U.S. blockade is a constant pandemic, says Cuban FM

Havana, Oct 19 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Wednesday described the hostile blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for over 60 years as a constant pandemic or hurricane, due to damages it causes to the country.

After detailing to the press a new report on losses generated by such a unilateral policy in the last six months, Rodríguez recalled that U.S. blockade is not merely the prohibition to buy in that nation, but the impossibility of acquiring financial resources to get goods in that market or in other ones.

According to data from the report Cuba will present to UNGA in coming November, that unilateral policy caused losses of over $3.8 billion from August 2021 to February 2022.

Likewise, in the President Joe Biden administration´s first 14 months, damages caused by these provisions reached over $6.3 billion, accounting for a loss of over $454 million monthly and more than $15 million daily.

Rodriguez pointed out that such hostility kept unchanged amid the global economic crisis, Covid-19, and ahead of recent events including the massive deadly fire popped at the Matanzas oil terminal or even the devastation caused by the passage of category 4 Hurricane Ian nationwide.

The Cuban foreign minister claimed that in view of this scenario, the United States should change its policy towards Cuba, stop persecution of its financial transactions, enable Cuba to rebuild itself, eliminate prohibition for U.S. companies to offer contracts to Cuba, or at least relax the blockade, and to apply humanitarian exceptions by using executive powers.