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October 10, 2013 - No. 113 -
Supplement Necessity of Ending the
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The economic, commercial and
financial blockade of the
Government of the United States imposed since the beginning of the
Cuban Revolution continues to be, after more than 50 years, and despite
protests by the international community, the main point of reference
for United States policy towards the small
Caribbean island in its obsession to destroy the Revolution and restore
its hegemony over Cuba.  "12 hours of the blockade is equivalent to the insulin needed for the country's 64,000 diabetics" |
For the May 2012-April 2013 period, very conservative estimates put the monetary losses caused by the blockade to Cuban public health at about USD 39 million as a result of the purchasing of medicines, reagents, spare parts for diagnostics and treatment equipment, instruments and other consumables in distant markets, as well as of the use of intermediaries, the combined effect of which increased expenses in this sector.
The consequences of the blockade for this sector have a multiplying negative effect because by affecting the costs of everyday products, the purchase of such products becomes difficult, basic social services are harmed and, consequently, so are the living conditions of the population.
The damages recorded in this field include the following:
e) Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. faces the impossibility of developing all its potential to market different forms of health services. The limitations imposed by the blockade have cut back earnings by nearly USD 9.6 million USD.
f) Medicuba S.A. has been considerably hit by the increase of budgetary expenses and foreign currency expenditures to buy medicines, medical supplies, lab test reagents, expendable materials, equipment and consumables used in dentistry, as well as other equipment and technologies in distant markets. Additional expenses totaled USD 367,800 due to price increases and USD 11,304,600 for operational costs.
g) The training of Cuban medical professionals in modern medical care techniques faces serious obstacles due to the blockade. Under the present circumstances, no proper training is being given to operate Philips Positron Emission Tomography (PET) equipment, which are essential for diagnosing cancer.
h) Most medical imaging equipment are controlled or include in their structure computers running on the 64-bit Windows XP operational system that needs to be activated by Microsoft within 30 days of installation.
Activation may be done automatically on Internet via a direct connection from the computer to Microsoft servers, or manually by calling on the telephone any of the Microsoft offices in the world. Neither of these two options is available to Cuba since Microsoft has no office on the island and an automatic activation is rejected by the company's server because it comes from Cuba.
The National Center for Medical Genetics has not been able to acquire a Genetic Analyzer because it is manufactured only by US companies such as Applied Biosystems, belonging to Life Technologies. This equipment allows to read DNA sequencing bases, a key tool for studying genetic diseases such as hereditary breast cancer, familial adenomatous polyposis, hereditary non-polyposic colorectal cancer and the von Piel-Lindau Syndrome.
The Institute of Gastroenterology has not been able to acquire a bipolar radiofrequency equipment for hepatic tumor ablation because it is manufactured in the United States and marketed by various companies such as Olympus Latin America Inc. in different geographical areas. 69
The William Soler Pediatric Cardiology Center is facing serious difficulties in acquiring nitric oxide, a gas manufactured by US and European companies. As it cannot be bought in the US, it has to be purchased from more distant suppliers, which increases costs because this is a substance that must be transported with special care.
Nitric oxide is given to patients with pulmonary hypertension episodes and severe pulmonary distress. It should also be administered in health care centers to heart and lung transplant patients as well as to newborns with persistent fetal circulation and others.
The Nutrition and Food Hygiene Institute is facing difficulties with the determination of aflatoxins (toxins with cancerous effects in foods contaminated by fungi) since the trial has been stopped for over a year because there is not any non-US supplier to provide the B2, G1 and G2 aflatoxin pattern.
The Institute of Nephrology faces difficulties with the availability of kits for HLA tissue typing made by the American company One Lambda, which does not authorize its sale to Cuba. The technique allows to determine immunological compatibility levels between receivers and donors under the National Kidney Transplant Program; it makes it possible to choose the right donor. Around 1,500 patients are listed in the receivers' bank and therefore they have to be typed immunologically.
Moreover, Cuban HIV/AIDS patients cannot be administered antiretroviral combinations that include Tenofovir made by the Gilead Company. Nor has it been possible to buy antiviral drugs like kaletra, nelfinavir, ritonavir and children's 80/20 mg Lopi/Rito because the US companies which manufacture them are not responding to requests from Cuban companies or are saying they cannot do business with Cuba.
Food
Due to its nature, this is one of the most sensitive sectors being affected by the blockade.
Whereas there is the possibility of importing agricultural products and foods from the United States, there are still impediments to normal trade in this sphere between the two countries. Purchases are still framed within strict regulations subject to a complicated mechanism of permits that operates both for trips by US business persons as well as for the signing of contracts, transportation and payments for the transactions to be undertaken. In addition, OFAC reserves itself the right to cancel such permits without any warning or explicit argument.
