Cuba has solicited for the support of Nigeria and other members of the international community to end the United States economic and energy blockade......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
The US has for about 64 years imposed economic sanction on the Island.
The Ambassador of Cuba to Nigeria, Miriam Morales Palmero, made the plea during a press conference in Abuja, ahead of the vote against the US blockade scheduled to take place at the United Nations General Assembly on October 29, 2024.
Palmero expressed optimism that with the support of Nigeria and other countries in Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Middle East, her country will be free from the blockade.
The Cuba envoy decried the injustice of the prolonged blockade policy put in place in 1960 by the US on Cuba.
She said it has made negative impacts in various sectors of the Cuban political, social and economic life, calling for immediate lifting of the blockade against her country.
She noted that the US government started the blockade on March 14, 1958, when it banned weapons sale to Cuba via an arms embargo and later extended to a bigger ban on all exports to Cuba, food and medicine excluded.
“In 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis between the US and the Soviet Union, Cuba held nuclear weapons on behalf of the Soviet Union, leading to a full- scale blockade on the Cuban island. The actions of the US have led to the UN having annual resolutions to dispel the blockage since 1992, this year’s resolution being on the 29th of October,” she said.
The ambassador covered various economic and social impacts of the blockade on Cuba which include that the blockage prevents the US from trading with Cuba, greatly limiting Cuba’s access to goods, services and technology such as food, medical aid and the country’s ability to generate revenue.
“Furthermore, with many countries being allied with the US, fearing the repercussions that might come with trading with Cuba, foreign investments and trades with Cuba are severely limited.
“Although Cuba has a wonderful health care system, this blockage limits the country’s access to medicine, leading to the inability to properly care for its citizens in times of health crises,” she said.