Cuba's National Office of Statistics has calculated that between 1959 and the end of 2004, the US caused US$80 billion of damage to the island's population through its economic blockade. According to a foreign ministry report on the statistics, which labels the US as the greatest violator of human rights in the world, the estimate is conservative and excludes over $54 billion in damages to economic and social facilities through US-financed sabotage and other terrorist acts. The report noted that the US Treasury Office for Foreign Assets Control now uses five times more agents to enforce restrictions on Cuba than to track al Qaeda's financial sources. The US impedes travel to and from the island by US citizens, punishes foreign companies that trade with Cuba and prevents Cuba from accessing much-needed medical and education resources.
From Green Left Weekly, March 8, 2006.
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