At a press conference, the head of Cuban diplomacy noted that the unilateral blockade has cost more than 4.8 billion dollars to Cuba between March 2022 and February 2023.

Rodríguez explained that the damage caused by the measure represent an impact of more than 405 million a month, which implies one million dollars every two hours.

According to estimates, Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could have grown by around nine percent in 2022, if not for US policy, he added.

“If we calculate the damage caused by the blockade in these 60 years, based on the value of gold, it amounts to 1.337 trillion dollars, incommensurable figures for any economy in the world,” he pointed out.

The Cuban foreign minister recalled that the mission of the blockade has not changed since its origins and it aims to reduce Cuba’s financial resources and depress real wages, as well as cause hunger and the overthrow of the Government.

He stressed that the unilateral blockade has a lethal impact with direct and indirect economic damage and seeks to deprive the country of financial income that is essential to acquire food, technologies, supplies, and also causes losses to tourism.

Rodríguez explained that in the energy sector alone, Washington’s policy has cost Cuba more than 490 million dollars.

He added that due to US policy, from January 2021 to February 2023, 909 discriminatory actions to cancel contracts and services by foreign banks were taken against Cuba.

Rodríguez recalled that during the most critical times of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cuba, Washington intensified the economic, commercial and financial blockade, a position that he described as a cruel and genocidal act.

jg/ro/mks