Cuban annual report slams US ban as 'systematic violation of human rights'

HAVANA - Cuba said Friday that its economic losses caused by the US embargo totaled over $4.3 billion between April 2017 and March this year and slammed it as a "systematic violation of human rights."

In its annual report on the economic, financial and commercial embargo imposed by Washington, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said this "failed policy" is the main obstacle to the country's development.

"Accumulated economic losses for almost 60 years amount to $933.6 billion, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar against the value of gold in the international market," said the report, which will be presented later this year at the United Nations General Assembly.

Relations between Cuba and the United States worsened after Donald Trump assumed the US presidency in January 2017, rolling back the closer ties established by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum toughening US policy toward Cuba. It prohibits US companies from doing business with firms associated with Cuba's military, and restricts US citizens from traveling to the Caribbean nation.

"These measures further limited the right of American citizens to travel to Cuba and imposed additional obstacles to the limited investment and business opportunities of the US business sector in our country," the report said.

"Cuba reiterates that the US policy constitutes a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of human rights of our people," it added.