GRANMA: We will continue to work for the lifting of the blockade
Cuban Foreign Minister holds press conference following overwhelming vote in UN General Assembly calling for an end to U.S. blockade of Cuba
Author: Granma International news
October 28, 2015 08:10:46
UNITED NATIONS.— “It is disappointing that the United States has voted against our resolution,” said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla in a press conference following the overwhelming vote in the UN General Assembly calling for an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba.
Rodríguez described the U.S. vote as unfounded, and reiterated that, as long as the blockade continues to be strictly enforced, the General Assembly will continue condemning it.
He commented that he would not respond to the U.S. representative’s statements, but insisted that it is the blockade which must be substantially modified – not the Cuban resolution.
The foreign minister expressed the hope that, by next fall, the U.S. executive and Congress will have taken more significant steps toward ending the hostile policy. He noted that a new element was introduced into the UN debate on this occasion: the willingness of many Congress members and the President to put an end to the blockade.
Rodríguez reaffirmed the position of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, President of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers, of doing everything possible to improve relations with the United States, on the basis of respect for sovereignty and self-determination.
He noted that an important stage of the rapprochement process has been completed with the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, and that conditions exist for progress toward normalization. This will not be fully possible, however, until the blockade is eliminated, he concluded.
