Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel reiterated the will to advance in its economic and social development, despite the intensification of the U.S. blockade that attempts to subvert the revolutionary process.
In an interview with Spanish journalist and writer Ignacio Ramonet, published today in the Granma newspaper (the newspaper with the largest circulation), the Cuban leader affirmed that in the face of these aggressions, the country has not remained idle and is developing its capacity to resist.
He pointed out that the deepening and widening of the U.S. siege, the inclusion of Cuba in the State Department's unilateral list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism, and in general the hostile policy of that power, have made the daily life of the population particularly difficult in recent years.
We are a country that has suffered the limitations and adversities imposed on us by the blockade for more than sixty years; an illegal, unjust, anachronistic blockade as a policy and loaded, above all, with an arrogant perspective of the US Government, he pointed out.
He explained that the recrudescence of that policy since 2019, under the Republican administration of Donald Trump, suddenly cut off all sources of foreign currency income of the nation, and the application for the first time of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act puts pressure on foreign investors.
Simultaneously, a huge energy and financial persecution was organized, he said, and detailed that more than 92 banks or international financial entities were sanctioned or pressured by the U.S. Government, for which reason they have ceased their financial exchange relations with Cuba.
He pointed out that this, together with the cutoff of remittances, which was an important source of income for the country, and the measures against countries supplying stable fuel to the island, caused a deficit in the availability of foreign currency and energy problems.
He affirmed that as part of these actions, tourism decreased notably because the United States Government denies the right of the American people to visit Cuba, and the arrival of cruise ships, which was an important part of the influx of visitors, was closed. Cuba has suffered limitations and adversities, however, the country has not only been able to resist the blockade, but under these conditions it has advanced, contributed and grown as a nation and, in addition, it has developed.
If we have been capable of so many things under the blockade, what would we not have been capable of without the blockade, he said.