Presidents from Latin America and Africa demanded at UN General Assembly the lifting of the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial blockade on Cuba.
 
During the first day of the high-level segment of the Assembly, which concluded late Monday, the calls to end a Washington's policy Barack Obama himself acknowledged in front of 193 UN member countries that it should cease because "it has no place," were expressed.
 
Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, began the marathon parade of speakers, about 36, and in her speech included the order to stop the siege imposed to the island for more than 50 years, which she described as coming from the Cold War.
 
On the other hand, Bolivian President, Evo Morales, and his Ecuadorian peer, Rafael Correa, called for the lifting of the blockade, and the return to Cuba of the territory illegally occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, key issues for the normalization of relations between Washington and Havana.
 
South African President, Jacob Zuma, reiterated at the plenary the need to lift the unilateral punishment, "in order to help the Cuban people to gain its economic freedom."
 
Mexico's Head of State, Enrique Peña Nieto; Mozambique's Filipe Nyusi, and Gabon's Ali Bongo Ondimba, also defended the end of the siege.
 
The mentioned speakers, along with Argentina's President, Cristina Fernández; Chile's Michelle Bachelet; Mali's Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and Portugal's Anibal Antonio Cavaco, welcomed the renewal of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States, materialized on July 20.