During her address to the plenary session of the 12th Ibero-American Parliamentary Forum in Madrid, Ana María Mari Machado—Vice President of the Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP)—emphasized that such an event “would destabilize the Latin American and Caribbean region as a Zone of Peace.”

  In this vein, Mari Machado—who also serves as Vice President of the Council of State—denounced the “silent genocide and collective punishment inflicted upon the Cuban people” through the economic, commercial, and financial blockade maintained by the U.S. government, a blockade that has been “intensified in recent months to extreme and unprecedented levels.”

  In this regard, she pointed to the imposition of an energy blockade on Cuba and a comprehensive scheme of secondary sanctions “against any entity from third countries that maintains investments or commercial or financial ties with Cuban entities, under the absurd pretext that Cuba poses a threat to United States national security.”

  Mari Machado added that “an additional factor has been the use of increasingly threatening and warmongering rhetoric against Cuba’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

  The ANPP Vice President argued that “the cost of this ruthless economic war against the Cuban people is incalculable” and cited two examples.   She noted that infant mortality on the Caribbean island has more than doubled, rising from 4.4 to 9.9 per thousand live births.

  Furthermore, it noted that thousands of containers—carrying food, medicines, and other essential supplies—”are currently stalled at various ports around the world, even though the majority have been contracted and paid for by private Cuban companies, due to threats against shipping lines registered in various countries.”

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