Havana, Cuba - Cuba will never renounce socialism, said the head of the International Relations of Cuba´s Communist Party, Jose Ramon Balaguer, during a conference Thursday in Mexico.

Socialism is the only alternative for the Cuban Revolution, said the political leader as he opened the 20th International Conference Political Parties and a New Society, organized by Mexico´s Workers Party.

Balaguer said that the 7th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, to be held in April, will draw the route of Cuban socialism and the social and economic development program up to the year 2030.

As to Cuba-US relations, Balaguer said that Washington´s economic blockade of Cuba is intact, despite the reestablishment of diplomatic links and its end is  claim of the Cuban people as it is the return to the island of the illegally occupied territory of Guantanamo by a US naval base, and the compensation for the human and material damage inflicted by US aggressions against Cuba.

He also blasted what he called the imperial escalation against Latin American progressive governments, PL .

The Conference, running till Saturday, is addressing issues such as the response of revolutionaries to the imperial counteroffensive, new faces of the world economic crisis, and the experience of countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia.