Cuban parliament to step up efforts to end U.S. embargo

Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power on Monday vowed to step up efforts to end the decades-old economic and trade blockade by the United States.

"A day can't go by without demanding that the North American (U.S.) Congress lift the embargo on the island," said Kenia Serrano Puig, president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples at the parliamentary committee of international relations.

Cuba should make the appeal at as many international events as allowed, he said.

Washington has imposed comprehensive sanctions against Cuba since 1962 after the Cuban revolution. The embargo remains intact despite the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries in July 2015 and a historic visit to Cuba by U.S. President Barack Obama in March 2016.