Cuba, as every year, Cuban demand lifting of U.S. blockade

teleSUR English

For the 33rd consecutive year, Cuba has called for the end of the U.S. embargo, with overwhelming support from the international community at the United Nations. More detail with our correspondent Belen de los Santos. teleSUR

Transcript

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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