France calls for greater action against blockade of Cuba

On Friday, the president of the France-Cuba Friendship Group of the French National Assembly, François-Michel Lambert, advocated to increase actions to demand an end to the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against our country.

Speaking at the annual gala of the Cuba Coopération France (CubaCoop) association, the deputy considered in this capital that France should take advantage of its rotating presidency of the European Union, which it will assume in January, to provide answers to Washington's blockade.

We expect more important actions to make this blockade policy retreat until it comes to an end, he stressed in the evening attended by more than 500 businessmen, elected authorities and French personalities, as well as the Cuban ambassadors in Paris and UNESCO, Elio Rodriguez and Yahima Esquivel, respectively.

Lambert insisted that we cannot remain with our hands folded in the face of the blockade because of its devastating impact on an entire country.

If we assume the French ideal of fraternity among peoples, we cannot accept that 11 million people suffer hardships simply because of the will of the US policy, said the congressman, who warned that this position does not respond to the interest of the American people.

According to the deputy for the southern department of Bouches-du-Rhône, the U.S. blockade also affects the French economy.

In that sense, he pointed out that in 15 years France has lost around 30 billion euros due to unilateral sanctions such as the siege imposed on the island 60 years ago.

Former Minister of the Interior Matthias Fekl also intervened in the forum to reject the U.S. blockade and to recognize the support to the island of French businessmen such as those linked to CubaCoop, despite the pressures from Washington and the extraterritoriality of the Helms-Burton law.

In his brief words, Fekl highlighted Cuba's successes in public health, research and vaccination against covid in such a complex context generated by the pandemic and the blockade.

He also applauded the international solidarity of the Caribbean country and recalled that this projection has been one of its characteristics for decades.