Alarcon Says U.S. Blockade 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.