GENEVA (Reuters) – Cuba on Wednesday accused the United States, whose Democratic administration has been seeking to ease long-term restrictions on links with Havana, of stepping up subversion against the communist-ruled island.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla also lashed out at the West in general for creating a global economic system bringing the death of millions in poor countries and for launching bloody wars to seize control of energy resources.

Dubbing Washington’s long economic blockade as genocide, he told the United Nations Human Rights Council: “The US policy against Cuba that the government of President (Barack) Obama has kept unchanged is taking a toll on the lives of Cubans.”

And he said the hunger-strike death in a Cuban jail last week of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who supporters say was a political prisoner and Cuba argues was a common criminal, had sparked a new escalation of subversion against the island.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed deep regrets over the death and said Zapata was imprisoned for speaking his mind. Other US politicians have fiercely condemned Havana.

Political experts in the United States and Europe say the affair has struck a blow against hopes for near-term improvement in US-Cuba — and European Union-Cuba — relations. The vehemence of Rodriguez’s speech to the 47-nation council suggested that Havana had a similar view, although it was reported this week to be seeking to persuade foreign firms to keep doing business with Cuba..

Rodriguez accused the West of appointing itself as the world’s human rights watchdog but was responsible for systematic and flagrant rights abuses.

“They are the ones who bear responsibility for the present international economic order that silently murders tens of millions of human beings who fall victims of starvation, poverty and preventable and curable diseases,” he said.

“The US and its European allies resorted to the manipulation of terrorism to launch the wars whose aim was to control and conquer the energy resources of Iraq and Afghanistan,” he added.