Sao Paulo Forum to Demand End of U.S. Blockade on Cuba

The Sao Paulo Forum to take place in Bolivia next week will request the U.S. to lift at once the economic, financial and trade blockade on Cuba, official sources said Monday.

The vice minister of Coordination with Social Movements, Alfredo Rada, told Patria Nueva Radio that this is one of the main topics of the international event taking place on August 25-29.

After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. Government imposed this hostile policy which -according to official estimates- has caused the Cuban people the lost of over thousand millions of dollars.

The international community has condemned and demanded the immediate end of the blockade for 22 consecutive years before the United Nations General Assembly but Washington authorities persist in their policy.

According to Rada, the forum will also support Argentina’s cause to recover Malvinas Islands and Bolivia’s demand on Chile to win absolute access to the ocean.

The official added that the event will include the participation of 650 representatives from political parties and leftist social organization from 10 countries.

The Sao Paulo Forum will be held in La Paz for the first time. Chuquiago Marka fair grounds, opened last month, will host the event with a program including meetings between youth, women, African descendants, leftist parliamentarians and from the Diplomacy of People, among other activities. Participants will work on eight round tables and will issue a final statement.

The Sao Paulo Forum, founded in 1990 as a proposal by the Workers Party in Brazil and led at that time by former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is aimed to bring together the debate about international issues. Previous meetings have been hosted by México, Managua, Porto Alegre, Guatemala, Quito, San Pablo, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Havana, Montevideo and San Salvador.