REPRESENTATIVES of 198 organizations and associations in Havana condemned U.S. policies on Cuba at the Fifth Forum of Cuban Civil Society against the Blockade and Annexation.

The meeting, held at Casa de las Americas, included almost 300 participants who accused the U.S. government of being responsible for some $89 billion in losses to the island over more than four decades.

In a final declaration issued at the end of the event, participants expressed their vigorous opposition to the intensification of U.S. acts of aggression, particularly its economic, commercial and financial war against Cuba.

The document reiterated that the blockade is a flagrant violation of international law and the will of the community of nations, manifested by the 15 resolutions against the blockade passed by the UN General Assembly since 1992. That year, 59 countries supported a resolution introduced by Cuba against the U.S. blockade, and in 2006, 183 nations did so.

The civil society declaration also urges the U.S. government to immediately free the five Cubans imprisoned in that country for combating terrorism, and to extradite criminal Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela.

His participation in various terrorist actions included masterminding the mid-flight explosion of a Cuban airliner over Barbados, killing all 73 people on board, on October 6, 1976.

At the civil society forum’s closing, Fernando Remírez de Estenoz, member of the Central Committee Secretariat of the Communist Party of Cuba, affirmed that it was vital to continue condemning U.S. aggression, especially the blockade.

What will determine the future of the Cuban people will be their unity and the need to continue fighting for the Revolution, socialism and independence, stated Remírez, who is also head of the Party’s International Relations Department.

Translated by Granma International

Granma 19-10-2007