Cuban legislators slam US trade embargo

Havana, Oct 28

Cuban legislators condemned the intensification of the US trade embargo against the Caribbean nation during a parliamentary hearing.

Addressing the audience, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said the US economic sanctions are aimed at creating social discontent among the Cuban people, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The US blockade is intended to avoid the success of a project committed to the Cuban people's interests," he said, adding that equity and social justice are guiding principles of the Cuban socialist revolution.

The remarks came ahead of the Cuban government's presentation of its annual draft resolution against the embargo before the UN General Assembly scheduled for November.

First Deputy Minister of Public Health Tania Cruz said the US government restricted the island's access to medical supplies, medicines and reagents during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Neither can we access valves and pacemakers made in the US, which are used for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases," she said.

According to official data, the US sanctions in the past six decades has cost the Cuban economy a total of $154.2 billion.

First imposed in 1962, the embargo was tightened by former President Donald Trump, who put in place 243 more sanctions, including banning all flights from the US to Cuban destinations except for Havana and capping remittances Cuban Americans can send to their families back home.

The current US administration allowed airlines to resume flights to other Cuban cities and lifted the cap on remittances, but the web of sanctions against Cuba remains largely in place.