In the framework of its 38th Summit of Heads of State and Government, the African Union (AU) approved, for the sixteenth consecutive time, a resolution condemning the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States against Cuba.
The adopted document reaffirms the historic position of the African continent in support of the sovereignty of the island and demands an immediate end to a policy that has caused incalculable damage to the Cuban people. The resolution also calls for Cuba’s removal from the unilateral list of state sponsors of terrorism, a baselessly imposed designation that aggravates the Caribbean nation’s economic difficulties.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla highlighted the condemnation for the sixteenth time by the African Union (AU) against the US blockade imposed on the island for more than six decades. On the social network X, the Foreign Minister stressed that the regional body asked to remove the Caribbean nation from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. ‘We thank its members for their support and fraternal solidarity,’ Rodríguez stressed on the platform.
In addition, the AU reiterates its support for the resolution approved every year by the United Nations General Assembly against the blockade, a vote in which the vast majority of the international community has expressed its rejection of Washington’s policy. The text also denounces the extraterritorial nature of the sanctions imposed on Cuba, which affect not only the island, but also third countries and companies seeking to establish economic and commercial relations with Havana.
The African Union’s commitment to the defense of Cuba is based on the historical ties of solidarity and cooperation that bind the island to the African continent. In multiple international forums, African states have advocated for the end of the blockade and have recognized Cuba’s contribution in key sectors such as health, education and the fight against colonialism.
The resolution adopted at this summit reinforces the global call to end a unilateral policy that violates the principles of international law and the human rights of the Cuban people.
RESOLUTION ON THE LIFTING OF THE ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL BLOCKADE IMPOSED ON THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Assembly,
1. EXPRESSES serious concern about the continuous and illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Cuban government and people;
2. REAFFIRMS its full support to the resolution of the UNGA “Necessity to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”;
3. REGRETS the regression in the bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States and once again, calls upon the Government of the United States of America to lift the long standing and unjustifiable economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Cuban people;
4. ALSO REGRETS the measures implemented by the Government of the United States since 9th November 2017, which strengthen the blockade and expresses deep concern over the widening of the extraterritorial nature of the blockade, including the full implementation of Chapter III of the Helms-Burton Act (based on paragraph 300 of the G-77 Ministerial Declaration of 2022, which maintains the same language agreed in 2021);
5. ACKNOWLEDGES that the negative impact of the blockade is aggravated and even more cruel in the current context, when Cuba is facing the economic and social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic;
6. ALSO ACKNOWLEDGES that the blockade is the main obstacle for Cuba’s implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and shares this concern due to the importance that the African Union attaches to the achievements of the objectives on the said agenda;
7. ALSO REAFFIRMS its solidarity with the people of Cuba.
