A timely call for an end to aggressions, blockades and sanctions was made in recent days by Pope Francis, when the world is witnessing increasingly selfish, destabilizing and hegemonic actions of some powerful nations against the most humble.
By María Josefina Arce
A timely call for an end to aggressions, blockades and sanctions was made in recent days by Pope Francis, when the world is witnessing increasingly selfish, destabilizing and hegemonic actions of some powerful nations against the most humble.
There is no better example than that of Cuba, the object of a long and criminal blockade imposed by the United States for almost sixty years and which has remained unchanged from one administration to the next, hampering the socio-economic development of the largest of the Antilles.
A siege that has deepened its genocidal character in the midst of a pandemic that demands, as Cuba and other nations have reiterated, solidarity and cooperation to face a disease that has caused the death of nearly five million people in the world.
The cessation of this unilateral measure has been a majority demand of the member states of the United Nations for almost three decades.
In one of his usual morning press conferences, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reminded us of this when he said: "The lifting of the blockade against Cuba is nothing new, it has been demanded by Mexico and the world at the UN General Assembly for some time now".
But the United States scorns the world's demand and conveniently looks the other way. It pretends to ignore the fact that last June, for example, 184 nations condemned in New York City, headquarters of the organization, the economic siege that affects essential sectors such as health and education.
A demand that throughout this year gained special strength and was felt in the streets of Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and even the United States. It invaded the social networks to remind the current U.S. government that the world rejects this unilateral measure.
The economic losses, which between April and December 2020 alone amounted to 3 billion and 586 million dollars, are considerable. But the damage goes beyond the multi-million dollar costs, it is the pain caused to Cuban families that is incalculable.
Many are the families who have lost a loved one because the blockade prevents access to certain drugs, treatments or equipment because they have some U.S.-made component.
There is no branch of our economy that is not affected by this cruel policy, which violates the human rights of eleven million Cubans who have also seen, in recent times, an intensification of destabilizing actions from the neighboring country.
This was clearly expressed last April by Army General Raul Castro when he stated that "the damage that these measures cause to the standard of living of the population is neither fortuitous nor the result of collateral effects, it is the consequence of a deliberate purpose to punish the Cuban people as a whole."
The U.S. blockade is immoral and genocidal. It is neither legal nor ethical, since no country has the right to subjugate another, to try to impose on it a foreign political system and deprive it of its right to progress.
