The ASAC rejected the “absolute unilateralism” by US authorities, which “seek to bring the Cuban people to their knees, begging for food and medicine in the 21st century, an unprecedented cruel gesture,” it stressed.

The message was addressed to the president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Fernando Gonzalez, to show “absolute solidarity” with the Cuban Government and people, now and always.

In its statement, the Association specifically demanded the elimination of 243 additional measures imposed by Washington in recent years to strengthen the blockade.

With the immediate lifting of the blockade, Cuba would make a quantitative and qualitative leap towards self-sufficiency and prosperity for its people, the Angolan organization noted.

The text, signed by ASAC Secretary General Jose Fernando Jaime, also expressed concern about the demonstrations that have taken place in Cuba, under the influence of a difficult social situation that the Cuban people are going through as a result of the US blockade for more than 60 years.

As the document recalls, the “cruel and profoundly inhumane” blockade has been systematically and vehemently condemned by the United Nations General Assembly in repeated resolutions since 1992.

Jaime also recalled his personal experience, when in the 1990s he served in Cuba as second secretary of the Angolan youth organization JMPLA.

According to him, it was in the middle of the “Special Period”, a term introduced by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro to “objectively identify the difficult moment at that time.”

That fact managed to sensitize the people to face the crisis “with patriotism and determination and Cuba won and convinced the world,” said the leader, who valued the role of international solidarity over the years; a movement, he affirmed, in which the ASAC has always been present.

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