Havana, Nov 5 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque stated the US economic blockade of Cuba must end because it constitutes the largest obstacle to Cuba´s economic and social development.

In a national rally on Friday night, part of a reflection on the fight against the US-pushed siege and proposed annexation of Cuba, Perez Roque asserted that policy wanted the Caribbean island to surrender through hunger and diseases.

That genocide is the longest-lasting and cruelest any nation has faced in history, but Cuba will continue growing, he told over 10,000 people gathered at Ernesto Che Guevara Square in Villa Clara.

The minister made it clear that no force or nation will make Cubans abandon their ideals of freedom and justice, and the transition in Havana will only be to more socialism, Revolution, and justice.

He referred to the huge demonstration that thousands of Argentines staged in Mar del Plata to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas and US President George W Bush´ presence in South America.

Participants in the Cuban national act called strenuously for the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade Washington has imposed on Havana for over 45 years.

The damage caused by this merciless restriction has been over 82 billion dollars.

On November 8, the resolution "The Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" will be presented for the 14th time at the UN General Assembly.

In 2004, world nations at the assembly approved the document by 179 votes in favor, four against and one abstention.