CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Cuba Denounces Confiscation of UN Funds by the United States.

CUBA, March 11, 2011.— Cuba denounced today that the United States has confiscated 4,207,000 dollars that the Global Fund had allocated to fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Cuba.

The announcement was made by Cuban Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Orlando Hernandez, who also added that this is just one of many examples of the extraterritorial implementation of the 50-year-old economic, commercial and financial blockade of the island by the United States.

He explained that in January, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) informed that the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department had frozen funds destined to assist the healthcare sector in Cuba.

This financial aid, which Cuba had been receiving every year, was destined to programs under the framework of the Global Fund for the Fight of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Cuban official said this was an illegal act that obstructed the allocation of UN funds through its agencies and programs.

"This is a serious attack, in as much as it affects the fight and prevention in my country of a pandemic the Cuban government and the international community are struggling to eradicate," said Hernandez.

The statement points out that not only will this unilateral measure of Washington affect the implementation and continuity of social programs targeting vulnerable groups in Cuba, it also challenges the global scope of UN agencies, funds and programs. (PL)

(Cubaminrex – Granma)

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