Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
National/News
Havana, September 30th.- At the closing of the High-Level Segment of the 80th session of the UN Assembly, the call to end the United States blockade on Cuba was heard here more than 40 times.
The final speech on Monday, concluding the marathon sequence of speakers who took the podium at the General Assembly since September 23, was that of Ambassador Dionisio Da Costa Babo Soares, the Permanent Representative of Timor Leste to the UN. His remarks included condemnation of the long-standing unilateral blockade against the Caribbean country.
“Timor Leste supports the elimination of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade against the Republic of Cuba, which in our view is a violation of human rights that harms the Cuban people by limiting their access to essential goods,” stated the diplomat.
Cuba is one of Timor-Leste's closest partners in the healthcare sector, the Timorese representative noted, arguing that it has trained "more than a thousand professionals in the Caribbean nation and provided direct care to our patients in hospitals."
He added that "Cuba's inclusion on the list of states that sponsor terrorism is completely unjustified, and we therefore call for its immediate removal from the list."
For his part, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said: "We denounce and condemn, along with all the peoples of the world, the horrific, odious, and execrable policies of criminal economic blockade, aggressions with coercive, arbitrary, and unilateral measures.
"We reaffirm here our full and unequivocal solidarity and brotherhood with Cuba and Venezuela," Moncada emphasized.
The list of countries that expressed their support for Cuba includes Brazil, Suriname, South Africa, Mozambique, Colombia, Vietnam, Angola, Nauru, Namibia, Guyana, Congo, Bolivia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Dominica, Tanzania, Uganda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Mexico.
Reference was also made to the Caribbean nation by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Jamaica, Belize, Lesotho, Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, the Bahamas, Grenada, Burkina Faso, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Laos, Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, Saint Lucia, and Honduras.
On Saturday, during his turn at the UN General Assembly podium, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez affirmed that the blockade against his country persists and is extremely harsh.
"This is a truly comprehensive and prolonged economic war, aimed at depriving Cubans of their livelihoods and sustainability, of their existence as a supportive, cultured, and joyful people," he added.
He stressed that anyone claiming otherwise is deliberately lying. The very promoters of this war boast about its destructive effect and its ability to strike the living standards of an entire people from any corner of the planet, he argued.
He also pointed out that it is cynical of the United States government, for purposes of political and economic coercion, to label Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, a slander that this Organization does not share, nor any other of its Member States. He recalled that the island has been a victim of this scourge. (PL) (Photo: Taken from the Internet)
