HAVANA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Saturday slammed the nearly six-decade U.S. economic blockade on the island, saying Washington's policy is "the main obstacle" for the country's development.
"The U.S. blockade against Cuba is the most comprehensive and prolonged system of economic sanctions that has ever been applied against any country," the president said in a message posted on his Twitter account.
Diaz-Canel added that the policy is "the main obstacle for the nation's development" and called for it to end.
Earlier this week, the Cuban leader opened a Twitter account on the social network and so far has more than 28,000 followers.
On Oct. 31, Havana will present, for the 27th time, a non-binding resolution condemning the unilateral embargo policy before the United Nations General Assembly. Year after year, Cuba receives overwhelming support from the international community.
In 2017, only the United States and Israel opposed the Cuban initiative, while 191 countries condemned Washington's policy toward the Caribbean nation.
However, the United States is not obliged to comply with the UN mandate and claims the blockade is a bilateral issue with Cuba and must be resolved between the two nations.
In its annual report to the UN, Havana indicated that economic losses due to the U.S. blockade totaled more than 4.3 billion U.S. dollars between April 2017 and March of this year, a policy that has been reinforced during U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
