Havana, December 28 (RHC-Granma)-- The Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Anayansi Rodríguez, said that the island has the support of the international community in its just demand that the U.S. blockade be lifted, and thanked those countries who have expressed their condemnation of Washington's policy.

In an interview with Prensa Latina, Rodríguez noted that as long as the blockade remains, Cuba will continue to denounce it and present the annual resolution calling for its end before the United Nations.

This year’s vote on the resolution again reflected the international community’s rejection of the tightening of the blockade policy, and concern regarding the aggressive and disrespectful rhetoric of the administration of President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, the Cuban diplomat added.

When Cuba’s draft resolution was first presented in 1992, at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly, 26 delegates spoke in the debate and, among them, two blocs: the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the European Community, Rodríguez recalled.   In 2017, 42 delegations expressed support for the resolution, eight of them representing important regional groups such as the NAM and the Group of 77.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Community of Caribbean States, the African Group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, also supported Cuba’s demand.

“As such, the support for Cuba and the universal demand for the lifting of the blockade were not only manifested with the 191 votes in favor of the resolution and the total isolation of the United States with only the accompaniment of Israel,” Rodríguez said.

For as long as the blockade exists, she stressed, the Cuban delegation to the UN will denounce it in every possible space, since this policy is the main obstacle to the development of the country and is a flagrant violation of the human rights of an entire people.

As has been demonstrated over time, the blockade is a failed policy. Instead of causing “hunger, despair and the overthrow of government,” as it was intended, it only makes Cuba stronger, as the leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro noted.

The Cuban ambassador to the United Nations said: “Today we are more convinced than ever that it is our sole responsibility to defend our sovereignty and our right to freely choose our future.”