New York, 19 September 2016. The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States remains an absurd and morally unsustainable policy. It has not served its purpose of bending the decision of the Cuban people to determine its political system and control its future.
The development achieved by Cuba in the Public Health sector for over 58 years is undeniable. Cuba´s indicators, which are widely recognized in international fora, are a proof of this. However, this sector has not been exempt from the rigorous implementation of the genocidal blockade.
These repercussions are manifested in Cuba´s impossibility to purchase on U.S. markets the medicines, reagents, spare parts for diagnostic and treatment equipment, medical instruments and other supplies needed for the functioning of this sector. In many cases, alternative products used are of lesser quality than those available on the U.S. market and this has serious effects on treatments.
The food sector remains one of the most affected by the blockade policy. The damages related to this policy amounted to $605,706,289 from April 2015 to April 2016. LABIOFAM Company, for instance, has not been able to obtain raw materials MEM-A and FETAL BOVINE SERUM on the U.S. market; they are only sold by U.S. companies. These raw materials are needed for the production of vaccines against viruses and bacteria affecting the livestock sector in Cuba.
The government of Cuba annually allocates considerable financial and human resources to ensure universal, equitable and free of charge access to quality education to all Cubans. Nevertheless, these efforts are directly affected by the blockade. Only due to geographical relocation of trade, the Ministry of Education of Cuba suffered losses of $1,245,000 from April 2015 to April 2016.
The blockade against Cuba also imposes adverse effects on the development of Sports. The Cuban anti-doping laboratory, for example, reported that in June 2016, OFAC withheld biological samples of a group of Peruvian athletes transiting through the U.S. from being sent to the Island. The samples were sent by the Peruvian Sports Institute to be analyzed by this Cuban lab, using German DHL Company. Due to the implementation of the blockade policy, the lab which is a first-class center in Latin America in the fight against athletes´ doping failed to do the analysis requested.
The Cuban Revolution has maintained among its priorities the dissemination and promotion of culture as a vital element for the education and development of Cuban citizens. Notwithstanding, the blockade continues to set up obstacles for Cuba´s cultural scope and development. Last year alone, the said policy caused losses amounted to $29,483,800 in this sector.
In September 2015 - June 2016 school year, enrollment was 414 elementary school students in the specialty of string instruments such as the bass, violin, cello and viola. Cuba´s system of culture guarantees each of these students has an instrument for his/her courses. The price of a Palatino VN350 Campus ViolinOutfit - 1/2 violin is $79 in the United States. Cuban authorities had to purchase similar instruments in a third country for $215 each. If this instrument could be acquired in the United States, Cuba would save some $56,300 annually.