US blockade hinders cancer vaccine project
Campaign News | Thursday, 2 November 2006
Cumbersome procedures prevent life-saving copperation
Havana, Oct 31: Cuba’s ambassador Peru, Luis Delfin Perez, said that the US blockade against Cuba stands in the way of scientific cooperation between the two countries to develop a vaccine against cancer.
During a lecture on Monday, at the Ricardo Palma University in the capital Lima, the diplomat explained that bureaucratic obstacles imposed by Washington’s anti-Cuba policy have frustrated joint US-Cuba work towards this important scientific achievement.
Ambassador Perez noted that while US authorities have authorized such cooperation, it has been conditioned by a series of cumbersome procedures that have rendered the joint endeavor impossible. “The anti-Cuba circle, which dates back to almost the 1959 victory of the Revolution, also prevents Americans from having access to a vaccine developed by Cuba against Hepatitis B,” he said.
The Cuban ambassador gave a detailed overview of the effects of the blockade, a policy that is rated as genocidal according to international law and which seeks to destroy the Cuban nation, while also affecting citizens and companies from third countries.
The Cuban ambassador confirmed that on November 8, the issue of the US blockade against Cuba will be reviewed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, which has since 1992 been adopting resolutions demanding an end to the restrictive measure.
He observed that the first UN resolution against the blockade in 1992 was approved with 59 countries voting in favor putting a stop to the blockade, a figure that has grown year after year, last year reaching 182 votes in favor, out of the 189 member states of the United Nations.
Perez described the US blockade against Cuba as “an economic war that affects all sectors of life in Cuba.” Seven of each ten Cubans have been born under the blockade, which has caused the island losses of more than 80 billion dollars. In May, 2004, the blockade was severely tightened a series of new measures introduced by the Bush administration that seek a virtual annexation and re-colonization of Cuba.
http://www.ahora.cu/english/SECTIONS/health/2006/November/01-11-06.htm
For Cuba's report to the UN on the blockade's effects go to:
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/faqdocs/Informe-bloqueo-largoINGLES2006.pdf
