Paris, Dec 27 (RHC) The French association Cuba Linda today ratified its condemnation of the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against the island and advocated strengthening solidarity with the beleaguered country in 2023.

In a balance of its activities and projections for the coming year Didier Lalande, president of the organization founded in 1998, shared with Prensa Latina the denunciation of Washington's hostility, intensified by the administration of Donald Trump (2017-2021) and maintained by his successor in the White House, Joseph Biden.

The association aims to bring Cuban and French peoples closer and make known the reality of the Antillean nation. Lalande recalled that Trump decreed 243 measures to increase the asphyxiation represented by the blockade, the vast majority of those actions still in force.

The entry into Cuba of essential products continues to be blocked, thus hindering its economic and commercial development, he warned.

On behalf of his colleagues, Lalande also criticized the extraterritorial scope of the U.S. blockade and its impact on Europe, in particular the refusal of banks to carry out transactions related to the island, including those of a humanitarian nature, for fear of the pressures and sanctions of the North American country.

Therefore, solidarity actions with the Island and those focused on circumventing illegal and genocidal measures should be multiplied, a task to which Cuba Linda reiterated its commitment, he stressed.

The French organization highlighted that in 2022 it resumed trips to the Caribbean Island, after the effects generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. During the year, 15 groups toured various provinces and cities, and its members approached the reality of the country, misrepresented in the mainstream media.

Likewise, he highlighted the concrete solidarity activities carried out in response to tragedies such as the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel in Havana, the fire at the Supertanker Base in Matanzas, and the effects of Hurricane Ian in Pinar del Río.

Lalande and other members of Cuba Linda visited the Antillean nation at the end of the year, where they talked with representatives of several sectors and held meetings with the presidency of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). (Source: PL)