US President Barack Obama has enough authority to make the US embargo against Cuba more flexible, said Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernandez, Cuba's ambassador to China, on Friday in Beijing.

Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in China, Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernández, speaks at a press conference at the Cuban Embassy in Beijing on October 22, 2010. [Zhang Ming'ai/China.org.cn]

Obama extended the embargo for another year in September under of pretext that it is "in the national interest of United States".

 

"The Obama administration has made no changes to the US policy," Hernandez said, noting that it was one of Obama's campaign promises. "What he has done is still a long way from what he said."

Hernandez says the direct economic damage from the embargo on Cuba has amounted to US$236 billion since it was imposed in 1962 during the Cold War, when the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with the island nation.

And the subversive activities carried out by the US government and the mercenaries have also incurred a loss of nearly US$54 billion, said the ambassador.

"The embargo is just like a long-lasting typhoon that refuses to leave Cuba and continues to wreak havoc to this country," Hernandez said. "It has done immeasurable damage to our country."

Since 1992, when the U.S. codified the embargo into law, a majority of the UN General Assembly has called on the U.S. to lift the embargo ever year. China has voted in favor of lifting the embargo in each of the past 18 years, for which Hernandez commended China.

"The embargo has seriously violated the human rights of Cuban people, especially their development right," Hernandez said.