Sir, - "US policy towards Cuba is not aimed in any way at starving the Cuban people or creating famine conditions," declares Mr Laurence E. Butler of the US Embassy in Dublin. If this is the case, why has the US maintained a blockade which has enforced a complete prohibition on the sale of food and de facto prohibition on the sale of medicines and medical supplies to Cuba?In 1991, the last full year when Cuba was allowed to trade with subsidiaries of US companies, trade amounted to $718 million - 90 per cent of which represented the purchase of food and medicines. In 1992, the US government completely banned this trade.Mr Butler must be able to understand that if you ban the sale of food to a neighbouring country and actively prevent other countries from also selling food to that country it is likely that you will cause hunger. Fortunately, he does not have to take our word for it; he can find out all about the effects of the US blockade on the people of Cuba by reading Denial of Food and Medicine - The Impact of the US Embargo on Health and Nutrition in Cuba, a report produced by the American Association for World Health (AAWH) earlier this year.In case he is worried about the status of the AAWH, it serves as the US committee for the World Health Organisation. Its honorary chairman is the former President, Jimmy Carter, and the chairman of the board, Dr Peter Bourne, was Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations.It would be interesting to hear Mr Butler's observations on the damning content of this report. In the meantime, we again call for an immediate end to the US blockade of Cuba which constitutes an illegal and vindictive attack on the human rights of the Cuban people. - Yours etc.,From CARMEN GABARAINCuba Health and Education Project, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.