ALIMPORT company sustained, as a result of the risk country notion, losses estimated at about USD 45 million as it did not have direct access to US bank funding. Additionally, the pressure applied by the Government of the United States on the international banking and credit system prompts third-country creditors to increase financial costs to levels between 8% and 10% per annum, even though they tend to fluctuate 5-6%.
ALIMPORT is facing further adverse effects estimated at USD 20 million due to the impossibility of using the US dollar in its transactions. Cuban banks must buy reimbursement currencies and this means considerable losses in terms of exchange risk, which is compounded also by great financial market volatility. Another USD 10 million is lost because transfers originating in Cuba require operations through several banks to reach their destination.
Faced with the impossibility of exporting Cuban products to the US market and the restrictions preventing US vessels from transporting Cuban cargo to other destinations, the fleet traveling from the US to Cuba returns to US ports without cargo and this implies higher freight charges. Damages in this sense amounted to USD 28 million in 2012.
Likewise, exports by the Cuban company CARIBEX, especially lobster tails and shrimp, could have been sent to the US market. As a result of the blockade, such exports must pay high tariffs in other markets (they are tariff-free in the US market), face high transportation costs associated with the risks of long voyages for such products and deal with onerous exchange rates due to the ban on using US dollars in transactions.
Additionally, finding alternative markets for importing consumables for the Cuban foods industry, such as raw materials for making bottles and packages and the preservation of products, fruit pulps, sweeteners, etc. has brought about losses close to USD 3.4 million.
2.2 Education, culture and sports
 "45 minutes of the blockade is equal to the materials needed to contruct a special school." |
Guaranteeing the right of all Cubans to education, culture and sports has been a priority of the Cuban State since the beginning of the Revolution. However, the blockade being imposed on the country generates daily shortages that affect development in these sectors.
As a result of the implementation of this policy, Cuba continues having no access to the US market to buy school consumables, raw materials and to scientific, cultural and sports information exchanges.
Losses caused by the necessity of importing school materials provided by distant suppliers mean less access by Cuban schools to teaching materials which are essential for pre-school, grammar and special education. The total of USD 816 000 paid in addition to the regular prices for the purchase of school materials is equivalent to 1,723 Natural Sciences teaching modules. As a result of these additional costs, only 100 teaching modules could be imported.
During the period discussed in this Report, measures designed to prohibit or condition normal academic exchanges, student/professor trips, the flow of scientific information by various channels, the dissemination of and adequate payment for performance within academia and the purchase of teaching consumables, means and instruments and research and scientific work in general have had a considerable impact.
Uncertainties about the granting of permits to US academic institutions and universities wishing to start collaboration programs and the imposition of strict conditions on them lead to the loss of many opportunities and curb potential cooperation actions between academics and students from both countries.
The University of Holguín could not have academic exchanges with the Center for Higher Studies of Granada (CEGRI) in Spain, a center sponsored by the University of Alcalá (Madrid), because students from various European, Asian and US countries are enrolled there. Invariably, CEGRI makes payments to the universities receiving the students. Once it was learned the receiving university was Cuban, the exchange was cancelled.
Computer equipment at the University of Havana cannot be renewed because of the ban on the importation of computers produced by the largest manufacturers in the world such Hewlett Packard, Apple Macintosh, or even firms associated with Japanese manufacturers such as Toshiba or Sony Vaio The reason of such restriction is that most of the market is controlled by processors manufactured by the US firm Intel. To obtain such equipment, Cuba has to buy it from third countries with price increases that can add up to 30% of the original price.
The University of Guantánamo has 5 collaboration projects whose administration is experiencing serious limitations due to problems related to the importation of laboratory consumables. These projects include the following:
c) "Training in local coastal management in southern Cuba," which is being carried out with the collaboration of Canadian institutions. The arrival of a GPS piece was delayed because the Canadian counterparts could not acquire it in the US after the destination of the equipment was known.
d) Imports of laboratory instruments for the "Improving Genetic Reserves" project being implemented with the cooperation of Belgian institutions were also delayed because the contracted equipment included US-made components. It was necessary to buy the instruments in more distant markets and at higher prices.
Members of two research groups of the Department of Animal and Human Biology at the University of Havana (Invertebrates and Bird Ecology) could not apply for the funds of the "Conservation Leadership Program" conservation program that provides financing to young people in developing countries who work in the protection and management of natural resources in their countries because US organizations Wildlife Conservation Society and Conservation International had been included in the program's list of donors. Previously, other Cuban youths had had access to that program when it was being sponsored by British NGOs British Petroleum, BirdLife International and Fauna & Flora International.
The blockade policy sets up obstacles and prevents direct and normal relations with international sports institutions and the participation of athletes in important competitions taking place in the US or Cuba. The extraterritorial reach of its measures also makes access to external financing more difficult and slows down the acquisition of sports gear.
