The blockade has been extraterritorial from the beginning
• Affirms National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón

The Cuban foreign minister is to present the resolution against U.S. economic warfare to the UN General Assembly on November 4

THE U.S. blockade of Cuba began on January 1, 1959, the very date of the triumph of the Revolution and not on the officially stated date, affirmed Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly, during a joint working session of the Economic Affairs and Internal Relations Commissions of that legislative body.

Alarcón called attention to the fact that as early as February 6, 1959, Felipe Pazos, president of the National Bank of Cuba, communicated to Washington that persons connected to the Fulgencio Batista regime had stolen $424 million from the country’s reserves, which was deposited in U.S. banks, and not a centavo was returned.

One week later, on February 12, the Eisenhower administration’s Security Council decided not to grant a small loan requested by the island to sustain its national currency, thus obliging it to dictate exchange controls in the country.

Alarcón emphasized that almost all the measures taken by the United States against Cuba have been extraterritorial in nature, as they have affected third countries; thus that particular quality should not be confined to the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts.

He noted that the number of votes in the General Assembly in favor of the Cuban resolution against the blockade might not grow this year and could even be lower, as not all the 191 countries belonging to the UN have the right to vote or could be absent for various reasons. Last year the result was 173 in favor and just 3 against.

Fernando Remírez de Estenoz, first deputy minister of foreign affairs, gave an overall summary of the Cuban Report to the Secretary General on Resolution 57/11 of the UN General Assembly.

The document, "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, (which we recently published in its entirety), compiles the complex system of laws and measures conforming that policy, in place for more than 40 years, and its principal effects on the material, psychological and spiritual well-being of the Cuban people.

Remírez de Estenoz noted that on this occasion 86 countries and 19 UN agencies, funds and programs had already responded to the secretary general’s request for comments on the issue, and reiterated that the resolution against the blockade will be presented to the UN General Assembly on November 4 by Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque.

After recalling that when it was first presented in 1992, 59 countries voted in favor of it, a figure that has steadily grown, he said: "Our aspiration is that the result of the next vote will be another victory of the Cuban people, starting from denouncing the blockade as a criminal act."

Going back to the origins of the blockade he stressed that its logic signified "intensifying difficulties in Cuba to the maximum to provoke a state of dissatisfaction that would lead to the overthrow of the Revolution." However, since then there have been no less than 10 U.S. administrations.

He referred to the effects of that genocidal policy on all areas of life, not only the economy but health, alimentation, education, culture and academic and sports exchanges.