WFTU Supports Cuba in Fight against Blockade

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) reaffirmed on Thursday its solidarity with Cuba in the fight against the U.S.-imposed economic, commercial and financial blockade for nearly 60 years.

We have permanently supported the island because this is an unjust policy, Panamanian Carmen Lizarraga, of the Central American Commission of WFTU, told Prensa Latina.

When the United States invaded Panama (in 1989), Cuba was the first country that gave us support and solidarity. The Cubans are our brothers, Lizarraga said in the context of the 19th American Regional Meeting of the International Labor Organization that will conclude on Friday, October 5.

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently published the text on resolution 72/4 of the UN General Assembly, entitled 'Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.'

According to the document, which collects the damages of the unilateral measure between April 2017 and March 2018, Washington not only maintains laws and regulations that support the blockade, but also applies them with all rigor.

The American hostile policy in that period caused losses to Cuba valued at about $4.32 billion USD.

The report recalls that the average damages for almost 60 years amount to $933 billion USD, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar against the value of gold on the international market.

According to the Cuban government, with the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump at White House in January 2017, the aforementioned economic siege was strengthened.

The report illustrates the effects of the blockade in the face of a new vote, on October 31, at UN General Assembly, of a draft resolution on the need to put an end to these unilateral sanctions.