By María Josefina Arce

In the Russian city of Sochi, the World Youth Festival closes its doors, in which the rejection of the criminal blockade imposed more than six decades ago by the United States against Cuba was also heard.

The condemnation of the delegation of the largest of the Antilles to the unilateral economic, commercial and financial siege was joined by young people from different latitudes, who made their own the demand to put an end to the hostile U.S. policy that threatens the human rights of Cubans.

In its previous edition, also held in Sochi, the meeting of the progressive youth of the world called for the lifting of the U.S. blockade, which affects sensitive areas such as health, education and food and hinders the economic progress of the country.

Let's bear in mind that only between March 2022 and February last year it caused damages of four thousand 867 million dollars to the Caribbean nation.

And in the United States itself, the same request has been made in recent days. This was expressed in a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from more than 140 organizations and individual citizens from the state of Maryland.

The letter, addressed to Democratic Senator Ben Jardin, chairman of the influential committee, reminds that the majority of Americans are in favor of the end of this genocidal measure and for the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba.

This call has even reached the White House. President Joe Biden has been the recipient of several letters from legislators, citizens, as well as former presidents of other nations to fulfill his 2020 election promise on a change of policy towards the largest of the Antilles.

During his mandate, city councils of several cities in the northern part of the country have passed resolutions calling for an end to the criminal measure. The state legislatures of Alabama, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesotta have also pronounced themselves in the same sense.

But the current tenant of the Oval Office, like his predecessors, has ignored the majority demand, in addition to maintaining the measures adopted by former President Donald Trump that led to a tightening of the economic siege, even in the midst of the complex situation created by the COVID 19 pandemic.

Biden has also ignored the 31 resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly condemning the blockade and in favor of its lifting. In the last vote held in November last year, 187 nations expressed their rejection of the hostile policy of the United States, which also has an extraterritorial character.

The U.S. blockade against Cuba, the longest in history and an attack on the right to life of an entire people, is repudiated by a large part of the world.