Her Excellency, Carmelina Ramirez Rodriquez, ambassador of Cuba in The Gambia, has revealed that the 63-year US blockade against Cuba has caused material damages to Cuba estimated at around $7.5561 billion.
This, she said, includes $2.499 billion more than the enormous damage caused in the 2023-2024 period, mainly due to the increase in losses from lost revenue from exports of goods and services.
She made this emphasis at a press briefing held yesterday at her embassy in commemoration of Cuban National Culture Day, which was convened on Monday, October 20, 2025, in Havana, Cuba. 1868 was the first time Cubans sang their National Anthem.
However, she said that the United Nations General Assembly will consider the draft resolution on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the USA on Cuba on 28th October 2025.
“No sector of social and economic life escapes the effects of the blockade. Two months of the blockade are equivalent to the cost of the fuel needed to meet the country’s normal electricity demand (1.6billion dollars), and five days of blockade are equivalent to the financing needed to repair one of the thermoelectric plants,” she said.
This blockade, she added, started in February 1962 when President Kennedy signed a total commercial blockade against Cuba in response to the social and economic measures that the new revolution adopted, like nationalization of land reform.
She said for 63 years, Cuba has been a victim of unjust policy in violation of international law, and constitutes the main obstacle to the economic and social development of Cuba.
She advanced that no other nation faces such a prolonged, anachronistic, systemic, and complex framework of laws and policies of aggression and coercion.
This, she said, includes the unprecedented intensification of the blockade in recent years and the development of systemic persecution actions aimed at cutting off the Cuban economy’s main sources of income.
She emphasized that the 63-year blockade has become a difficult framework of laws that restricts the international economic, commercial, and financial relations of Cuba.
She continued that the extraterritorial laws affect non-American companies or subsidiaries in third countries that cannot import products with Cuban raw materials or Cuban components, and prohibit the use of American dollars for transactions with Cuba.
She said, “The objective is to suffocate, isolate and sever all ties between Cuba and the world, preventing access to fuel, technology, raw materials, food and medicines, which affects key sectors such as health, agriculture and transportation.”
She revealed that all sectors of the country’s social and economic life are affected by the strengthening of sanctions, which hurts the well-being and quality of life of the population.
She said that in January, President Trump announced his decision to reestablish the harsh economic welfare measures against Cuba, which she described as a declared unconventional war that includes economic sanctions and political campaigns.
She said this includes the continuation of full prosecution, implementation of the Burton Act that allows the lawsuits in US courts.
Highlighting the Cuban medical mission in the world, she said Cuba has more than twenty-four thousand medical professionals in 56 countries, saving lives. This, she said, includes over 100 professionals deployed in various regions of The Gambia.
