[NYTr] Cuban Parliament Pres Alarcon Says US Blockade against Cuba is Genocidal

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


President of Cuban Parliament Says US Blockade against Cuba is Genocidal

Havana, July 24 (acn) The president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo 
Alarcón de Quesada, reiterated on Monday that the almost fifty-year-old 
U.S. policy of commercial, financial and economic blockade against Cuba 
is genocidal.

The Cuban official made the statement during a meeting held in Havana 
on Monday with U.S. organizations in solidarity with Cuba.

Present in the meeting were members of the 18th Pastors for Peace 
U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, the 38th contingent of the Venceremos 
Brigade, the Cuba Solidarity Network and the Association of U.S.-Cuba 
Sister Cities.

Alarcón denounced the aggressive anti-Cuba policy of the administration 
of George W. Bush, which openly expresses its intentions to topple the 
Cuban government and subjugate the country.

He also condemned Washington's release of international terrorist Luis 
Posada Carriles and criticized the incarceration of five Cuban 
anti-terrorist fighters who unjustly remain imprisoned in U.S. jails.

For his part, Reverend Lucius Walker, executive director of the 
Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) that 
sponsors the Pastors for Peace caravan, said: "Again, we come to Cuba 
to learn, to recharge our batteries, to see that you are firm on your 
ideas and spirit, and we leave inspired by your example to continue 
fighting together."

Also present in the meeting were the president of the Cuban Friendship 
Institute, Sergio Corrieri; the director of the Martin Luther King Jr. 
Center, Reverend Raúl Suárez; and the head of the Department of 
Religious Affairs at the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party.