Cuban Foreign Minister condemns U.S. blockade

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 14 (ACN) “The demand for the end of the U.S. blockade of Cuba relies on rightfulness, common sense and the majority support of the international community,” said Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his inaugural speech to the 2nd International Seminar on the Legal Implications of the Helms-Burton Act and Its Impact on International Law, held at the University of Havana (UH) and attended by scholars and analysts from Spain, Mexico, the United States and the United Kingdom, among others.

Mr. Rodríguez Parrilla T, the Foreign Minister described this policy as contrary to the postulates of the U.S. Constitution regarding self-determination and respect for individual rights.

To an audience that also included professors and students of UH’s School of Law, diplomats and foreign guests, Rodriguez Parrilla described the said U.S. Cuba policy as contrary to the provisions on self-determination and respect for individual rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution itself and as an instrument that tampers with the sovereignty of third countries and wages an economic war on a small nation.

As a legal tool, the Helms-Burton Act violates both Cuba’s rights to trade with profitable markets for the country and those of the U.S. business community to invest in the Island, he remarked.

Andry Matilla Correa, dean of the School of Law, referred to the current state of affairs as one of confrontation and aggression to the detriment of peace and understanding and underscored his School’s role in promoting the study of such policies as the prime obstacle to normal U.S.-Cuba relations.