The Latin American Studies Association, which comprises some 5,000 academics from the United States, Canada, and other countries, demanded Saturday that the United States lift its blockade against Cuba. 

At the organization's congress, LASA 2010, which concludes today in Toronto, the LASA leadership endorsed a resolution approved by its Cuba Section, made up of some 400 scholars mostly from the United States and Canada. 

The resolution also urges normalization of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana. 

The congress was attended by more than 2,700 delegates from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, the UK, and several Caribbean and Asian nations. 

The resolution's signatories agreed to send it to President Barack Obama and every member of the U.S. Congress. 

The blockade has caused severe damage to individuals and institutions, prevents free exchange between professionals, and bans complete freedom of travel, the resolution said. Most of all, it has caused much human suffering in Cuba, it says. 

LASA notes that every country in the Western Hemisphere today has relations with Cuba, and that the international community, in a growing majority, has condemned the blockade in the UN General Assembly. 

At the same time, it says, opposition to the blockade is very widespread within U.S. civil society. 

The resolution also asks the United States to take immediate measures to permit free academic, educational, informational, cultural, and sports exchanges. 

Given Washingto's refusal to grant visas to Cuban experts, LASA decided to hold its most recent gatherings outside of the United States. 

With more than 5,500 members, the U.S.-based association is the largest academic organization of professionals and institutions from around the world devoted to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean.