We speak to Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío about U.S.-Cuba relations, sanctions and more. He is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where countries are expected to vote again in favor of lifting the 60-year economic blockade imposed by the U.S. on Cuba. “The aim of the United States policy since 1960 has been to make life as difficult and as unbearable as possible for the people of Cuba with the ambition that that would lead to the overthrow of the government,” says Fernández de Cossío. He also discusses Cuba’s abstentions in U.N. votes critical of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, saying that while Cuba “cannot and does not support” a violation of another country’s sovereignty, the U.S. still bears “huge responsibility” for the conflict because of its push to expand NATO into Eastern Europe.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.