This year’s U.N. General Assembly vote, set for October 26, will be the 25th time Cuba has marshaled worldwide support against the embargo.
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09 de septiembre de 2016, 16:55Havana, Sep 9 (Prensa Latina) The US economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed to Cuba caused harms to the Carribbean island over 753.66 billion dollars in nearly six decades, stated Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.
U.S. President Barack Obama says he opposes the trade embargo, but says only Congress has the authority to completely lift the sanctions.
Next month, said Rodriguez, Cuba will once again present the annual report to the United Nations General Assembly, which has consistently voted for an end to the embargo.
The Cuban government has called on the United States to do more to ease economic pressure on the nation in light of improved relations between Washington and Havana, saying USA economic sanctions cost Cuba $4.6 billion in the last financial year. The figure includes actual costs, such as fines on Cuba’s business partners, and hypothetical figures, such as sales Cuban businesses could have been making in USA markets. The total cost of the 55-year-old embargo now stands at $125.9 billion, he added.
“There are approximately 12 regulatory changes that the Obama administration can implement today which would have enormous impact upon opportunities for United States companies”, John Kavulich, president of the New York -based U.S. -Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said.
Rodriguez acknowledged the problems of Cuba’s centrally controlled economy, which is struggling to increase productivity in the face of an outdated and inefficient bureaucracy and low state salaries that lead many employees to steal from their workplaces or accept small bribes in order to get by. He underlined that Cuba does not try to hide proper internal errors, but he insisted that the impact of the blockade must not be obviated under any concept. Cuba has been the driving force behind the resolution, but it has overwhelming support from other nations. The vote of the a year ago concluded with 191 countries in favor of Cuba and only two in against: United States and Israel.
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As reporters were leaving Rodriguez’s press conference at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, U.S. Charge d’Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis’ auto was seen dropping him off. U.S. and Cuban diplomats have begun meeting frequently on a wide array of topics since the declaration of detente on December 17, 2014.
