Cuba condemned this Tuesday in this capital the damages of over $138 billion caused by the genocidal US economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba for nearly six decades.
 
'The US blockade remained at the core of Washington's policy against Cuba,' stated Cuban Ambassador to Russia, Gerardo Peñalver, prior to his presentation of a draft resolution on the need to put an end to the genocidal blockade.
 
From April 2018 to March 2019, the US blockade has caused losses of $4.34 billion to the Cuban economy, while in sixty years that figure has reached $138.84 billion at current prices, or $222.62 billion, when considering the depreciation of the dollar as compared to the value of gold on the international market, the Cuban ambassador stated.
 
'The US blockade is a flagrant violation of the human rights of Cubans,' Peñalver stressed. In addition, because of its aims, the blockade is classed as an act of genocide, in accordance with the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and as an act of economic warfare, according to the 1909 London Naval Conference, he added.
 
Ambassador Peñalver also noted that Cuban company MediCuba requested raw materials to produce medicines from 53 US companies, but only three of them responded and it was only to ratify their inability to sell these materials to Cuba.
 
In the same period, the United States expanded the list of sanctioned Cuban companies three times, causing substantial losses to the Cuban economy, with a dissuasive effect on the business community, he said.
 
White House measures against Cuba are an insult to the international community that has been condemning the US blockade in the UN General Assembly for 27 years, Peñalver concluded.