Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today praised the world's support against the U.S. economic blockade against his country and described the vote held at the United Nations on the issue as a resounding victory.

Havana, Cuba.- Cuba denounces that the human damage of the blockade is incalculable. The world rejects at UN the US blockade against Cuba, the president said on Twitter.

Díaz-Canel also stressed Washington´s isolation, since 184 countries were in favor of the elimination of the US blockade, while three abstained and only two voted against it.

The Cuban head of state affirmed that the "cynical, lying and slanderous imperial discourse" of the North American nation is as immoral, shameless, and obsolete as the criminal blockade, and added that that the United States has no right to sanction anybody.

"The world is with Cuba," Díaz-Canel emphasized and thanked the peoples and governments that support the Caribbean island.

VOICES AT THE UN BLASTS THE US BLOCKADE ON CUBA AS THE MOST UNJUST AND LONGEST UNILATERAL MEASURE

New York.- Numerous countries raised their voices at the UN General Assembly this Wednesday against the 6-decade old US blockade on Cuba and advocated for the fulfillment of international law and the principles of the UN Charter.

Representatives of blocs such as the Africa Group, the Group of 77 plus China, the Non-Aligned Movement, CARICOM and ASEAN, called upon the United States to end the unilateral measure.

Participants regretted that for almost three decades, the international community has consistently rejected with an overwhelming majority the measure and how the US has turned a deaf ear to this plea.

After recalling that his country had suffered an embargo itself, the Vietnamese delegate described the measures as the most unjust and prolonged system of sanctions mechanism ever exerted in the world’s history.

Russia’s representative, for its part, said that the extent of the hostility is particularly noticeable with the spread of the coronavirus when every country needs to share political will, wisdom, and farsightedness to move away from trade wars and sanctions and pool efforts to combat this calamity affecting the whole world.

The delegate from St. Vincent and the Grenadines said the blockade remains an unmitigated failure and serves only to aggravate the suffering of the Cuban people. She also recalled that it was not a bilateral issue since its extraterritorial nature violates the sovereign rights of many other states.

The representative of Portugal, speaking before the vote on behalf of the European Union, considered that lifting could facilitate the opening of the Cuban economy, and criticized the reinforcement of the blockade amid the pandemic.

UN RECOGNIZES SUPPORT TO CUBA IN ITS CLAIM AGAINST THE BLOCKADE

United Nations.- The spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, affirmed that the resolution calling for an end to the blockade against Cuba reflects the overwhelming sentiment of member states on the matter.

This is how he responded to a Prensa Latina question sent via e-mail on the presentation this Wednesday at the UN General Assembly of the draft resolution 'Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba'.

Although this issue concerns the Member States, the spokesman recalled that in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, encouraged the lifting of sanctions and unilateral coercive measures imposed on other countries, which hinder access to health supplies, medical support, and food, among others.

An addendum to the Secretary-General report annually presented on the issue describes the main hardships caused by this policy between April and December 2020.

The text states that for Cuba, these restrictions magnify the many challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and multiply its devastating socioeconomic, health-related, and financial impacts.

"The measures have repeatedly hampered the arrival of humanitarian aid in the country, which, in the context of addressing the pandemic, is

immoral and unjustifiable and highlights the embargo's criminal nature," states the addendum.

Between April and December 2020, the blockade cost Cuba in the order of$3,586.9 million in losses; added to the losses of the previous period, the total from April 2019 to December 2020 amounts to more than $9,157.2 million.

Cuba has been forced to allocate considerable resources to urgently secure necessary equipment and materials for its national health system.

The impact of the embargo on the health sector, one of the hardest hit during the reporting period, may be seen in the shortages of essential consumer products, as well as the difficulties national industries face in acquiring the necessary supplies for food preservation and drug manufacturing. (RHC)