Cuban minister makes appeal to end U.S. embargo [View All]

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Cuba's foreign minister made an impassioned appeal for the lifting of the trade embargo against his country, saying the blockade has cost the Caribbean nation $72 billion in the last 42 years.

In a 75-minute speech at a Harlem church, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the Cuban people do not hold any hatred against the American people.

He stressed that Cuba was against terrorism and has been combating drug trafficking, but despite overtures the Americans have refused to lift the embargo.

"The blockade is a major obstacle to our development. (It) prevents and curtails our development," Perez Roque told a sympathetic audience of more than 800 people, many of whom repeatedly interrupted with chants of "Viva Cuba."

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/28/international0750EDT0441.DTL>

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