Cuban-American groups gathered in the city of Miami, Florida, demanded the lifting of the U.S. economic and financial blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 50 years, local media reported today.
The conference was sponsored by four organizations that back the improvement of ties between the two countries, including the Cuban-American for Relations (known as CAFE), the Foundation for Normalization of Relations, Generation Cubano Change and Educational Travel to Cuba.
Those attending the event, held on Saturday, discussed the bilateral dynamics in recent years and called for the abolition of all kinds of unilateral sanctions of Washington against Havana, in order to boost bilateral trade and restore normal relations between the two countries.
Arturo Lopez-Levy, director of CAFE, demanded the White House to remove Cuba from the list of terrorist countries and questioned that the Caribbean nation is seen as a threat to U.S. national security, the newspaper The Miami Herald said.
The expert said that most Cubans living in this country oppose the blockade, which he described as illegal, contrary to international law and condemned on multiple occasions by the UN General Assembly. A recent survey by the Atlantic Council of the United States shows that 56 percent of Americans support the normalization of relations with Cuba, and that figure reaches 63 percent in Florida, which has the largest population of Cuban Americans.