Namibia, November 18th, 2021- Hon. Mrs. Sophia Shaningwa, Secretary General of SWAPO, Namibia's ruling party, condemned the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba, in a meeting with Aldo Luis Fuentes Acosta, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the Cuban diplomatic representation.
Fuentes updated the party leader on the vaccination campaign carried out in Cuba against COVID-19, with three Cuban vaccines. He also mentioned the existence of two other vaccine candidates in the testing phase. She also stated that Cuba is the first country in the world to vaccinate its children between 2 and 18 years of age, allowing the restart of the school year.
The Cuban diplomat explained that the immunization of the Cuban population has also made possible a drastic decrease in the number of daily infections. He added that, based on this, the Cuban government made the decision to open national borders to international tourism, the island's main economic activity, severely damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chargé d'Affaires a.i. detailed how Cuba achieved all these results, despite the maintenance of the US blockade. Fuentes denounced its reinforcement by the administration of Donald Trump, who applied 243 new measures against Cuba, 50 of them during the pandemic. Likewise, he denounced its continuation by President Joe Biden.
On the other hand, he thanked Namibia's historical support for Cuba against this genocidal US policy, in dissimilar forums and platforms. He highlighted the favorable vote for Cuba in the African Union and the United Nations. On this last space, Fuentes recalled the recent speech by President Hage Geingob, where he demanded the end of the blockade and called on the current administration to resume the path of dialogue with Cuba.
The Secretary General expressed her gratitude for the information provided. She reiterated the commitment to continue working to strengthen partisan and bilateral relations. Finally, she reiterated that Namibia would always stand by Cuba's side.