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No Washington Blockade for Venezuela, Says Cuban Foreign Minister

Caracas, August 14 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque dismissed the suggestion that United States" pressure could result in a blockade against Venezuela, as happened to Cuba, stressing that every country has its own process.

"The United States cannot blockade Venezuela, it needs Venezuela too much," the Foreign Minister told a group of reporters Friday as he left a meeting with the Venezuelan Vice President, Jose Vicente Rangel.

Questioned on similarities between the two processes, Perez Roque said Venezuela cannot do the same as Cuba because the times are different. "The water of the river does not flow past the same place twice,” he remarked.

It is impossible to copy, as each process belongs to a given circumstance and a given historical time? Perez Roque added.

The Cuban Foreign Minister was in Venezuela to speak at a conference at the Sixteenth World Youth Festival.

¿What we defend,¿ he emphasized, is the right of each nation to decide its own fate, institutions and laws without foreign involvement or pressure?

The Cuban Minister defended the right of the Venezuelan people and government to defend their sovereignty, and pointed out that the government led by President Hugo Chavez has governed without other states" involvement.

"What happens is that in Latin America anyone chosing an independent road, such as Cuba and Venezuela, inevitably faces pressures from the United States, which is always trying to clean up its backyard."

He considered that in this case there are only two choices, either to retreat or to go forward, and both countries have decided to advance, in spite of North American opposition.

Perez Roque added that the Chavez government has broad support because the people understand it is upholding national sovereignty and defending their institutions.

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