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Cuban National Assembly Members Condemn the Blockade Leandro Maceo Leyva, Granma International Editorial, October 20, 2010 ON October 19, the International Relations Commission of the Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power approved, with the votes of all representatives, an appeal to their counterparts around the world to demand that the U.S. government end the blockade imposed on Cuba. Ignoring the wishes of the international community, the current debate in the U.S. Congress and public opinion within the country, the Obama administration everyday distances itself further from its campaign promises, making no substantial change whatsoever in its policy toward Cuba. "The blockade remains in full force and none of the broad institutional prerogatives that allow the chief executive to introduce important changes if he so decides, have been utilized," the document states. The United States government continues to block food sales to Cuba by national companies and has taken no action to allow them to do so in keeping with standard norms, channels and practices of international trade. Cuban billboard: "12 hours of the blockade equals the total insulin required annually by the 64,000 patients in the country." That indefensible policy has specifically resulted in the death of 3,478 Cubans and 2,099 have been permanently disabled as a result of terrorist acts which have left a total of 5,577 victims, more than the number caused by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Oklahoma City bombing combined, according to the document. This is "in addition to the $751,363 billion which the blockade has cost Cuba — a conservative estimate given the decline of the dollar in relation to gold," the text states. Ramón Pez Ferro, president of the International Relations Commission, chaired the session in which the deputies also reiterated their demand for the liberation of the Cuban Five.