Cuba has made progress despite US blockade

Cuba has made achievements despite the economic, financial and commercial blockade that the United States has imposed on it for more than six decades, Cuban Ambassador to Uruguay Zulan Popa stressed on Friday.
 
In an interview with the weekly El Popular, the diplomat denied the campaign that Washington promotes in various scenarios, particularly social networks, to present the Cuban Government as failed and to try to hide the consequences of its blockade.

While blocked, we have done many things internally and for the benefit of others, we have a healthcare system recognized worldwide, Popa said.

She added that since 1961, Cuba has sent several medical brigades to help other peoples.

Part of this principled policy is Operation Miracle, through which many people recovered their vision in other latitudes.

In this regard, she mentioned the presence of a contingent of Cuban specialists who have provide their services in Uruguay, at the José Martí Eye Hospital, for almost 17 years, during which they have performed thousands of ophthalmological surgeries.

If we are a failed state, how could we help other countries in the battles against Ebola or Covid-19, she wondered.

Popa added that the same occurs with the vaccines that Cuban experts developed against the coronavirus, and a drug to prevent amputations due to diabetic foot ulcers, among other scientific breakthroughs for the benefit of health internationally.

The ambassador noted that Cuba, surrounded by the biggest power in the world, was the first country to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. This is a knowledge that Cuba shares, she stressed.

There is cruelty against the Cuban people. During the pandemic, the United States prohibited Cuba from purchasing lung ventilators and acquiring oxygen to treat its patients, she stated.

That is an act of war and genocide against the Cuban people, she stressed.