Celac demands the Biden administration to modify the blockade against Cuba

They expressed the need to end the measure that is exacerbated by the pandemic

Mexico City, (September 20, 2021).- The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) urged the president of the United States, Joe Biden, to substantially modify the application of the blockade against Cuba and the Congress of that country to proceed with its elimination.

In a special declaration approved in the context of the sixth Celac Summit, held this Saturday 18th, at the National Palace, the heads of state and government of the region expressed the need to end the commercial, economic and financial blockade of the island, which, they added, has worsened in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the text they reaffirm “their rejection of coercive economic measures not supported by international law, including all those unilateral actions applied against sovereign countries that affect the well-being of their peoples and are designed to prevent them from exercising their right to decide, on their own. will, their own political, economic and social systems ”and reiterated“ their strong rejection of the application of laws and measures contrary to international law ”.

The member states of Celac “denounce the execution of extraterritorial laws and measures, which threaten the sovereignty and interests of third parties and urge all states to immediately and unconditionally put an end to their application.”

They recalled that since 1992 the United Nations General Assembly has indicated, in 29 resolutions, the need to end the blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States government and highlighted the overwhelming support of the UN member states for the most recent resolution A / RES / 75/289, approved on June 23, 2021.

For this reason, they urged President Biden “to substantially modify the application of the blockade against Cuba, and to the Congress of that country to proceed with its elimination.” They insisted that “said blockade is contrary to the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law.”

They also reiterated “their deepest concern about the resurgence of this policy, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and their rejection of the extraterritorial dimension of the blockade, which has severely and negatively impacted the international financial transactions of Cuba and the well-being of the Cuban people ”.

They requested “all the parties involved to comply with the successive resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly and to heed the repeated calls of the international community to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade it maintains against Cuba, which is contrary to to international law and causes substantial and unjustifiable damage to the well-being of the Cuban people ”.

Source: La jornada maya