The U.S. blockade against Cuba today reaches a higher level of hostility, with direct and extraterritorial actions amid the economic and health complexities imposed by the pandemic.

Havana, Cuba.- This is how Ismara Vargas, director of U.S. Legal Affairs and Analysis at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, summarized how Washington's coercive measures fulfill their purpose of causing considerable damage to the national economy and the island's population.

In exclusive statements to Prensa Latina on the occasion of the presentation before the UN General Assembly on June 23 of the twenty-ninth report to demand the end of the unilateral siege, the official anticipated a new defeat for the U.S. government.

Cuba will once again have the overwhelming support of the UN member countries, "this is an unequivocal message from the international community on the need to lift a policy that deeply harms the Cuban people," Vargas stressed.

The diplomat commented that this vote will take place in a context of growing activism at the international level. "Every week in different corners of the world, there are initiatives for the legitimate right of Cubans to live in a country without a blockade," she said.

She pointed out that the asphyxiating measures, increased during the mandate of former President Donald Trump, limit the capacity of the Cuban State to guarantee the functioning of basic sectors of the country, including food, health, electricity, and transportation.

In figures, the blockade caused between April 2019 and December 2020 damages above nine billion dollars, official sources estimated. (RHC)