Among the chief damages inflicted on Cuban sports is an additional expense of USD 1,070,000 for importing consumables for sports such as baseball, track and field, softball, archery, diving, swimming, lawn tennis, jai-alai, sailing, polo, etc.
Also, the National Baseball Team is still waiting for its payment for participating in the Second and Third World Baseball Classics (2009 and 2013) totaling USD 2.3 million; these payments cannot be transferred to Cuba because of the blockade laws.
On June 26, 2012, OFAC informed the Insight Cuba travel agency, which had been sponsoring the participation of US runners in the Marabana Marathon since 2011, that the event did not classify as a "people-to-people" program and forbade the participation of 300 US athletes in the popular competition.
The Meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Amateur Basketball Federation scheduled to be held in Havana on November 7-10, 2012 had to be cancelled when the US authorities refused to grant travel permits to US and Puerto Rican executives.
The blockade prevents the adequate promotion, dissemination and marketing of Cuban cultural talent, reduces the selling prices for Cuba's cultural products to very low levels and it has restricted the enjoyment of our music by international audiences. One of the main reasons is the control over the market by big arts and music transnationals, most of which are American or have a strong presence in the United States. Those big companies control promotion and exhibition circuits for artists internationally.
Cuban institutions did not earn USD 12.1 million due to the adverse effects of the blockade and the impossibility of interacting normally with US art circuits.
In another example of the extraterritorial dimension of the blockade, on August 21, 2012 Paypal, the Internet payment company limited a Spanish platform account which finances Cuban cultural projects under an allegation of noncompliance with OFAC regulations on Cuba.
The Cuban Institute of Music, through its enterprises, was carrying out 51 work projects in the US territory during the period discussed herein with the participation of 365 musicians and technicians. However, the participants only got a per diem to meet their daily expenses and were not allowed to market their shows.
The Cuban Institute for Cinematographic Arts and Industry (ICAIC in its Spanish acronym) has no direct access to use the technology developed by US enterprise Dolby due to the blockade restrictions. Sound-track processes in Cuban cinema productions must use that technology without said credit, which makes their introduction in the international movie market practically impossible. The situation forces Cuban professionals to associate themselves with foreign co-producers in order to get the required permits.
The digital music wholesale distribution service Soy Cubano, which belongs to the Cuban ARTEX S.A. enterprise, has no direct access to US wholesale distributors with great bargaining power in the world market. Under such circumstances, it has been necessary to resort to intermediary enterprises, which results in lower markups.
As for the Empresa RTV Comercial (commercial radio-television enterprise) in charge of exporting services produced by Cuban radio and television, it cannot market its audio-visual productions in the US market and others in the region because of the control exercised by US capital abroad. This results in Cuban productions being sold at prices lower than those for other productions. For Cuba, they range between USD 200 and USD 300 per hour, an amount lower than the average prices for audiovisual productions of the same type earning approximately USD 600 per hour in the international market.
CHAPTER 3. Damages to the foreign sector of the economy
3.1 Damages to foreign trade
Cuba's island and development conditions determine the high impact of foreign trade on access to cutting-edge technologies, mobilization of foreign capital, granting of loans, promotion of foreign investments and international cooperation.
Thus, the foreign sector of the Cuban economy is one of the main targets of the blockade policy against the country.
During the period being discussed, the damages done by the blockade to Cuban foreign trade amount to USD 3,921,725,790, a figure 10% above the previous year's. The main damages relate to unearned income from goods and services exports accounting for 78% of all damages.
Higher costs of financing due to the risk country factor grew by 76% compared to the previous period as a result of pressures exercised by US authorities on third countries to obstruct or prevent financing to Cuba. Freight and insurance costs resulting from geographical relocations of trade operations increased by 24%.
Likewise, the damages inflicted on tourism, energy, mining, agriculture and industry remain significant.
With Premium cigars alone, the Cuban enterprise TABACUBA could have carried out sales worth USD 121.5 million in the United States, considering the characteristics of the US market for these products.
Another example of the damages to Cuban foreign trade is the case of the Joint Enterprise Havana Club International, which lost around USD 73 million as a result of the ban on selling its rum in the United States market. The estimate is based on the positioning of rum brands the company places in the international market, where the US market accounts for almost 42% of Premium brand destinations.
3.2 Damages to foreign investments
In recent years, foreign investment in Cuba has been focusing on projects of national interest having a significant economic and social impact. The blockade imposed by the government of the United States continues obstructing the foreign investment process in Cuba. The consequences of that policy include the following:
* Access to cutting-edge technology owned by US enterprises is forbidden.
* Exports by Cuban enterprises are denied access to the US market.
