Latin American and African leaders call for end to blockade against Cuba

New York, September 24 (RHC)-- On Thursday, several Latin American and African presidents agreed in the high-level debate at the UN General Assembly to put an end to the blockade imposed by the U.S. government against Cuba.

In his address to the plenary, the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, rejected 'any unilateral measure aimed at preventing our countries from exercising their right to freely determine their own political, economic and social systems'.

A clear example of the application of such measures is the inhuman and criminal blockade against Cuba, which puts the lives of more than 11 million citizens of that island at risk in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he stressed.

It is a crime against humanity, but at the same time a regrettable example of how the decisions of this Assembly are not complied with by certain countries,' he said.

Arce added that it is frustrating to admit, year after year, that despite the unanimous condemnation of the blockade, those responsible for this crime ignore the world clamor.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel reaffirmed on Thursday in his speech that his country will not give in to the intensification of this policy and the discrediting campaigns promoted by the United States against our country.

He denounced that Washington allocates millionaire funds from the US Treasury to promote actions of manipulation and lies against Cuba, through the use of new information technologies and other digital platforms.

For his part, the head of state of the Republic of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, called on the UN plenary to suspend the economic, commercial and financial siege unjustly imposed on the largest of the Antilles, which seriously harms that nation.

In the name of the founding principles of the United Nations and those of friendship among peoples, it is urgent to lift this mechanism, he said.

For the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, the construction of a better world will continue to be a variable geometry as long as many peoples continue to be subjected to sanctions.

In this sense, I make a solemn call for the suspension of the U.S. blockade imposed on the Cuban people and government for several decades, he added.

Another of the African leaders to raise his voice against the U.S. blockade was the ruler of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

As in previous years and with greater persistence due to the delicate health situation affecting the world in general and Cuba in particular, we request the lifting of the blockade that weighs on this brotherly country and causes enormous harm to its noble people, he said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also expressed his country's solidarity with the Cuban people and called for the lifting of the U.S. blockade, which causes incalculable damage to the economy and the population of the Caribbean island. (Source: Prensa Latina).