January 17th, 2019. Cuba rejects the recent intentions of the United States to toughen the Blockade, through the State Department announcement of suspending the application of Article III of the Helms-Burton Act, for only 45 days.
On January 16, 2019, the United States State Department announced the decision to suspend for only 45 days the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, “to conduct a careful review… in light of the national interests of the United States and efforts to expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba and include factors such as the Cuban regime’s brutal oppression of human rights and fundamental freedoms and its indefensible support for increasingly authoritarian and corrupt regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua.”
The government of President Donald Trump threatens to take a new step that would dangerously reinforce the blockade against Cuba, flagrantly violate International Law, and directly attack the sovereignty and interests of third countries.
At 12:20pm, in the United Nations General Assembly, the international community once again almost unanimously condemned the U.S. blockade of Cuba, voting 189 in favor of the Cuban resolution, two against (U.S. and Israel), with no abstentions. (Granma)
The people of Cuba have lived, for more than half a century, under the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States, and are marked by this punishment for their “deadly sin.” From the oldest to the youngest, the entire population has suffered its consequences. Many have felt its effects first hand, many others do not perceive it directly, although it affects them – perhaps because they live submerged in the habit of coexistence with the cruel policy, and keep pressing on, because as has been said: the blockade is not enough to make us surrender.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez stated today in a press conference that the United States government, in its desire to create greater tensions and increase hostility, is posing obstacles to the forthcoming vote against the blockade in the UN.
Namibia, October 27th, 2018- Independence Avenue, main artery of Windhoek, capital of Namibia, hosted a hundred Cubans and Namibians, who demanded the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States government against Cuba.
The United States permanent mission at the UN began circulating eight amendments to the Cuban resolution calling for an end to the blockade, reported Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla during a press conference at the ministry in Havana.
He reported that the amendments basically address aspects related to the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and the human rights issue, a subject that the U.S. government attempts to use to discredit Cuba – unsuccessfully.
What is most interesting, Rodríguez said, is not the content of the proposed amendments, but rather the fact that the document was circulated surreptitiously by the U.S. State Department, signed by deputy assistant secretary Gonzalo Gallegos, in an effort to dissuade UN member countries from voting in favor of the Cuban resolution calling for an end to the blockade, which will be considered in the General Assembly this coming October 31.
The Hague, 16 Ocotber 2018. First Secretary Susellys Pérez Mesa and Second Secretary José Pérez Lazo made a presentation about Cuba to a group of students, faculty and the director of the International Business Studies Programme at the University of Applied Sciences of The Hague.
Port of Spain, October 17. - Invited by the faculty of International Relations of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the professor of that center Jaquelin La Guardia, Cuban diplomats Ana Martínez Noris and Alex González García, commercial counselor and first secretary respectively, gave a lecture on the Cuban foreign trade and the obstacle represented by the policies of the US blockade against Cuba in the development of the economy of the largest of the Antilles.
The annual gathering of Cuban residents in Denmark took place in Odense on 2 June. The Cuban Ambassador, Yiliam Gómez Sardiñas and the Consul, Ares Valdés Acea, attended the meeting where participated more than 100 Cuban residents and their families, including their descendants from different regions of the Nordic country. In this context, a video about the main activities developed between 2017 and 2018 was screened. The Cuban consul provided an update on the migratory policy and emphasized on the importance to support the struggle against blockade from any place in the world.