* Access to financing coming from US banks for the development of direct foreign investments in the country is forbidden.
* Financing that is obtained becomes more expensive because it must be denominated in currencies other than the US dollar, which increases costs and delays investment processes.
* Higher freight and maritime transportation costs.
* Extraterritorial sanctions are applied and pressures are exerted on foreign companies, thereby preventing the incorporation of joint ventures in Cuba.
In the case of the oil industry, the blockade makes contracts with companies which own drilling rigs more expensive as the technologies they use must not include over 10% of US parts. This circumstance means additional investments for foreign operators, thus making the use of rigs in Cuban waters more costly. 78
3.3 Damages to the financial and banking sectors
As indicated, the increased persecution, harassment and hostility against the Cuban banking and financial sectors by the Government of the United States, has without a doubt been the distinctive feature of that criminal policy in the period discussed by this Report.
There has been a heightened harassment of foreign financial and banking institutions with the aim of limiting operations to and from Cuban banks. This situation makes the operations by Cuban banks difficult and also forces them to incur in additional financial costs.
In this context, there is an evident and growing trend by foreign financial institutions and banks to limit their operations with Cuba. Even though damages are hard to quantify, the main difficulties affecting operations by Cuban banking institutions can be identified.
The general damages to banks and financial institutions of the Cuban system were identified as follows:
a. As of March 31, 2013, Reuters fully suspended its banking and financial information service for Cuban banking institutions. This situation brings about many issues by making it difficult to get professional or official market references (information on exchange rates, interest rates and raw material prices) in order to agree on and follow up on financial operations involving national economy investments.
b. The elimination of these services also has consequences related to more expensive treasury operations as, in all cases, they must be carried out by telephone, which is more costly and unsafe. c. Exchange risks in monetary transactions due to exchange rate differentials as currencies other than the US dollar must be used to make payments.
d. Limited involvement of foreign banks in operations with Cuba because they are occasionally denied transfers of funds or participation as sending or advising banks in operations related to letters of credit issued through Cuban banks.
e. Limited access to banking services provided by some foreign banks, thereby making transactions costlier because operations have to be processed through third-country banks.
f. Impossibility of receiving transfers coming from Latin America, from both natural and legal persons, in spite of the existence of many Cuban communities in the region and of many relatives of Latin American students attending courses in Cuba. They are forced to send family remittances through channels other than banks.
g. Cuban enterprises cannot find foreign banks having direct correspondence with Cuban banks through which they can be wired payments directly for their exports.
h. Difficulties for natural persons to receive transfers due to coverage problems. Increasing numbers of foreign banks are refusing to serve as intermediaries in operations where Cuba is the destination; this is an aspect that includes not only private clients of Cuban banks but also those from the corporate sector.
i. The Banker's Almanac[2] announced to several Cuban banks that, as of January 2013, it would not be renewing its registration to continue its consultancy services due to its merger with a US firm and the restrictions imposed by the US Treasury Department.
The consequences of the announcement include the impossibility of continuing the work practice of consultations on certain data required to make payments and to give updates to shareholders, correspondent banks and others. These are important elements to guarantee that operations are not processed through high-risk institutions, which might lead to a freezing of funds.
Some of these damages are illustrated by the following examples:
- In 2012, a European banking institution notified a Cuban bank that due to its entity's policy, it was not in a position to execute a payment order it had received. Later it informed it would not process any further operations or money transfers and stated it would only continue with the operations ongoing at that moment. At the end of that year, there was no choice but to close the current account in said bank, given the restrictions on its use.
- Also in 2012, a Cuban bank had to redesign an operation with a foreign bank. Faced with the impossibility of keeping USD denominated accounts for Cuban clients' operations through foreign banks participating in a given loan, the originally USD-denominated obligations and reserve account had to be re-denominated to euros. Also in this case, the forex (currency exchange) operation could not be done directly but by way of a transaction using an account in another Cuban bank. The resulting damage is estimated at USD 667,268.76.
- In 2010, Cuba was notified that, as of March 2012, the National Banking System would not be able to use the SWIFT NET 7.0 version of the product supplied by S.W.I.F.T. called Swift Alliance Access/Entry (SAA) for processing inter-bank messaging over that network because it contained technology and components of US origin. Until that moment, the annual costs for using SAA were USD 141,722.50.
In 2012, the implementation of the contracted alternative of the new GariGold (GG) product for the S.W.I.F.T. connection continued, payments for its installation were concluded and the payment for its annual maintenance was also made. All of this implied an additional expense of around USD 900,000. Starting in 2013, there will be an increase of over USD 127,000 in maintenance expenses for the alternative system.
