Mr Pedro Luis Despaigne Gonzlez, the Cuban Ambassador to Ghana, described the blockade as the “most unfair, severe and extended system of unilateral sanctions ever applied against any country”.

“The extra-territorial application of the blockade seriously hurts Cuba but it also negatively affects the interests and sovereign rights of third countries, thereby, constituting a violation of international laws, the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the regulations of free trade,” he said.

Mr Gonzlez said the imposition of the blockade had, till date, constituted the main obstacle for the development of all the potentials for the Cuban economy.  He said from June 2017 to March 2018, the blockade had caused serious economic damage of over 4.3 billion dollars to the Republic of Cuba.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Gonzlez explained that the impact of the blockade could be felt on Cuba’s food, industry, agriculture, monetary-financial, technological, transportation and foreign trade sectors.

The USA, in 1962, imposed a total blockade on Cuba in response to the discovery that the then Soviet missiles were being installed on the island, with former President John F. Kennedy in a televised speech condemning the act and describing it as a clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace.

Reports indicated that America, at the time, feared that a missile in Cuba were capable of hitting Washington DC or anywhere in the south-eastern portion of the country, Panama Canal, Mexico City or as far south as Lima, Peru.

However, by October 1962, President Kennedy and the Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev, had reached a settlement and people on both sides of the conflict breathed a collective but wary sigh of relief. The Cuban missile sites were dismantled and in return, Kennedy agreed to close US missile sites in Turkey.

Mr Gonzlez said over the years, many countries at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and at the African Union (AU) level had joined Cuba to call on the US to cease the blockade. However, that effort was being derailed, especially with the current government of US imposing further sanctions and signing the “Presidential Memorandum for National Security about the Tightening of US Policy against Cuba,” in June 2017.

He said the Memorandum, which was renewing and rather tightening the blockade against Cuba, was a serious setback to the bilateral relations between USA and Cuba, earlier championed by former President Barack Obama.  

Mr Gonzlez commended the AU and the UN, who, since 1992, had declared their support for Cuba and urged the world to continue to join Cuba in its fight against the blockade. He said in Cuba, the government and its officials continued to work towards promoting human rights, providing free education and free quality healthcare for its citizens, as well as supporting most countries, especially in Africa with training and improving their healthcare delivery.