THE United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday will vote on a resolution condemning the U.S. blockade against Cuba, after around 30 presidents and other international leaders criticized the blockade in that same forum.

Those expressions of repudiation occurred one month ago, during the 64th session period of that UN body, a week-long plenum devoted to the annual general discussions.

This coming Wednesday the General Assembly will consider — for the 18th consecutive year — a resolution titled Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.

During this first month of General Assembly session, several leaders described as obsolete the U.S. blockade against the island, established almost 50 years ago, and they criticized the criminal siege, reiterating the numerous demands that have been reflected in recent months at various summits of heads of state and government on several continents.

The Cuban revolutionary government has stated in numerous forums that the U.S. siege of the island is intact and constitutes "a unilateral act of aggression which should be ended unilaterally."

Speaking before the UN General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla warned that the U.S. government continues to ignore the demands of the international community to end the blockade, and explained that recent measures announced by the White House are a positive step, but extremely limited and insufficient.

Rodríguez stated that the U.S. president holds broad executive powers via which he could modify the blockade’s implementation, and that with a real will for change, Washington could authorize the exportation of Cuban goods and services to the United States and vice versa, and abstain from harassing, freezing and confiscating transfers from third countries for Cuban entities and nationals.

The foreign minister also referred to the possibility of U.S. citizens, via licenses, traveling to Cuba, "the only country in the world they are prohibited from visiting."

Rodríguez reiterated Cuba’s willingness to normalize its relations with the United States and to hold a respectful dialogue, between equals, "without a shadow over our independence, sovereignty and self-determination."