- In mid-October 2012, a European banking institution told a Cuban bank that, due to a policy adopted by the financial group to which it belongs, its account had to be closed on the 30th that same month. Other entities of the Cuban banking system with accounts in that bank, basically for the payment of invoices through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (S.W.I.F.T.), received the same notification; which resulted in the closing of those accounts and the need to execute such payments through another European bank.
- In December of 2012, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) fined the London-headquartered HSBC Bank for a total of USD 375 million for carrying out operations with several countries, including Cuba. The bank closed its operations with the Havin Bank, with which several Cuban entities are working in the United Kingdom.
- In 2013, a Latin American bank refused a payment in euros through a European bank saying it would not process operations with Cuba, that the beneficiary in the operation wasn't its client and, also, that the amount was high. The operation was carried out with another bank in the region, which agreed to resume its relations with the Cuban bank via S.W.I.F.T. from then onward. This situation caused delays in the opening of a new letter of credit.
- The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) planned the purchase of bill sorting machines for its Minting and Valuables Department, for which purpose it contacted DELARUE, a British enterprise that showed an interest in the project. DELARUE sent its sales manager to Cuba and she filed a technical proposal.
Nevertheless, that company communicated later it could not sell the requested equipment on the grounds that it could not carry out the operation because the manufacturing plant was located in the United States. Consequently, it was necessary to contact a German company to buy the equipment, which implied higher prices and transportation costs.
3.4 Section 211 of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, and other aggressions concerning patents and trademarks
The theft of Cuban trademarks and patents continues as before through the enforcement of Section 211 of the US Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 83
1999 and other trademark violations despite the ruling of the WTO conflict settlement body and the way in which this usurping policy is being repudiated.[3]
The Havana Club trademark has in effect been stolen by the Bacardí company. On November 30, 2012, OFAC informed the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) it was not necessary for it to issue a permit to cancel the registration of the Havana Club trademark of Cuban enterprise CUBAEXPORT. When USPTO finally makes its statement, Cuba will be deprived of the prestigious Havana Club trademark in the United States by way of a gross and open violation of international laws and US obligations under international agreements and laws in this sphere.
In yet another serious example of trademark theft, on March 14, 2013 the Trademark Appeals Bureau, attached to USPTO, rejected the petition from the Cuban enterprise CUBATABACO to cancel the registration of the Cohíba trademark in favor of the General Cigar Corporation owned by Sweden´s Swedish Match company. The decision was based entirely on US court rulings ratifying that the Regulations for the Control of Cuban Assets prevent recognition of the prestigious Cuban brand.
To this day, the intents by some plaintiffs against the Cuban State in the United States to seize Cuban trademarks and patents as a form of compensation continue, on the basis of the provisions of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, passed in 2002 and which will be in force until 2014.
CHAPTER 4. Damages of the blockade to
other sectors of the Cuban economy
As indicated in Cuba's previous reports to the Secretary General, the legal framework typifying the blockade is affecting all the economic activities of the country.
In addition to unearned income, higher financial costs associated to the obstruction of bank transactions and additional freight and insurance expenses for Cuban institutions, there are also costs to the national economy as a result of idle inventories and problems stemming from limited access to state of the art technology.
The impact may be broken down by sectors as follows:
* The construction sector sustained damages worth USD 11.5 million due to the impossibility to access more efficient and lighter construction technologies that use less basic materials and energy. Access would mean saving at least 6% in freely convertible currency for housing construction plans.
* The importing enterprise COMIMPORT, in charge of importing much-needed products for the population, paid an extra USD 63.3 million when the importing process faced the hurdles of this genocidal policy.
* Cuba's tourism, which is vital for the country's economy, continued experiencing severe damages in the spheres of services and logistic operations and support, which are key for its development.
Damages to this sector are estimated at USD 1,960.18 million, mainly in the form of unearned income due to the existing ban on access to Cuban tourist services for Americans. 85
Another good example is that Cuban hotels can only use the Amadeus System for marketing the Cuban tourism product. It is one of the four major international Global Distribution Systems (GDS.) The other three, Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan, are owned by US corporations. Many intermediaries providing these services avoid relations with Cuban tourism entities for fear of being fined and having problems with their sales in the US.
Moreover, Cuban tourism enterprises cannot be advertised over the best Web services such as Google, Yahoo or MSN because they are US corporations.
The Cuban industrial sector is estimating its damages at USD 197.2 million due to limitations being imposed by the blockade on the light, steel and mechanics and chemical industries.
* The ACINOX Group, which manufactures corrugated bars and electro-welded meshes for construction, welding electrodes and electrical and telephone cables and wires, refractory materials and water-pumping equipment, among other products, sustained losses in the order of USD 38.3 million due mainly to the need to find other markets to import consumables for its operations.
