The impact of the blockade was one of the issues most emphasized by Cuba today during a new round of migration talks with the United States, said Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.
We, as is customary in these rounds, reviewed compliance with the migratory agreements, said the deputy foreign minister, who headed the island's delegation, in an interview granted to Prensa Latina in this capital at the end of the meeting.
It should be remembered that there are several migration agreements between Cuba and the United States since 1984 and all of them have as a central point the mutual commitment to ensure that migration between the two countries is orderly, regular and safe, added the diplomat.
This entails, said Fernandez de Cossio, complying with various commitments between the two countries, what happens is that we cannot ignore the political environment of these agreements, the reality of today's world even when there are factors that are not in the letter of the agreements.
He commented that, for example, it is evident that for Cuba, which has a migratory potential wanting to emigrate as other countries in Latin America, Central America or South America have, the socioeconomic conditions of the people greatly influence the decision to emigrate and that is present in the case of the Cubans.
"What is extraordinary about Cuba and unique is that these socioeconomic conditions are powerfully influenced by the policy of the United States Government, with an immense economy of great power aimed precisely at asphyxiating the Cuban economy, depressing income, the standard of living of the population, affecting fundamental services," he added.
This policy is aimed at "destroying the system of social justice on which the well-being of the majority of the Cuban population depends and therefore it is an issue that inevitably has to be talked about, it has to be mentioned in the migratory rounds when we analyze the common purpose of ensuring that migration is regular, safe and orderly," he stressed.
"The economic blockade is a weapon of aggression, it is an instrument to provoke a political result by way of damaging the standard of living of the Cuban population," he stressed.
This unilateral siege "was intensified under the government of Donald Trump and continues to be intensified and strengthened under the current government of Joseph Biden, which ends its mandate next January," he stressed.
"For Cuba it is also very important and we raise it, that the service be resumed, the processing in Cuba of visas for temporary visits to the United States, what they call non-immigrant visas," the deputy minister pointed out.