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 conference is part of a study program dedicated to the different experiences and scenarios that may arise in the economic development of small states, which allowed the Cuban diplomats to explain the characteristics of the Cuban economy with emphasis on the importance of external trade. The context was propitious to deepen the damage caused by the USA’s hostile policies against the island since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, for which they relied on examples, many of them included in Cuba's latest report on the implementation of UN Resolution 72/4 "Necessity of ending the commercial, economic and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba". The speakers recalled the different laws that underpin the blockade policies and how the current US administration has intensified them and the aggressive rhetoric against the island.
In an entertaining and relaxed atmosphere, the students had the opportunity to ask specific questions about the various aspects of the US hostile policy against Cuba, including the history and state of the illegally occupied military base at Guantánamo and the prospects for the future of bilateral relations between both countries.