UNITED NATIONS - Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez’s tone in the interview was markedly different from that of his speech before the General Assembly, in which he claimed the embargo, which the Cubans refer to as a blockade, had cost the island’s fragile economy tens of billions of dollars over the years and prevented Cuban children from getting needed medical care.
“The blockade is an uncultured act of arrogance,’’ Rodriguez said, likening the policy to an “act of genocide’’ and calling it “ethically unacceptable.’’
I agree. Same with Israel's siege of Palestine.
US Ambassador Susan Rice reacted strongly, calling the Cuban diplomat’s statements hostile and “straight out of the Cold War era.’’
Rice said the Obama administration was committed to writing “a new chapter to this old story’’ by engaging with the Cuban government, and she used the bulk of her speech to highlight the steps Washington had already taken to improve ties.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the General Assembly vote on the embargo ignored US efforts to help Cubans.
Yeah, almost 50 years of terrorism against that small island is considered "help."
“This yearly exercise at the UN obscures the facts that the United States is a leading source of food and humanitarian relief to Cuba,’’ Kelly said. “In 2008, the United States exported $717 million in agricultural products, medical devices, medicine, wood, and humanitarian items to Cuba.’’
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