United Nations - The United States blockade against Cuba is the most unjust, severe and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions applied against any country, denounced the Cuban Mission to the United Nations this Tuesday.

In a statement, the Cuban diplomatic mission stressed that the blockade is the main obstacle to the development of the Caribbean country, as well as to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.

The tightening of the blockade continues as the central axis of Washington's policy towards the island, with increasingly noticeable effects on its extraterritorial application, the text underlines.

'Because of their declared purpose and the political, legal and administrative framework on which they are based, these sanctions qualify as an act of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and as an act of economic warfare under the terms of the 1909 London Naval Conference.

During the nearly 60 years of the application of the blockade, the accumulated damages amount to 138.843 billion dollars.

From April 2018 to March 2019, these measures of economic aggression have increased, causing losses to Cuba in the order of 4.343 billion dollars, according to the statement.

In this last period, it adds, the strengthening of the extraterritorial application of this system of sanctions was reflected in constant impacts on Cuban companies, banks and embassies, which face great obstacles to their commercial and financial activities in many countries.