Ottawa - Associations of Cubans residing in Canada asked the government of this country to maintain its traditional support for the island in the UN in the fight to lift the US blockade.

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, the groups request that Ottawa ratify its support for the resolution against the economic, financial and commercial blockade that will be presented for the twenty-eighth occasion by Cuba at the UN General Assembly on November 6 and 7.

After reiterating their request, the Cuban associations expressed their gratitude for the 'traditional vote of the Canadian government against this obsolete and failed attempt by the United States to resolve its dispute with Cuba' through such punishment.

The letter underlines that this is a policy that has caused the suffering of the Cuban people and deprived them 'of their right to a better quality of life for more than half a century,' and was published on Twitter by Josefina Vidal, Cuban ambassador to Canada.

Signatories insisted on their hope that 'this country, which is our second homeland, once again honors its tradition of justice and respect for international law.'

They also referred to the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, another expression of the tightening of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by both Democratic and Republican administrations for decades.

'What is euphemistically known as the 'embargo' continues to be applied with full force and was strengthened in recent weeks by the (Donald) Trump administration to levels never seen before through Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which negatively affects the most vulnerable sectors of Cuban society,' the text stressed.

The letter was signed by the associations of Cuban residents in Toronto 'Juan Gualberto Gómez', in Montreal 'Somos Cuba' and in Ottawa-Gatineau, as well as by the Cuban Community of Canada in Montreal.

With the activation of Title III of that law, US citizens may sue individuals and entities, including third countries, who invest in Cuba in properties nationalized after January 1, 1959.