New York, September 11 (RHC) -- Cuba denounced at the United Nations President Barack Obama's decision to extend the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba for another year.

A statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations recalled that the main goal of the blockade imposed on Cuba since the 1960s is to cause damage and suffering to the Cuban people.

The Cuban diplomatic representation reported that President Obama had sent a memo to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry stating his decision to maintain the unilateral measure, considering it of national interest to the United States.

The blockade also forbids U.S. citizens to visit the island, except for the trips authorized by the government.  It has an extraterritorial dimension and has been reinforced by the Torricelli (1992) and the Helms Burton (1996) laws.

The Cuban Mission added that the White House continues to enforce the blockade despite global condemnation by the UN General Assembly on 22 consecutive occasions since 1992.

On October 28th, a new draft resolution on the need to end the U.S. blockade against Cuba will be discussed at the UN General Assembly. On Wednesday, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno presented in Havana a report on the resolution to be discussed.

The report stresses the blockade has been described as a genocidal policy by the international community since it prevents the island from acquiring medicines, reagents, spare parts for medical equipment and other inputs, forcing it to trade with distant markets, thus increasing costs.

According to the text, the Cuban Health Ministry estimates that the losses in that sector amount to US$66.5 million between April 2013 and June 2014.

However, those figures do not include the intangible costs to society, given the impossibility to access cutting-edge technology and other vital resources in that sensitive area.