MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Cuba prepares for the annual UN General Assembly round clash with the US
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. “the prohibition of travel for Americans is an atrocity” Both the United States and Cuba would benefit if Washington would lift its longstanding trade embargo against the island, but US President Barack Obama has toughened the sanctions since taking office in 2009, a top Cuban official said.
The embargo, fully in place since 1962, has done 108 billion dollars in damage to the Cuba economy, but also has violated the constitutional rights of Americans and made a market of 11 million people off limits to US companies, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told reporters.
”The blockade is, without doubt, the principal cause of the economic problems of our country and the essential obstacle for (our) development,“ he said, using Cuba's term for the embargo.
”The blockade provokes suffering, shortages, difficulties that reach each Cuban family, each Cuban child,“ Rodriguez said.
He spoke at a press conference that Cuba stages each year ahead of what has become an annual vote in the United Nations on a resolution condemning the embargo. The vote is expected to take place next month.
Last year, 186 countries voted for the resolution, while only the United States and Israel supported t he embargo, Rodriguez said.
Lifting the embargo would improve the image of the United States around the world, h e said, adding that it would also end what he called a ”massive, flagrant and systematic violation of human rights.“
That violation includes restrictions on US travel to the island that require most Americans to get US government permission to visit and a ban on most US companies doing business in Cuba, he said.
”The prohibition of travel for Americans is an atrocity from the constitutional point of view,“ Rodriguez said.
Cuba has its own limits on travel that make it difficult for most of its citizens to leave the country for any destination. Rodriguez said the elimination of the embargo would provide a much-needed tonic for the sluggish US economy.
”In a moment of economic crisis, lifting the blockade would contribute to the United States a totally new market of 11 million people. It would generate employment and end the situation in which American companies cannot compete in Cuba,” he said.
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Sep 21st, 2012 - 10:46 am 0Would it be an idea for the Cuban government to offer compensation for the properties of U.S. citizens and corporations “nationalised” after the Cuban Revolution? It could also offer to pay the US$6 billion of financial claims. In addition, it might ask the United States what measures it should take to satisfy the U.S. of its “democratization and greater respect for human rights.” It's no good whingeing but carrying on in the same old way. The solution is in Cuba's hands!
Sep 21st, 2012 - 02:03 pm 0”The prohibition of travel for Americans is an atrocity from the constitutional point of view,“ Rodriguez said.
Sep 21st, 2012 - 08:43 pm 0I am not sure specially where in my constitution that this embargo is illegal. Most of all, I get a kick out of a cuban talking about Americans and their constitutional rights. If American wishes to trade or not trad with someone, that is their sovereign right.
cuba stole American assets just as argentina stole from Spain, the only difference is we are making cuba pay the piper.
cuba.....you want American trade?.....
1-create democracy
2-Allow political freedoms to your people
3-Allow your people to travel abroad freely
4-reimbursement Americans for the stolen assets
5-give choices for candidates, not one name on the ballot
People are willing to die living cuba and swim, boat o get the the US mainland any way they can an not because cuba is a paradise 140 km from Florida.
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