USA Blockade Remains in Force, Cuba Denounces at UN

Cuba denounced here that despite the bilateral approach, the United States has maintained its full implementation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the island for more than 50 years.

'Contrary to what it might think, after December 17, 2014, extensive damage caused to entities and third parties due to the blockade show that this policy against Cuba does not only remain in force but it has been intensified,' the Permanent Mission of the Caribbean country to the UN said in a press release.

Both countries announced in late 2014 an approach that led them to re-establish the diplomatic relations, the reopening of embassies in the respective capitals and reach agreements in sectors of mutual interest, with a view to normalize the ties that the Caribbean island considers hampered due to the validity of the siege.

The embassy spread in the text some cases of the last months that illustrate the full implementation of the blockade, rejected categorically by the international community since 1992 within the UN General Assembly, through a resolution in which 191 of 193 state members of the organization supported last year.

According to the Cuban mission, the persecution resulting from the Washington unilateral measure affected with heavy fines the French bank Credit Agricole and the CGG Services S.A. company, from the European country.

It also pressured banks in Britain (British Standard Chartered Bank), Canada (Royal Bank of Canada) and Spain (Banco Santander) to prevent operations related to the island.

Cuba acknowledged that between April 2015 and April 2016, the bilateral relations experienced 'some progress' in an fueled stage by the December 17, 2014 announcements, when Presidents, Raul Castro and Barack Obama, informed the decision to move towards the normalization of ties.

Last week, Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, presented in Havana his country's report on the resolution 70/5 of the UN, a document entitled 'Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.'

The Assembly will decide in late October on the U.S. siege in a vote in which another clear condemnation to the blockade is expected, as has been happening for 24 years.