United Nations: Cuba denounced to the UN the strengthening of the economic and financial blockade by the United States government in times of Covid. 19.
When intervening in the General Assembly in the debate on topic 131, entitled ‘Global health and foreign policy’, the permanent representative of Cuba to the UN, Pedro Luis Pedroso, explained that the US government has used this siege to deprive the Cuban people of mechanical lung ventilators, masks, diagnostic kits, protective glasses, reagents among others.
These are necessary supplies for the management of the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and can make the difference between the life and death of patients and the health personnel who care for them, he stressed.
Only from April 2019 to March 2020, the US blockade caused losses to Cuba of more than five billion dollars, of which more than 160 million correspond to the health sector, the ambassador said.
The accumulated losses in that area during six decades of the application of the fence policy already exceed three billion dollars, he added.
In the midst of the pandemic, the Cuban diplomat warned, it is alarming how some countries resort to unilateralism and unleash a wild and irresponsible race to ensure, just for themselves, the necessary means to face the pandemic.
While the highest authorities of the United Nations make calls for the lifting of unilateral coercive measures – contrary to the UN Charter and International Law – the application of them to developing countries is strengthened, he observed.
Pedroso also stated that it is an unsustainable paradox that the world has so much scientific development and so many economic resources and yet there are millions of people dying from curable or preventable diseases.
He denounced that this situation is a consequence of the current and unjust international order.
The Cuban ambassador also called for preventing the urgency of addressing the impact of Covid-19 from losing sight of existing challenges in global health, which disproportionately affect the poorest countries.