world public opinion, international law, and the most elemental standards of ethics and justice.”
Between April of 2018 and March of 2019, alone, the blockade has caused damages of at least 4,343,600,000 dollars, and those accumulated over 60 years have reached 138,843,400,000 dollars, at current prices.