00:13Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez presented a report on the damage caused by the U.S. blockade
00:19at a press conference Monday. The report will be discussed at the UN on October 28.
00:25Our correspondent Evelyn Leyvan-Romero provides more details.
00:30The document, which covers the period from March 2025 to February 2026,
00:35estimates the damages at $8,083 million, a historic record. The cumulative damages
00:41over six decades amount to $78,700 million. The foreign minister emphasized the human cost.
00:47The blockade takes a toll on the daily lives of Cuban families.
00:55It is an act of collective punishment that manifests itself over the long months.
01:05Living with only two or three hours of electricity, a day or less with food going to waste,
01:10the heat keeping people awake,
01:17parents fanning their babies, children doing their homework in the dusk,
01:24teenagers without Internet access or recreational activities,
01:30and family life completely disrupted.
01:36RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ
01:38Rodriguez emphasized that these figures reflect only the first month of the effects of the
01:41energy blockade illegally imposed by the United States on January 29.
01:45He denounced the threats from Washington are preventing the import of fuel.
01:48A single 100,000-metric-ton ship would alleviate the power shortage for two weeks,
01:52as would solar panels and batteries for the new photovoltaic parks.
02:03Now, shipping companies are being threatened not to bring in solar panels or batteries
02:08for the new photovoltaic parks that we've learned to install in just 45 days.
02:13The punishment takes the form of weeks without water supply.
02:22A water supply source operates using electric motor units that obviously shut down during a power outage.
02:34Even a brief power interruption shuts them down,
02:36and it then takes several hours to restore water pressure in the pipelines.
02:41The same is true for pumping stations, booster stations and pipe pumps.
02:48These systems are backed up by generators.
02:52But these also run on fuel or diesel, which we are not allowed to import.
02:59The blockade deprives us of resources,
03:02and also prevents us from importing parts and components for these generator sets.
03:12The impact on health is the most painful.
03:16Infant mortality rate rose from 4 to 99 per 1,000 live births between 2018 and 2025.
03:22More than 7,000 containers of medicines and medical equipment remain held up.
03:26Rodriguez described the blockade as a silent Gaza.
03:37They are children, not numbers. They are deaths that should not have occurred because Cuba and its
03:44solid and effective public health system were deprived of legitimate resources.
03:49We are talking, for example, about the system that is supposed to care for a pregnant woman,
03:54treat a sick child, and attend to those who arrive at an emergency room.
04:04Despite the stranglehold, the foreign minister asserted that there will be no humanitarian crisis.
04:09He expressed confidence in majority support from the UN on October 28, despite pressure from Washington,
04:13and reaffirmed that Cuba is making progress on the 176 economic and social reforms approved by the
04:19National Assembly, Evelyn Leyva Romero and Javier Campaneria, Telesur, Havana, Cuba.