With such amount, the three-ply line at the Eleka Cable Factory could acquire the inputs needed to manufacture electrical and telephone wiring for 7 and a half months. This would entail a greater certainty as to the productive employment of company workers and a greater contribution to the country's communications and electricity services. 86 * Besides ACINOX, the Capital Goods (GBK), Consumer Goods (GBC) and Refrigeration and Boiler Goods (RC) industrial groups and other Cuban companies are facing technology constraints since they cannot use programs like VmWare which are necessary to virtualize servers in computer networks.
* Also, Cuban economic and scientific entities cannot use the sourceforge.net site, a free software development platform acting as a source code repository for program downloads.
* In the communications sector, damages are being estimated at USD 44.2 million as it is impossible to buy US equipment or others including US components and to access the US market. The ban on carrying out operations through US banks, among other reasons, is also damaging.
Moreover, Cuba must allocate important resources to protect its radio-electronic spectrum. Anti-Cuban broadcasts over 30 radio and TV frequencies originated in the United States took a total of 2,400 hours per week. The aggression against Cuba in this area violates, among others, the international regulations governing the use of the radio-electric spectrum in the International Radiocommunications Covenant, of which the Government of the United States is a signatory.
* Many damages are reported in the area of energy and mining. The ban on exports to the United States of any product containing Cuban nickel has forced the creation of more costly distribution channels and other palliative measures for trading Cuban nickel and cobalt products. Damages to nickel exports are estimated at USD 51.7 million.
* The Cuban oil and gas industry is the target of measures designed by the US Government to prevent its development and access to cutting-edge technologies, oil products and the funding required for its growth. There is an effort to paralyze the industry and obstruct modernization, technological updating, access to spare parts and participation in the innovation process.
The ban on US companies or affiliates to provide oil or oil industry-related services to Cuba is an additional pressure on the national industry. Mergers, purchases and procurements normally undertaken between international oil companies often lead to the removal of suppliers from the Cuban market.
* The blockade damaged all spheres in the transportation sector (maritime, air and land; port and airport services; development and maintenance of roads and highways.) The inflicted damages are estimated at USD 469.3 million.
* Civil Aeronautics of Cuba alone estimates the economic damages at USD 274.2 million, mainly as unearned income resulting from the ban on Cuban airlines to operate in the US market and the impossibility of providing services to US travelers who visit Cuba and of acquiring cutting-edge technologies, equipment and other inputs.
* In the case of the National Hydraulic Resources Institute, the CUBAHIDRÁULICA importing company has sustained losses of USD 2.2 million because it had to find other markets to import from.
* In the area of insurance, the blockade's impact is significant, essentially for the process of buying reinsurance protection for Cuban insurance portfolios done by ESICUBA S.A.
* The sugar industry sector continues facing the ban on its access to the US market for sugar exports since the Cuban sugar quota was totally suspended. The CUBAZUCAR company, which markets Cuban sugar, is estimating unearned income at USD 22 million.
CHAPTER 5. Opposition to the genocidal blockade policy against Cuba
5.1 Opposition in the United States
Many US celebrities and organizations are increasingly calling for a lifting of the blockade against Cuba, as illustrated by the following examples:
On April 24, 2013, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) sent a letter to President Obama urging the Administration to change its Cuba policies, to remove Cuba from the list of States sponsoring terrorism and to create conditions for the normalization of bilateral relations between the two countries.
On April 6, 2013, the Baptist Alliance, a religious organization headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, published a declaration calling for a lifting of the blockade against Cuba and removing the island from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. The petition was published on the http://www.lawg.org/ website.
On March 25, 2013, the office of Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) circulated in the House of Representatives a letter addressed to President Obama about the freedom of traveling to Cuba so as to gain support from congressmen towards this issue. The text urges President Obama to adopt the necessary measures so that trips to Cuba by US citizens can be carried out under a general license.
On March 22, 2013, during the "Getting Closer to Cuba: Good for Tampa, Good for Florida, Good for the USA" Conference organized in Tampa by the Alliance for a Responsible Policy towards Cuba, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) stated that restrictions imposed by the US on trips and business made no sense. She also emphasized there is no evidence that Cuba is sponsoring terrorism.
On February 27, 2013, Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat from New York, presented three draft legislations aimed at changing the policy towards Cuba: H.R.871 Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2013, H.R.872 Free Trade with Cuba Act, and H.R.873 Promoting American Agricultural and Medical Exports to Cuba Act of 2013. These initiatives proposed authorizing trips by US citizens to Cuba, revoking the blockade laws, removing Cuba from the list of States sponsoring terrorism and authorizing direct transfers between the banking institutions of both countries, among other provisions.
On February 24, 2013, during an interview on CNN's State of the Union, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stated the convenience of resolving matters of interest to both nations such as the blockade and freedom of travel.
