Cuban president slams uptick in 'hostile rhetoric' from US

HAVANA -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Monday said the United States was intensifying its "hostile rhetoric" against the island.

"The government of the United States is resorting to increasing its hostile rhetoric against Cuba," Diaz-Canel said via Twitter.

"We have the sovereign right to determine our destiny without foreign interference," he added.

The "essential defining element" of bilateral ties between Cuba and the United States continues to be the half-century trade embargo that "aims to strangle the Cuban economy, create misery and subvert the constitutional order," said the president.

He included the hashtag #NoMoreBlockade (#NoMasBloqueo) in his posts, in reference to the embargo, which Cuba more accurately calls a blockade given the scope and reach of US sanctions. It also punishes third countries for doing business with the Caribbean island.

The blockade is the main obstacle to Cuba's development, Diaz-Canel said in an earlier post.

At the end of October, Cuba will again present its annual report to the United National General Assembly in New York on the accumulated impact of the embargo imposed in 1962.

A UN resolution calling for the lifting of the embargo is expected to be unanimously approved by the international community, with the exception of the US and its stalwart ally Israel, as in prior years.

According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, the Cold War-era policy has cost Cuba almost $934 billion in damage and lost revenue.