HAVANA, CUBA.- (acn) The application of the economic blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba has inflicted from April of 2016 to June of this year, a total of 4.3 million dollars, double of what the national economy requires for it development.

Specialist of the National Economic Research Institute, Nieves Pico said, during a public presentation condemning the persistence of the unilateral policy, said that according to estimates the island would need two thousand 500 million dollars in direct foreign investment each year to achieve economic development.

 Sponsored by the Economic Affairs Commission of the Cuban Parliament, the exchange included information on the damages inflicted by the application of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the US against Cuba for over 50 years totaling over 8.2 million dollars, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar against the value of gold in the international market.

With the presence of students from the University of Havana and workers from various sectors, Faustino Cobarrubia, from the World Economy Research Center (CIEM), warned that these figures are sub-valued because the blockade has accompanied Cuba since the birth of the Revolution as an intense economic war.

 It is impossible to evaluate the real impact, said the analyst and pointed out that the war has entered in a new phase, by the recent episodes related with the alleged attacks against US diplomats in Havana.

The Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Ramon Labanino said there is no money that can pay the immense damage inflicted by the blockade against the Cuban people, which will never give in to US government hostility.

Alejandro Rodriguez, student from the School of Economy of the University of Havana, condemned the blockade and its extraterritorial effects, stopping national companies in working at the international market and placing obstacles in its relations with its foreign counterparts.

 The President of the Frank Pais Credit and Services Cooperative in Artemisa province, Orlando Perez highlighted that the US policy affects the yield of the crops due to the country’s limitations in purchasing fertilizers and seeds.

Cuba will once again present on November 1st, the draft resolution entitled, Necessity in Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial blockade imposed by the US government against Cuba at the UN General Assembly, initiative which has been presented since 1992 with unanimous support among the world body’s member nations.