Havana, Cuba.- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez warned on Monday about increased US political and economic hostility against Cuba.

In statements to the press during the debates prior to the 9th Legislature of the People’s Power National Assembly, the foreign minister recalled that some progress had been seen until 2017 in ties between Havana and Washington.

The recognition of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed for more than half a century on Cuba as an obsolete and ineffective policy, and the need to lift it because it caused the country’s discredit and isolation, was very significant, he added.

They never admitted the genocidal and violating nature of the human rights of a people, nor the ethical and violating aspect of international law in the US measure, Rodriguez remarked.

It is true that US citizens had made progress in their travels to Cuba, and now again they are heavily restricted by the White House, which overrides their nationals’ freedom to travel, Rodriguez said.

Since then, ‘we have seen a tightening of the blockade, which was never substantially modified in the previous period, but now it adds new unfounded measures with the intention of making US power circles to advance to a greater degree of confrontation,’ he noted.

Such an attitude could imply the blockade’s additional measures, an escalation of rhetoric and greater subversive actions, Rodriguez warned.

There are many slanders and lies about human rights in Cuba, with plenty of ignorance and a brushstroke of interest in holding bilateral dialogue, said the head of Cuban diplomacy.

We have always been willing to talk with the United States, but with absolute respect for self-determination and sovereignty, without a hint of shadow on our independence.

We will never hesitate to claim our rights and denounce their aggressive actions’, said the Cuban foreign minister.