HAVANA.- Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs, denounced today that the U.S. government is circulating among the attendees of the UN General Assembly sessions a document with proposed amendments to the draft resolution against the economic, financial and commercial blockade, which the island will present on Wednesday, October 31.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations circulated Tuesday night the text, which contains eight modifications, which cover issues related to the Development Objectives of the UN Agenda until 2030, and human rights in Cuba.

He added that the State Department has also released a document with the objective of pressuring the member countries of the world body to modify their decision to vote against the blockade, a hypocritical and shameless instrument that violates the human rights of the Cuban people.

This maneuver is aimed at justifying the blockade with false human rights pretexts, uses hostile rhetoric and shows the U.S. government's commitment to minority sectors that have an anachronistic mentality.

There is an evident determination, from the announcements of a supposed new policy that in reality is the return to the years of the Cold War, to reverse the progress and tighten the blockade, which causes a regrettable setback in relations between the two countries, said the head of Cuban diplomacy.

Rodriguez Parrilla reiterated the willingness of the Cuban government to analyze with the current U.S. administration human rights issues or others they deem relevant, but always on the basis of mutual respect and without any concession to the sovereignty and independence of the island.

In his appearance before representatives of national and foreign media, the FM stressed that the amendments presented last night use the same content of old resolutions rejected by the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations.

In this sense, he invited the White House to have a debate regarding the international conventions that it has rejected in recent years, such as the protection of women, the rights of the child, climate change and others, and also gave figures on how much their postulates are violated in the northern country and the progress made by Cuba.

Rodríguez Parrilla recalled that in this year's Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights at the UN, Cuba accepted most of the recommendations, took note of those that depend on legislative changes and availability of resources, and in none of them appear the indications of the amendments now proposed by the United States.