By Brenda Lopez and Mark Friedman- A report by participants
Brussels, Belgium. November 16-17 marked a prominent meeting at the European Parliament of 263 anti-blockade activists,
government figures, lawyers, prosecutors, scientists, doctors, artists and others from 21 countries.
Continue reading SPECIAL REPORT FROM BRUSSELS TRIBUNAL FROM PARTICIPANTS
By Alejandra Garcia on November 2, 2023 from Havana
Today, as it happens in the beginning of November every year, the resolution presented by Cuba to call for the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States was overwhelmingly approved Thursday by the General Assembly with 187 votes in favor. There were 2 votes against that were not a surprise; the US and Israel with Ukraine abstaining.
The resolution recognizes the blockade as the central element of U.S. policy towards Cuba for more than six decades. In all that time its effects have not ceased for a single day; 80% of the Cuban population have never known their country free of the blockade.
Speaking at the plenary of the 78th session of the General Assembly in New York, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denounced the violations against the right to life, education, progress and well-being of Cubans caused by the U.S. blockade.
“Families in the country feel it in the shortages, excessive prices and devalued salaries,” said the foreign minister, and recalled the efforts that the Government of Havana must go through to guarantee the basic food basket to the population despite the obstacles imposed.
“Only with one third of the cost of the effects of the blockade from March 2022 to February 2023 would it have been possible to cover the expenses for that concept”, he asserted.
At the same time, he pointed out that sectors such as agriculture and energy face serious obstacles in acquiring spare parts or new machinery.
Under strict licenses, some agricultural products in the United States travel to the island while subject to draconian and discriminatory laws that violate international trade regulations, he recalled. “These products,” he added, “arrive in U.S. ships that have to return empty because of the blockade itself.”
Rodríguez Parrilla pointed out the intensification of harassment policies during the hardest years of the pandemic, when the exemption of sanctions was promoted for humanitarian reasons for some countries but not Cuba. Instead the blockade was tightened up even further by Trump with 243 new sanctions that continues under Biden; in fact it has gotten even worse under this democratic president.
“Why was Cuba excluded from that temporary relief?” questioned Rodríguez Parrilla in rejection of the use of the pandemic as an ally in Washington’s policy of hostility towards Cuba.
Today is one of those days when the support and love we get from the entire world is on display and we appreciate it. Since 1992 there have been 31 consecutive years of votes with resounding support to end the blockade in the General Assembly and our question to our arrogant neighbor to the North is how many more will it take for you to get in stride with the humanitarian sentiment of the world.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English
Havana, November 1 (RHC) — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed his gratitude on Wednesday for the support of the international community, which raised its voice at the UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly, against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on the Caribbean nation.
In his official account in the social network X, the foreign minister expressed that in the debate at the UN the forceful rejection of the international community to that inhumane policy has been manifest, and the demand to exclude Cuba from the list of State sponsors of terrorism.
“Once again, the U.S. government will be isolated in the face of the overwhelming demand of the international community for a better Cuba without blockade”, he added using the tags that are moving today in that social network.
Tomorrow, Thursday, the vote will take place to approve the report presented by Cuba which is framed between March 2022 and February 2023, and in which it is explained that the damages and losses to Cuba caused by Washington’s policy are calculated in the order of four thousand 867 million dollars. (Source: ACN)
Havana, October 29 (RHC)– Cuba’s president has strongly condemned Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip and blamed Israel and the United States for 75 years of occupation and violating the “inalienable” rights of the Palestinians.
In his statements to national television On Saturday, Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed his country’s strong condemnation of the genocide, and the destruction of homes, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure perpetrated by the Israeli forces in Palestinian land.
“We will not accept any selective indignation that seeks to ignore the danger of the genocide that is being perpetrated against the Palestinians, portray the Israeli side as the victim, and ignore 75 years of aggression, occupation, violations, and exclusion,” he said.
“We reject the killing of innocent people as a result of the current escalation and fierce and indiscriminate aggression, without distinction of race, origin, gender, or belief,” Diaz-Canel stressed.
He described Israel’s bloodshed in Gaza as “unjustifiable” and in “serious violation” of humanitarian and international laws. “Israel violates all United Nations resolutions and all commitments imposed on it as an occupying power as stipulated in the Fourth Geneva Convention,” he said, adding, “The Security Council was unable to call on Israel to stop the ongoing massacre, as the United States used the veto right.”
“The United States is the historical accomplice of ‘Zionist barbarism,’” he added.
“The comprehensive, just, and permanent solution to the conflict undoubtedly requires the real exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the establishment of their independent and sovereign state within the borders of pre-1967, with its capital in East al-Quds,” the Cuban President highlighted.
He also confirmed that a group of countries, including Cuba, proposed a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly, which was recently approved, demanding an immediate ceasefire, the establishment of an urgent mechanism to protect Palestinian civilians, rejecting the displacement of civilians and human rights defenders, and the provision of emergency humanitarian aid.
“Every moment of procrastination and passivity will cost the loss of more innocent lives, and action must be taken immediately,” he warned.
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