WORLD Peace Council president Socorro Gomes has denounced the six-decade-long US blockade against Cuba and said that its continuation is costing lives. 

“The blockade kills, it is criminal, it is unilateral and it must end. The United States must let Cuba live in peace,” she said on Sunday. 

She was speaking as part of a Europe for Cuba online “media marathon” held in solidarity with the socialist island. 

Ms Gomes said that the cruel US sanctions regime, which extends to countries seeking to trade and do business with Cuba, aimed to “break and defeat” the revolution. 

“The decadent empire has clashed with the wishes of a dignified, sovereign people, determined to build its own destiny in the face of brute force,” she said. 

A 2018 UN report estimated that the embargo had cost at least $130 billion (£99.1bn) to the Cuban economy since it was first imposed in 1961. 

Last year, 184 countries voted in favour of a resolution at the UN general assembly to lift the embargo. The US and Israel voted against while Colombia, Ukraine and Brazil abstained. 

The resolution has been passed every year since 1992, but only the US Congress can end the restrictions.