New York, 3 June 2021. Cuba participated today at the webinar on the impact of unilateral coercive measures on national health systems, organized by several countries accredited to the United Nations.
Ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, who participated on behalf of the Caribbean island, pointed out that unilateral coercive measures are contrary to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. In addition to posing a major obstacle to the development of the countries upon which they are imposed, he stated, their primary objective is to extract concessions from developing countries and undermine their right to self-determination.
He denounced that in the case of Cuba, the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for six decades is the lengthiest set of unilateral coercive measures in history. The accumulated damages in that period of time amount to over 147.8 billion dollars.
Pedroso Cuesta explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has been the context chosen by the US government to further intensify and in an unprecedented manner, its criminal behavior against Cuba. Between April and December 2020 alone, the blockade caused losses to Cuba in the order of 3.5 billion dollars, he added.
In the midst of the pandemic, Cuba has been the victim of the refusal of international suppliers to deliver the agreed commodities, delays in the arrival of supplies and the increase in costs.
Cuba was unable to access a total of 32 equipment and supplies related to the production of COVID-19 vaccine candidates or to the implementation of stages that allow for the completion of the vaccine clinical studies, including equipment for the purification of vaccine candidates, accessories for production equipment, filtration tanks and capsules, potassium chloride solution, thimerosal, bags and reagents.
In like manner, the blockade has repeatedly stymied the arrival of humanitarian aid in the country, which is immoral and unjustifiable in the context of the fight against the pandemic and reveals the criminal essence of the blockade, asserted the top diplomatic representative of Cuba to the United Nations.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations