The international community will declare its position on the blockade, tomorrow October 27, in the United Nations General Assembly, for the first time since December 17, 2014, when Cuba and the United States began a new chapter in the history of their relationship, which led to the reestablishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington.
Despite the executive decisions made by President Obama, the essence of the economic, financial and commercial blockade policy remains in full force. Thus the need to, once again, bring the issue before the UN, where Cuba has received solid global support for over two decades.
The report entitled, “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” estimates that the accumulated damage caused over the past half century of aggression to has reached $833,755,000,000, taking into consideration fluctuations in the price of gold.
According to experts, this is a conservative figure, and in reality could be much greater. The blockade not only implies added costs incurred given the need to operate in distant markets, but also causes millions of dollars in lost revenue which the country was not able to earn around the world – since other nations fear U.S. sanctions – in addition to lost opportunities to sell Cuban products in the world’s largest market.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez is in New York to participate in the vote, and will speak before the General Assembly of 193 nations.
Expected is a resounding condemnation of the aggressive policy, which remains in effect despite the fact that Cuba and the U.S. now maintain diplomatic relations, and President Obama himself has called on Congress to definitively end the blockade.
Just a month ago, a summit of some 50 heads of state and foreign ministers, meeting in New York at UN headquarters, expressed opposition to the blockade, which was described as anachronistic, unjust, senseless, an obstacle to development, a relic of the Cold War and an attempt to asphyxiate the Cuban people.
(Granma)