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Cuba denounces US blockade as an obstacle to scientific exchange

Washington, Jun 22 (Prensa Latina) The US blockade against Cuba, intensified during the current pandemic, today constitutes an obstacle to scientific collaboration and the exchange of information on anti-Covid-19 vaccines, denounced Lianys Torres, the island's ambassador in Washington.

In an interview with the journal Science and Diplomacy, the official noted that the president of the United States, Joe Biden, gave instructions to review the measures that hinder the response to the health crisis; however, nothing has changed regarding the Caribbean nation.

This context should serve the current administration to lift the sanctions against Cuba, intensified during this difficult stage, the diplomat considered, who mentioned how several cities in the United States urged the executive to resume bilateral collaboration.

The Cuban biotechnology industry created five vaccine candidates against Covid-19, two of them demonstrated in the third phase of clinical trials greater efficacy than the 50 percent established by the World Health Organization for international approval.

For Torres, in a world where vaccines against this disease are not yet widely available, there is no good reason why both countries do not exchange information on the subject.

Science is a source of solving problems, but diplomacy is often not up to the task and is used to inflict harm on other countries or to perpetuate subordination and inequality in societies, she said.

She exemplified the possibilities of cooperation between both nations through the 22 agreements signed between 2015 and 2017, when Cuba-United States relations began a normalization process later reversed during the administration of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021).

Despite political differences, I believe that our two governments have the duty to facilitate vibrant scientific collaboration for the benefit of our peoples, commented the Havana representative in Washington.

Thus also think Republican and Democratic legislators who recently presented a bipartisan initiative called the Freedom to Export to Cuba Act with the objective of having Congress lift the blockade that Washington imposed on the Caribbean nation for six decades.

Precisely tomorrow, the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, will present a new report to the UN General Assembly demanding that the international community votes to end the blockade.

President Biden and other White House officials, have reiterated that Cuba is not a priority issue, and despite electoral promises, the 243 punitive measures imposed by Trump remain intact.

ef/msm/avr

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