00:00A great majority backed Cuba in its call for the lifting of the illegal US blockade due
00:05to the great damage it produces on the Cuban people.
00:09More on the personal, everyday struggles on these imperial measures with our colleague
00:13Belén de los Santos.
00:15For more than six decades, the United States, the world's greatest imperial power, have
00:20subjected Cuba to a cruel economic, commercial and financial blockade.
00:25This week is every year since 1992, Cuba appears before the United Nations General Assembly
00:31to call for the lifting of these measures which directly hurt the Cuban people.
00:39I was born in 1964, which means I have lived my entire life under the imperial blockade.
00:47The blockade is in truth an act of genocide against the entire Cuban people and against
00:53every Cuban citizen.
00:59A simple aspirin, a single acetaminophen to relieve pain is blocked.
01:13Just as armies have been doing since ancient times, blockades are an unconventional warfare
01:18strategy that uses restriction as a weapon against the people.
01:23A farmer who gets up at six in the morning and wants to turn the soil to prepare for sowing,
01:35when he starts his tractor to plow the land and prepare it, he has no lubricant and no
01:42fuel.
01:45Or his crops are infested with pests and he has no way to spray them.
01:51These are the things that the blockade limits in the day-to-day life of a rural worker.
01:55It is also important for the world to know that there is truly a civil society here, because
02:04there is a campaign claiming that there is no civil society in Cuba.
02:09But there is, and a thriving one, a diverse civil society across many sectors that participates
02:15in the design, implementation and oversight of policies.
02:18Cuba estimates that the blockade causes losses of 7.5 billion US dollars for the state in
02:24just one year.
02:26These are resources of the country, even though it has one of the largest social budgets,
02:30cannot use to benefit those who need it the most.
02:33Hildiz Vega is a member of the board of the Cuban National Association of Blind People.
02:37The blockade prevents him from accessing the latest developments in artificial intelligence
02:41that could improve his quality of life.
02:44I think the first thing we need to be clear about is that today it is Cuba.
02:50But tomorrow it could be any other country that finds itself in the situation that Cuba
02:56has been in for more than 60 years.
03:00And to know how much does this affect your personal development when foreign countries
03:04are blocking you, preventing you from enjoying beckonings that allow you to exercise your rights
03:11just as any others.
03:13Year after year, the international community gathered at the UN General Assembly votes by
03:17an overwhelming majority to lift the blockade against Cuba.
03:22And year after year, Cubans continue to raise their voices against this imperial policy,
03:27relying on the strength of the resistance and the power of solidarity among the peoples.
03:33When peoples are worthy, they deserve respect and are not willing to kneel before anyone.
03:45So yes, we ask for the blockade to end and for this genocide to be stopped, but we will
03:53not bow down.
03:54Peren de los Santos for Chela Sur English from Havana, Cuba.
03:59Cuba.
04:08you
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