Castro slams US embargo as key obstacle to Cuba’s progress
Cuban President Raul Castro has blasted the persisting US embargo against his country as “the main obstacle” to the economic development of the small Caribbean island nation.
"Such a policy is rejected by 188 United Nations member-states that demand its removal," Castro declared on Saturday in an address before a UN development summit in New York City, referring to a UN resolution that called for an end to Washington’s embargo against its former client state since the Cuban revolution in 1959.
Over 160 world leaders are arriving in New York to take part in the UN development summit, which will be followed by the annual UN General Assembly meeting set to begin Monday.
In his first official visit to the UN headquarters, the Cuban president also hailed the recent re-establishment of ties between Havana and Washington as a "major progress," but reiterated that the US economic sanction against his country remained an unfinished business.
"The economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba persists, as it has been for half a century, bringing damages and hardships on the Cuban people" Castro added.
Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel as Cuban president in 2006, further stated that despite the US embargo, his country has made major progress and has even extended limited financial assistance to other developing nations.
This is while Havana estimates that the sanctions, imposed in retaliation for Cuba's popular revolution against its US-backed dictator, has inflicted over $121 billion worth of damages on its economy.
The revolution, led by former Cuban President Fidel Castro, ousted US-installed military junta of General Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and nationalized the country’s mostly US-owned economic infrastructure.
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