At a press conference at the Cuban Embassy and a few hours before the start of a new debate at the United Nations General Assembly on the necessity to end Washington’s blockade, the diplomat called this policy, which has been in place for more than 60 years, the main obstacle to Cuba’s development.

Noting that one of the fundamental purposes of this policy is to weaken Cuba’s economy and tourism, he mentioned the fact that Washington has decided that the European citizens who had visited Cuba at some point lost their right to join the ESTA electronic visa system.

He mentioned other actions, such as the prohibition for Cuba to buy any equipment that contains more than 10 percent of US components, and that a ship that docks in a Cuban port cannot visit a US port for six months.

Rodríguez referred to the recent mass disconnection of Cuba’s national power system due to a shortage of fuel and the breakdowns or obsolescence of many of the power plants, which is a direct consequence of the US blockade.

The diplomat stressed the widespread rejection of Cuba’s inclusion on Washington’s unilateral State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list, and said that the Caribbean island’s presence on that list “brings very hard consequences, especially in the financial issue.”

“Anyone who knows Cuba a little, anyone who has heard of Cuba, anyone who has been to Cuba, knows that Cuba is far from being a sponsor of terrorism; on the contrary, Cuba has been a victim for many years” of this scourge, he pointed out.

The ambassador deeply thanked Mexico for its courageous stance in favor of having the blockade lifted, “a position that has been expressed historically and that we are sure will be expressed tomorrow and the day after also at the UN General Assembly.”

“Cuba will not give up on denouncing the blockade, Cuba will continue to stand by the international community, asking that this unjust measure be eliminated once and for all by the Government of the United States,” he stressed.

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