Havana, Nov 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Chancellor Felipe Perez Roque highlighted the overwhelming support and solidarity the Island received Tuesday in the UN debate and vote on the resolution to end the US economic blockade of Cuba.

   Interviewed by telephone from New York, Perez Roque said that the number and quality of sympathetic speeches from country members was endless; so much so that the US withdrew its name from the list of speakers and left the plenary.

   However he pointed out that White House pressure was not absent although it was consistently rebuffed.

   The international community, as represented in the UN General Assembly, rejected the 45-year economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba by the United States Tuesday, with 182 votes and one abstention.

   The Cuban Foreign Minister had earlier noted that ending the blockade was not only a question concerning Cuba and the human rights of Cubans, but also upheld international principles and norms against applying laws extraterritorially and even supports the people of the United States.

   A recent Southern Alabama study showed that eliminating the blockade would generate 100,000 new jobs and seven billion dollars in additional income to the US economy.

   This pitiless blockade, an expression of the US unending aggression against Cuba, must finally end and our right to free determination at last recognized, Perez Roque said.

   All over the Island, Cubans followed the details of this 14th consecutive global vote against the cruellest and longest blockade known in human history, which has cost Cuba over 82 billion dollars in losses.

Venezuela Calls the US Blockade an Act of War against Cuba

United Nations, Nov 8 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan Ambassador Fermin Toro Jimenez demanded the end of the US blockade of Cuba, at the UN General Assembly Tuesday, terming it an unjustified and destabilizing "act of war" against the people of Cuba.

   Many people of the world were indignant on February 3 1962, when the US officially imposed this criminal blockade, a wicked aggression, a destabilizing and unjustified war against the Cuban people, declared Toro Jimenez.

   Jimenez made the remarks during the UN General Assembly debate on the resolution: "The Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.

   He asked the General Assembly rhetorically how is it that this illegitimate and immoral measure has not yielded to the years of international clamour to lift it.

   The ambassador pointed out that 70 percent of the Cuban population was born under the stringent economic sanctions imposed by successive US administrations.

   The damage caused to the economy and Cubans by the merciless US restriction in the year 2004 alone, was calculated at 2.76 billion dollars, he noted.

   Jimenez made it clear that the Cuban people and government not only had bravely withstood that aggression, but had grown strengthened, and even triumphed in the adversity.

   The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela firmly and categorically condemns the enactment and implementation by any State of laws with an extraterritorial nature and completely ignoring the sovereignty of nations, he pointed out.

   Jimenez ratified the stance of the Venezuelan government in favor of its Revolution and people and against the one-sided measure imposed on Cuba.

UN Resolves: The US Must Eliminate the Economic Blockade of Cuba

United Nations, Nov 8 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations General Assembly demanded Tuesday, in an unprecedented 182 to 4 vote, that the US blockade policy of Cuba be ended and left without effect.

   This vote was the 14th consecutive rejection of the US blockade by the august assembly, and this time many of the 191 country-members expressed particular concern at the application of new measures to reinforce and amplify the economic blockade against Cuba.

   The resolution, "Necessity to Put an End to the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed on Cuba by the United States" referred particularly to the Helms-Burton Act, approved by Washington on March 12, 1996.

   The Assembly rejected application of the Helms-Burton Act, which extra-territorial effects seriously affect the sovereignty of other countries, legitimate interests of institutions and people under their jurisdiction, as well as freedom of trade and navigation.

   UN General Assembly speakers also highlighted statements by several Heads of State and Government at the recent Ibero-American Summit regarding the need to eliminate unilateral economic and commercial measures against another country.

   With the approval of this resolution, the General Assembly expresses its decision to foster "strict respect to the purposes and principles in the UN Charter."

   It also reasserted the sovereign equality of world States, without intervention or interference in their domestic affairs.

Cuban UN Ambassador Replies Fiercely to US Blockade Arguments

United Nations, Nov 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuba´s Permanent Alternate Ambassador to the UN Ileana Nunez responded powerfully to US arguments to defend its 45-year blockade of her country, arguments the countries of the world also rejected Tuesday.

   Pointing out that the US speech was senseless and full of hate, the ambassador said that, while nothing would surprise her from this source, the arguments were new evidence of the arrogance and pretensions to imperia of a decadent superpower.

   However, Nunez and dictatorial Bush regime that attacks Cuba precisely because she defends, protects and fosters all the human rights of all Cubans.

   She mentioned particularly the US lie that it had "facilitated" the sale of food and medicine to the Island, when in reality Cuba had to overcome great obstacles set by that government to buy them.

   The diplomat said the US blockaded her country because it was a contagious example of dignity and resistance in a country with a true, genuine, autonomous and popular revolution, where the people have constructed a participatory democracy based on their humanity.

   Nunez also condemned the European Union for its speech in defense of the blockade, although the individual EU countries voted to eliminate it, and as an institution for remaining indifferent, or worse, cooperative, to the empire’s application of sanctions that violate international law.

International Media Highlights Cuban Victory at United Nations

Havana, Nov 8 (Prensa Latina) The overwhelming Cuban victory at the United Nation General Assembly, where 182 countries voted in favor of the resolution demanding the US end its blockade of the Island, was given prominence by the international media Tuesday.

   This vote constitutes the 14th consecutive rejection of the aggressive US policy and the measures that reinforce and intensify the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba.

   The digital version of Spain´s El Mundo described the vote as "overwhelming support" to the Cuban resolution and stated that the only member countries voting against were the US, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands, while there was just one abstention (Micronesia).

   Newspapers "20 Minutes" and "21st Century" also gave wide coverage to the Cuban victory and declared the Caribbean island had broken the UN General Assembly voting record.

   EFE news agency and Europe Press released several reports echoing the latest results of the General Assembly and the way the international support of Cuba has increased to become, in principle, unanimous in recent years.

   Similarly, the Colombian, Ecuadorian and Bolivian Press extensively covered the support provided by the international community to Cuba and its resolution against a US blockade that only intensifies differences between the neighboring nations.

   Meanwhile, Uruguayan social organizations and leaders of leftwing parties celebrated the historic vote against the US policy and expressed their solidarity.