The economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba that the United States began to implement in 1962 has continued to this day, causing huge economic losses and serious humanitarian disasters to Cuba for 60 years. Cuba Foreign Minister Rodriguez said at a press conference on the 19th that Cuba plans to submit the draft resolution to the UN General Assembly for the 30th time in November, requiring the United States to end the blockade of Cuba.
is tantamount to "heartbreaking murder"
"The US government always argues that sanctions on Cuba are only targeted at the government and not at the people, but every Cuban family has a personal feeling about the harm caused by the US blockade." 62-year-old Cuban doctor Sonia Mendes told reporters.
From fuel, food, daily necessities to medicines, the United States' sanctions and blockade against Cuba cover almost everything, resulting in a serious shortage of materials in Cuba for a long time and people's lives are difficult. "The United States even hindered Cuba from obtaining raw materials for vaccine production during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is equivalent to a crime," Mendes said.
Latin American News Agency recently published an article pointing out that the US blockade is more destructive than bullets and shells, "a large-scale, blatant and unacceptable violation of the human rights of the Cuban people." The United States' indifference to the dilemma of the Cuban people is tantamount to "heartbreaking murder."
According to official statistics from Cuba, based on the current US dollar price, the US blockade has caused Cuba to suffer a cumulative losses of more than US$154.2 billion in the past 60 years. If the depreciation factor of the US dollar against gold price in the international market, the figure exceeds US$1391.1 billion. Among them, between August last year and February this year alone, the economic losses caused to Cuba by the US blockade reached US$3.8 billion, the highest record for economic losses in the past the same period.
The Cuban government has repeatedly emphasized that the long-term blockade of Cuba against Cuba is a cruel act of economic war.
"The embargo is a permanent pandemic, an endless hurricane." Rodriguez accused the United States.
"Monroeism" ghost is still wandering
1823, then-US President James Monroe published the so-called " Monroe Manifesto ", claiming that "the Americas are the Americas of the Americans." For a long time, the United States has embraced the " Monroeism ", regarded Latin America as a "backyard", and forced Latin American countries to act according to the will of the United States through powerful interference, coercion and inducement. Nearly 200 years later, the ghost of "Monroeism" is still wandering over Latin America.
What the United States has done to Cuba in history is a clear proof. During the presidency of Monroe, then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams regarded Cuba, which was still a Spanish colony at the time, as a "natural appendage" of the United States, and proposed the so-called "ripe fruit policy", that is, when the time comes, it will annex this "fruit fallen" "like the fruit blown off by the wind." In 1898, the United States occupied Cuba after the victory of the war against Spain. In 1959, the Cuban people overthrew the Batista dictatorship and established a revolutionary government under the leadership of Fidel Castro. Since then, the United States has adopted a hostile policy towards Cuba.
In 1961, the United States announced its severance of diplomatic relations with Cuba and began to impose an economic and financial blockade and trade embargo on Cuba the following year. In 2015, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, but the United States did not fully lift the blockade against Gugli. After the Trump administration came to power in 2017, the United States once again increased its sanctions on Gulf. Since the Biden administration came to power in January last year, it has twice extended the validity period of the "Trade Against Enemy", which is the basis for the law of blockade and embargo on Gulf.
In June this year, the United States refused to invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela leaders to attend the 9th Americas Summit held in the United States . Cuban President Diaz Carnell pointed out that under the manipulation of the US, the American Summit regained the "Monroeism" and was a "performance with a neocolonialist color."
Favio Fernandez, professor of the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of Havana, Cuba, said that Cuba seeks an independent development path, and the United States regards this as a challenge to its hegemony, and therefore uses economic blockade and other means to punish Cuba. The United States' hegemony thinking and interventionist behavior have never undergone fundamental changes due to the changes of the times.
Hegemony is unpopular
"People please get up and eliminate sanctions!" Thousands of demonstrators shouted slogans outside the venue of the 9th Americas Summit, protesting the US government's continued sanctions policy on Cuba and other American countries.
The United States' domineering performance of resolutely not inviting Cuba and other countries to attend the meeting has been widely criticized by Latin American countries, and has also made this meeting the fewest session of leaders participating since the founding of the American Summit, highlighting the unpopular hegemony. Daniel Kovalik, visiting law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, pointed out that the United States has never treated Latin American countries equally, and it seems to be natural that it has a strong influence in Latin America, and some Latin American countries have long been dissatisfied with this. The embarrassing situation at this American summit reflects the further decline in the United States' influence in the Western Hemisphere.
The Cuban government plans to submit to the UN General Assembly in November this year a draft resolution on demanding that the United States end its economic, financial blockade and trade embargo on Cuba. Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted relevant draft resolutions submitted by Cuba with an overwhelming majority. Rodriguez pointed out that the U.S. blockade against Paleo proved that the United States would only isolated itself and lose its reputation.
Cuban middle school teacher Miguel Cruise said that the voting results of the UN General Assembly over the years are the most powerful proof of the international community's widespread opposition to American hegemony. " Cubans have the right to get rid of the shackles of US sanctions, and the world also has the right to break the American power style."
(Source: Xinhua News Agency )
Editor: Han Luying
