The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States government limits and increases the cost of the acquisition of technological resources, and makes difficult to access information and exchange with professionals from other countries, workers from the scientific sector in the province of Ciego de Ávila denounced it.

Rafael Pérez Carmenate, delegate of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA by its Spanish initials), emphasized that the imperialist siege forces to make purchases in geographically distant markets, such as Asia, to acquire technology, which leads to an increase in costs per concept freight.

 "The Cuban scientific community has restricted visits to more than 200 sites on the Internet and there are videoconferencing platforms that are prohibited for our country, issues that impede access to knowledge, making difficult to substantiate research and exchange with specialists from other countries", he added.

He, also deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power referred to the prohibitions to obtain equipment, reagents or farming media from North American firms, which makes the resources used in laboratories on the island more expensive.

“The unilateral, criminal and genocide measures derived from the US blockade are maintained and intensified, in an economic context aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, to limit technological, scientific and investigative development in different spheres of Cuban society.

"The effects are not greater because we have highly professional, creative researchers and specialists with a sense of belonging and committed to the institutions and the country, who constantly propose formulas and innovate," Pérez Carmenate highlited.

The master of Science in Agriculture Nurys Pérez Valdés, associate researcher at the Bio-food Research Center of the territory of Ciego de Ávila, stressed that the blockade forces the development of alternatives for animal feeding that require laboratory analysis to be validated and, sometimes, do not exist adequate resources to carry them out.

"The lack of technological means makes it difficult to carry out more precise measurements, the agility of the processes and the humanization of work, however, we achieve results with quality and impact on the economic and social development of the country," the Ciego de Ávila`s scientist said.

International journals detract from the validity of CIBA research for not using advanced technology in laboratory experiments and analyzes; to these facts are added the abusive costs to publish, impossible to pay for Cuban institutions.

The deficit of resources also makes it impossible to reproduce a greater number of plants for the reestablishment of vegetation on the dunes and the replacement of invasive plants in the hotel gardening of the Jardines del Rey tourist destination.

"The CIBA does not have materials to develop a nursery, however, in rustic conditions 2 977 of the 3 945 native plants established, during the year 2020, were conceived on the dune ecosystems benefited with dumping of sand", the Master of Science in Agriculture Danay Rodríguez Ramos, associate researcher at the aforementioned scientific institution, emphasized.

Rodríguez Ramos alluded to the lack of fuel to travel to the northern cays of ciego de Ávila, as another consequence of the US blockade; and she insisted on the deficit of measurement instruments, the limitations to access scientific materials in the Internet and the excessive cost of publications in international journals.