Obama maintains blockade policy against Cuba

CUBA, September 15, 2009. President Barack Obama has signed an order extending for one year the law applied to impose the U.S. trade blockade of Cuba, despite calls to let it expire, Reuters reports from Washington, stating that the president has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors dating back to the 1970s.

Meanwhile, AFP, quoting the White House, notes that the so-called Trading with the Enemy Act, in place since 1917 and which prohibits any commercial exchange with countries considered a treat, currently only affects Cuba.

"I have determined that it is in the national interest of the United States to continue for one year the exercise of certain authorities under the Trading with the Enemy Act with respect to Cuba," Obama said on Monday.

The law, the oldest in effect in the United States in relation to trade sanctions, gave rise in 1963 to the commercial and financial blockade of Cuba. The extension was announced the day before the opening of the UN General Assembly which, in the course of 17 consecutive years, has overwhelmingly voted against a measure that has cost Cuba a loss of more than $90 billion.

Translated by Granma International . (Cubavsblockade- Granma Internacional)