On February 21, 2013, during an interview on CNN's Starting Point, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) urged his government to formally and directly negotiate with Cuba on a wide range of issues, including travel restrictions and the "economic embargo."
On February 20, 2013, the Cuban Studies Group (CSG) published a document entitled "Reestablishing executive authority on US policy towards Cuba" where it described the Helms-Burton Act as a "failed, outmoded and counterproductive policy." It proposes its repealing and that of all related regulations. The Group also recommends various actions substantially modifying the blockade.
On January 24, 2013, Peter Kornbluh, head of the Documentation on the Cuba Program of the National Security Archives published an article in The Nation magazine with recommendations for President Obama. These included the elimination of the blockade and expanding the categories of US citizens authorized to visit Cuba under a general license.
On January 17, 2013, academic Ted Piccone of the Brookings Institution published a "memorandum" addressed to President Obama with recommendations to change the policy towards Cuba, including the lifting of the "embargo." 91
On January 16, 2013, The Washington Post published in its "Opinion" column a commentary by National Council for Foreign Trade Vice President Jake Colvin stating that the opinion of former Senator Check Hagel in favor of lifting the blockade against Cuba is shared by most Americans who recognize the failure of the blockade as a means to change the Cuban political system.
On January 9, 2013, the religious organization Church World Service, through its president and Rev. John L. McCullough, urged the Obama Government to continue facilitating trips to Cuba by religious organizations, to eliminate all obstacles for US citizens and to adopt policies and actions that would lower tensions between both governments.
On October 25, 2012, The Tampa Bay Times newspaper published an editorial criticizing Sen. Marco Rubio for promoting impediments to "people-to-people" contacts and it urged the US Government to eliminate the blockade, ignore questionings by the Miami extremists, eliminate all obstacles to trips and reduce OFAC´s unchecked power.
On October 18, 2012, The Los Angeles Times newspaper published an editorial calling on the US Government to eliminate "antiquated Cold War policies" such as the "archaic" blockade against Cuba.
On September 6, 2012, the AP and DPA press agencies reported that former President James Carter spoke at the annual meeting of the Latin American Development Bank in favor of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States and of lifting the blockade as it was harming the people of Cuba and harming US credibility.
On September 5, 2012, Rev. and Dr. Joan Brown Campbell sent a letter to President Obama urging for the lifting of the blockade and the release of the Cuban Five, who are being held in US jails for fighting terrorism carried out from the US against the island.
On August 31, 2012, members of the executive committees of the Cuban-Americans for Exchanges (C.A.F.E) organizations and the Foundation for Normalizing US-Cuba Relations sent a letter to the National Republican and Democratic Committees urging them to stop treating the Cuban community as a monolithic block favoring the blockade since most of them are supporting the normalization of relations between the two countries. They stated their support to government measures that have facilitated family reunification, trips and the sending of remittances and expressed their wish that the US government allows US citizens to visit Cuba also.
On May 10, 2012, participants in an event at the Washington D.C.-based International Policy Center questioned the effects of the blockade to the oil sector and insisted on the need to establish a cooperation mechanism between Cuba and the US which allows for efficient cooperation between the two sides.
5.2 International opposition to the blockade
Opposition to the inhuman policy against the Cuban people is overwhelming in the international context, as shown by the countless forums that are adopting declarations and special communiqués in favor of a cease of such policy.
For the period covered by this Report, the following examples may be given:
* At the Twenty-First Summit of the African Union held in Addis Ababa on May 25-27, 2013, the participating Heads of State and Government adopted the Assembly/AU//Res.1 (XXI) Resolution making a strong call for the lifting of the economic and commercial blockade against Cuba.
* On May 16, 2013, the Central Europe-Third World organizations, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the American Jurist Association circulated A/HRC/23/NGO/16, a document within the framework of the twenty-third period of sessions of the Human Rights Council that contains a joint declaration denouncing the economic blockade against Cuba and they request the Human Rights Council to establish a special procedure about coercive unilateral measures.
* On May 1st, 2013, during the presentation by Cuba to the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group, 22 delegations criticized the US blockade against Cuba and referred to it as an obstacle for realizing human rights on the Island.
* The Declaration adopted at the Fifth Summit of Heads of State and/or Government of the Caribbean States Association held in Pétion Ville, Haiti, on April 23-26, 2013 called for the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.
* The Final Declaration of the Tenth Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) held in Caracas on February 28, 2013 condemned the continuation of the US blockade against Cuba.
* The Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of Africa and South America (ASA) held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on February 20-23, 2013 adopted the Malabo Declaration, whose Paragraph 27 calls for the implementation of Resolution 67/4 of the United Nations General Assembly entitled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba."
