The economic, commercial and financial U.S. blockade against Cuba has now been in force for 50 years, and its harrasment and siege mechanisms are being strengthened, the cuban Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Prensa Latina news agency, Anayansi Rodriguez, head of Multilateral Affairs, denied that the measure enacted on February 7, 1962, by then U.S. President John F. Kennedy, is being applied with more flexibility, as the White House claims.
On a recurring basis, the administration of President Barack Obama alleged flexibility, in order to make the international community think that it is time for the Caribbean island to take steps towards better bilateral relations, Rodriguez said.
According to Rodriguez, the U.S. blockade has intensified under Obama’s administration, especially in its extraterritorial characteristics, since this government encourages a higher persecution of Cuba’s financial transactions anywhere in the world.
The unilateral sanctions were made official on February 7, 1962, with the executive order 3447, but it was already clear that the U.S. intended to overthrow the Cuban Revolution since 1959, even though it might mean resorting to genocide, she said.
In this regard, Washington’s actions against Cuba qualify as genocide according to what is enshrined in Article 2 of the UN Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of this crime.