Russian and Latin American Legislators Condemn the US Sanctions

On Monday, Russian and Latin American lawmakers condemned the unilateral sanctions imposed by the West on around thirty countries.

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“We categorically oppose sanctions, any illegitimate unilateral restrictions that violate international law and international trade norms,” Russian Senate President Valentina Matviyenko, said during the First Russia-Latin America International Parliamentary Conference.

The Russian parliamentarian called for “uniting our efforts in international parliamentary spaces to combat this illegal practice.”

The senator pointed out that Cuba has been “under blockade for over 60 years” and deemed it “unacceptable that in the 21st century, a country extends its jurisdiction to other sovereign states and compels them to support specific sanctions.”

“I believe it’s time for the international community to strongly assert before the United Nations and other international organizations the inadmissibility of any unilateral sanctions, so they are condemned and prohibited, as these sanctions are against the people,” she affirmed.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez recalled that “as of today, 30 countries suffer 26,162 sanctions imposed by a single country and its satellites,” representing 28 percent of the world’s population.

He characterized unilateral sanctions as a new “plague” for humanity, affecting the well-being of peoples, the right to public health, access to technology, and development.

On the other hand, the President of the People’s Assembly of Cuba, Esteban Lazo, highlighted the “unprecedented intensification” of the U.S. economic and financial blockade against his country, with 243 new measures imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and maintained by the Joe Biden administration.

He deemed the inclusion of Cuba on the “illegal” list of state sponsors of terrorism as “especially cruel and politically motivated,” severely hampering the country’s financial transactions.

Lazo pointed out that Cuba not only does not sponsor terrorism but has, in fact, been the victim of such attacks on multiple occasions, many of which were organized within U.S. territory.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua’s Presidential Advisor for International Cooperation, Laureano Ortega Murillo, took the opportunity to note that cooperation between Moscow and Managua is entirely different from the “cooperation model imposed by the U.S., Canada, and their European allies.”

According to Ortega, these countries condition cooperation on the imposition of their ideology, their terms, and their “selfish interests.” He accused the U.S., Canada, and Europe of employing “illegal sanctions” that constitute an assault on the sovereignty of countries that do not submit to their mandates.

He pointed out that, despite pressure from the West, Nicaragua continues to deepen its relations with Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and Bolivia, “so as not to depend” on the United States or Europe and to have financial mechanisms immune to Western “blackmail and economic terrorism.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated this conference last Friday, welcoming Latin American countries to join the BRICS group, which includes Brazil and will include Argentina in 2024.

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