Pretoria, South African.- Cuban flags and placards featuring slogans condeming the United States blockade against Cuba were seen on Thursday in a popular protest in front of the US Embassy in Pretoria.

The demonstrators were summoned by the Communist Party and the Cuban Friendship Association to express their condemnation of Washington’s punitive measures against Havana and their support for today’s vote on Cuba’s draft resolution entitled ‘Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba,’ in the United Nations General Assembly.

According to Moeketsi Magiwiek, a mining engineer who studied in Cuba, this demonstration is important to support the Cuban people in the lead up to the vote, which once again will be successful.

A statement signed by the Association of South African Graduates in Cuba condemned the US aggressions against the Caribbean island.

The document noted that Cuba has contributed to the welfare of several countries, especially in the African continent.

‘This economic blockade is inhumane, criminal, senseless, illegitimate, insensitive and cruel. It has genocidal objectives and violates the Cuban people’s fundamental rights to self-determination and to be free of interference in their sovereignty by any State,’ the statement noted. It also pointed out that President Donald Trump has escalated actions against Cuba and has resorted to his powers to tighten the blockade as a weapon for his reelection in 2020.