"This senator, for example, has received benefits to maintain an unjust policy that has affected millions of Cubans because he is the main promoter"

Mexico City, July 18 (RHC) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, convicted on 16 counts of corruption, has received benefits as one of the main promoters of the blockade against Cuba.

"This senator, for example, has received benefits to maintain an unjust policy that has affected millions of Cubans because he is the main promoter" or one of the main promoters of the economic, commercial and financial siege against the island, the president said in his customary press conference.

"This has led him to take political advantage. With this flag, with this policy, he has enriched himself, but now it is discovered that he is dishonest," he said.

In his view, conservative politicians are hypocritical, corrupt, ambitious and authoritarian.

The New Jersey Democrat faces charges including bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as an agent of a foreign government in a scheme that unfolded over years.

Prosecutors successfully argued that the once all-powerful lawmaker, who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he resigned when he fell from grace, tried to use his influence to promote deals for personal gain.

The guilty verdict the day before would have meant expulsion from the Senate and perhaps decades in prison. (PL)