* The First Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States held in Santiago de Chile on January 28, 2013 adopted a special communiqué strongly condemning the blockade policy against Cuba. * The First CELAC-European Union Summit held in Santiago de Chile on January 26-27, 2013 approved the "Santiago Declaration" on the new CELAC-European Union dialogue. Paragraph 6 of that document rejects coercive unilateral measures which are contrary to international law and reaffirms the positions of both blocs on the extraterritorial provisions of the Helms-Burton Act.
* The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) issued a declaration on the occasion of the Seventh Anniversary of the Alliance, held in Caracas on December 15, 2012, where its member countries condemned the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade being kept in place by the United States against the people of Cuba. * The Seventh Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Asia-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) Group held in Equatorial Guinea on December 13-14, 2012 adopted the Sipopo Declaration, which also condemned coercive unilateral measures contrary to international law and rejected the Helms-Burton Act. * On November 26, 2012, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) issued a Communiqué rejecting the inclusion of Cuba in the list of States sponsoring terrorism and also condemned the enforcement of the blockade against Cuba.
* The Twenty-Second Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Cadiz (Spain) on November 16-17, 2012 passed a Special Communiqué on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States of America on Cuba, including the Helms-Burton Act. It restates "the strongest rejection of the enforcement of laws and measures contrary to international law like the Helms-Burton Act and calls upon the US Government to end its enforcement." Said communiqué urges "the Government of the United States to comply with provisions in 20 successive resolutions passed by the United Nations General Assembly and to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade it is keeping in place against Cuba."
* The United Nations General Assembly, the most democratic and representative body of the international community, during another historic vote on November 13, 2012 expressed itself unequivocally against the blockade by approving, 188 votes for, 3 against and 2 abstentions, the resolution entitled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba." The debate on the subject took place with 19 delegations in attendance, including 7 representatives from organizations, coordination groups and regional and sub-regional organizations: the Group of 77 plus China, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), CARICOM, the African Group, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR.) Another 17 delegations explained their positions against the blockade after the resolution was adopted.
* The Thirty-Eighth Ordinary Meeting of the Council of the Latin American Economic System (SELA), which held a ministerial session in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, adopted on October 19, 2012 the Declaration on "The end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba." The text states that the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba violates International Law and is contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, to the regulations of the international trade system and to freedom of navigation. It also strongly condemns the enforcement of any law or measure contrary to International Law such as the Helms-Burton and Torricelli Acts and calls upon the US government to end their enforcement.
* During the general debate of the Sixty-Seventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2012, the high-ranking dignitaries and representatives of 45 UN member states explicitly condemned the blockade and called for its end.
* The Heads of State and Government of the African Union, meeting in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on July 15-19, 2012 in their Nineteenth Ordinary Session, adopted the Assembly/AU/Res.1 (XIX) resolution, by which they express their support of the Cuban Resolution against the blockade and make a call for the end of that policy.
CONCLUSIONS
In 2009, after becoming the leader of the country, a newly-inaugurated President Obama announced a new beginning with Cuba and stated his conviction that the US-Cuba relationship could take another course.
However, aside from what he stated then and later deceptive rhetoric, the fact is that the last five years have witnessed a persistent tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States Government against Cuba, particularly of its extraterritorial dimension, despite a strong international rejection of such policy.
During this period, the persistent harassment and obstruction of Cuba's international financial transactions has become the priority in the policy of economic suffocation which has been kept in place against the Cuban people for over 50 years.
Cuba reiterates that maintaining this policy is a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of an entire people and that it qualifies as an act of genocide by virtue of the Geneva Convention of 1948 on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; at the same time, it violates the constitutional rights of the US people since it detrimental to their freedom of travel to Cuba and violates the sovereign rights of many other States because of its extraterritorial character.
The blockade against Cuba, based on the failed notion of trying to subdue an entire people by famine, is an act which violates international law, contradicts the aims and principles of the United Nations Charter and is a transgression of the right to peace, development and safety by a sovereign State. 98
As already stated, the economic damages inflicted on the Cuban people since the beginning of the enforcement of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba amount to USD 1,157,327,000,000.00, taking into consideration dollar depreciation to the gold in the international market.
The blockade continues to be an absurd, obsolete, illegal and morally unsustainable policy which has not fulfilled, nor will it ever fulfill, the goal of subduing the patriotic resolve of the Cuban people to preserve their sovereignty, independence and right to self-determination.
The Government of the United States must immediately and unconditionally lift the blockade. Cuba again thanks the growing backing of the international community and requests its support so as to put an end to this unjust, illegal and inhuman policy.
Notes
1. See Document A/67/118, page
32 in the Spanish version.
2. Primary online revision tool, via the
internet, for bank status, referring to relations of ownership and
position in the world system, executives and for corresponding services.
3. See Document A/67/118, pp. 44 and 45.
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