At the close of the High-Level Segment of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, the call to lift the US blockade of Cuba was heard here more than 40 times.
The speech that closed the marathon succession of speakers on Monday, who had taken the podium of the General Assembly since September 23, was that of Ambassador Dionisio Da Costa Babo Soares, permanent representative of Timor-Leste to the UN, and his words did not fail to condemn the long-standing unilateral blockade against the Caribbean country.
"Timor-Leste supports the elimination of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade against the Republic of Cuba, which is, in our opinion, a violation of human rights that harms the Cuban people by limiting their access to essential goods," said the diplomat.
Cuba is one of Timor-Leste's closest partners in the health sector, said the Timorese representative, who argued that the Caribbean nation has trained "more than a thousand professionals and provided direct assistance to our patients in hospitals."
He added that "the inclusion of Cuba on the list of states that sponsor terrorism is totally unjustified and we therefore request that it be removed from the list immediately."
For his part, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said: "We denounce and condemn, together with all the peoples of the world, the horrific, hateful, and despicable policies of criminal economic blockade, aggression with coercive, arbitrary, unilateral measures.
"We ratify here our full and unequivocal solidarity and brotherhood with Cuba and Venezuela," Moncada stressed.
The list of countries that expressed their support for Cuba includes Brazil, Suriname, South Africa, Mozambique, Colombia, Vietnam, Angola, Nauru, Namibia, Guyana, Congo, Bolivia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Dominica, Tanzania, Uganda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Mexico.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Jamaica, Belize, Lesotho, Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, the Bahamas, Grenada, Burkina Faso, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Laos, Russia, Belarus, Eritrea, Saint Lucia, and Honduras also made reference to the Caribbean nation.
On Saturday, speaking at the UN General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said that the blockade against his country persists and is becoming extremely harsh.
"This is a true, comprehensive and prolonged economic war, aimed at depriving Cubans of their livelihoods and sustainability, of their existence as a united, cultured and joyful people," he added.
Anyone who claims otherwise is deliberately lying, he stressed. The very promoters of this war boast of its destructive effect and its ability to strike at the standard of living of an entire people from any corner of the planet, he argued.
He also pointed out that "it is cynical that the United States government, for purposes of political and economic coercion, labels Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, a slander that is not shared by this Organization or any of its Member States." He recalled that the island has been a victim of this scourge.
