Abelardo Moreno

Havana, February 3 (RHC)-- The U.S. blockade against Cuba was made official by President John F. Kennedy on February 3, 1962. Still, it is a policy that began much earlier, Ambassador Abelardo Moreno affirmed Thursday.

During a special radio and TV program by  Radio Habana Cuba,  Prensa Latina, and Cubavision Internacional,  the diplomat said that Kennedy's order had its most immediate antecedent in "the infamous secret memorandum of (Lester) Mallory," undersecretary of state during the administration of Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961).

In his memorandum of April 6, 1960, Mallory advised to deprive Cuba "of money and supplies, to reduce its financial resources and real wages, to provoke hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the Government", a line that remains unchanged six decades later, he said.

Moreno explained that the conditions for the U.S. government to try to asphyxiate Cuba early on were provided by the "liberating revolution itself, the popular character of the Cuban Revolution, which guaranteed benefits for the people, that everyone would have equal opportunities."

The Foreign Ministry advisor also made a historical review of the measures that preceded the official declaration of the blockade and concluded that, in effect, this unilateral siege began "much earlier".

Executive Order 3447, signed by Kennedy, gave legal force to a unilateral siege, the longest in history against any country.

During his term, Republican President Donald Trump reinforced the blockade with 243 coercive measures, which remain intact under his Democratic successor, Joe Biden.