Mexican President slams US-imposed sanctions against Cuba

Mexico City: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday again decried the U.S.-led economic blockade against Cuba.

“I think that Cuba should not be isolated, politically speaking. You shouldn’t strangle Cubans for deciding to stay in Cuba,” Lopez Obrador said during his usual daily press conference, referring to the sanctions the United States has imposed on the island for over half a century.

“I am against the blockade, I think it is inhumane. No one has the right to isolate and to strangle a people,” the president told reporters at the National Palace in Mexico City, criticizing these measures as “backward.”

Countries have the right to choose their system of government in keeping with their idiosyncrasy and history, said Lopez Obrador.

U.S. sanctions against Cuba stepped up during the administration of former President Donald Trump, who cancelled U.S. flights to all Cuban destinations except Havana, banned cruise ships from docking on the island, and put a cap on remittances Cuban-Americans could send back.