María del Carmen Squeff, permanent representative of Argentina, the country that holds the pro tempore presidency of CELAC

Havana, Nov 2 (RHC) The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) expressed its unrestricted support for Cuba and condemned the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States for more than 60 years at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

María del Carmen Squeff, permanent representative of Argentina, the country that holds the pro tempore presidency of the organization, exposed the damages of the punitive policy in her speech, in the first of two days of debates on the draft resolution to put an end to the criminal siege.

"The blockade is the greatest obstacle to the normal development of Cuba and generates considerable damage to its people, it is contrary to international law, to the United Nations Charter, and the proclamation of the region as a zone of peace adopted by CELAC", she emphasized.

He also expressed the disagreement of the member countries of the association with the unjustified inclusion of the island in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, which hinders the commercial transactions of the Caribbean nation and intimidates its partners.

Squeff mentioned the need for the United States to comply with the successive resolutions voted in the United Nations and to heed the calls of the international community demanding an end to the blockade.

She pointed out how worrying the intensification of Washington's unilateral policy has been, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, she affirmed that the member states of the UN must adjust their actions to the rights, obligations, and principles enshrined in the charter of that organization.

In addition to CELAC, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Caribbean Community, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Central American Integration System also spoke out against the blockade of Cuba.

When presenting the report on the impact of the blockade on the island, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez recently denounced that the losses amounted to three thousand 806 million dollars between August 2021 and February 2022. (Source: PL)