Cuba calls the U.S. blockade of the island «an act of economic warfare in time of peace».

Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, has described this Wednesday before the UN General Assembly as "an act of economic war in peacetime" the blockade imposed by the United States on his country for more than six decades, while affirming that since 2019 the sanctions have been intensified.


Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez - UN© Provided by News 360

"Almost 30 years after the first resolution of this Assembly against the blockade, the Government of the United States continues to ignore your almost unanimous demand to cease its illegal and cruel policy against Cuba," said the head of Cuban diplomacy during his speech, noting that "the blockade is an act of economic war in time of peace."

Rodriguez maintained that "the desire to generate shortages, suffering, discouragement and dissatisfaction and to cause harm to the Cuban people on the part of Washington "still persists".

At the same time, he asserted that the U.S. government is pressuring other governments, banking institutions and companies around the world interested in having relations with Cuba, in addition to "obsessively" pursuing all the sources of foreign currency income of the island to provoke its economic collapse.

"As a result, in effect, the Cuban economy has experienced extraordinary pressures that manifest themselves in industry, the provision of services, shortages of food and medicine, and the deterioration of the level of consumption and general well-being of the population," Rodriguez has said.

In this sense, he accused the United States of manipulating in an "opportunistic" manner sensitive concepts such as terrorism, religion, democracy, justice, corruption and human rights.

The Cuban Foreign Minister reiterated his country's rejection of the inclusion of the United States in the list of countries that promote terrorism.

"Cuba does not and will never promote terrorism. On the contrary, we condemn it in all its forms and manifestations", said Rodriguez during his speech, who described the "persistence" of the White House to declare Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism as "arbitrary and unilateral".

Nevertheless, the Cuban representative at the UN General Assembly accused the United States of "subjugating" countries and subjecting them to "its imperial order", which, in Rodríguez's opinion, "leads to a climate of tensions with unpredictable consequences".

"Cuba will continue to reject domination and hegemonism, unilateral coercive measures, genocidal blockades and the pretension of imposing a unique culture and model on the world. We will never renounce the defense of independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples without foreign interference or intervention," concluded Rodriguez.