CRI听力:US Sanctions Cost $117 Bln: Cuba

Cuba says U.S. economic sanctions have cost the island nation 3.9 billion US dollars in foreign trade in the past year.

Havana says this helps to raise the overall cost of economic damage to nearly 117 billion dollars over the past 55 years.

The figures were published in a report that Cuba prepares for the United Nations each year in requesting a resolution urging the end to the U.S. economic embargo and other sanctions against the country.

The United Nations has passed the resolution for 22 straight years with overwhelming support. Last year the vote was 188 to 2, with only the United States and Israel voting against.

Abelardo Moreno is Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister.

"We must remember that the blockade violates the rights of the Cuban people and we're of the opinion that there is not, and there hasn't been in this world, a violation of the rights of an entire people that is so terrifying and vile than the blockade from the United States government against Cuba for 55 years".

Washington imposed a full embargo on Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.

Other U.S. laws have strengthened the embargo over years, imposing fines on companies from third countries that have business in Cuba and also in the United States.

The cumulative damage figure of 117 billion dollars was expressed in current prices.

Havana says when factoring in the depreciation of the dollar against the international price of gold, the figure rises to 1.1 trillion.