A worker of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA looks at the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Fortune as it docks at the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello in the northern state of Carabobo, Venezuela, on May 25, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)
CARACAS – Venezuela on Wednesday urged an end to the US trade embargo against Cuba, calling the decades-old policy "economic terrorism."
According to Cuban official data, the US embargo has cost the Cuban economy a total of $154.2 billion since 1962 when it was first imposed
During a UN General Assembly debate on lifting the US economic, financial and trade sanctions against Cuba, Joaquin Perez Ayestaran, Venezuela's acting ambassador to the UN, called on countries to vote in favor of the resolution that calls for ending the blockade.
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The "illegal, criminal, cruel and inhuman" blockade "inflicts death, pain and indiscriminate suffering on an entire people," resulting in "clear crimes against humanity," he stressed.
Underscoring the global reach of the blockade, Perez Ayestaran noted that the US policy affects any country or company that wants to trade with the Caribbean nation.
"This policy affects the entire international community in violation of the norms of international law and the multilateral trading system," he said.
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According to Cuban official data, the US embargo has cost the Cuban economy a total of $154.2 billion since 1962 when it was first imposed.