US sanctions harmful to Cuba, US consumers: paper

The decades-old US sanctions against Cuba have hurt both Cuba's economy and US citizens who are missing out on much-desired luxury products, such as coffee and tobacco, the government newspaper Granma said on its website Friday.

Cuba has lost 82 billion US dollars in trade since the first US sanctions were imposed in 1960, or 1.8 billion dollars each year, the newspaper said.

Cuba loses 12 million dollars in tobacco trade annually and has lost 700 million more dollars in coffee trade during the last 30 years, it said.

The blockade also means that Cuba has to export many of its products by indirect routes, the paper added.

The UN General Assembly condemned the sanctions in a vote last fall, urging the United States to end the policy, for the 13th straight year. But Washington denied that a blockade has been imposed, preferring to call it an "embargo."

The Cuban government has decided to raise the issue again at the United Nations on Nov. 8, according to the paper.

Source: Xinhua