Call for Canada to Vote in Support of Resolution
Ottawa Car Caravan in support of Cuba, June 20, 2021
On June 23 the United Nations General Assembly
will vote on the annual resolution, Necessity
of ending the economic, commercial and financial
embargo imposed by the United
States of America against Cuba.
For twenty-eight consecutive years, the
international community has
resoundingly repudiated U.S. policy as a flagrant
violation of
international law,
especially the Charter of the United Nations.
 In 2019, as in previous years -- before the
COVID-19 pandemic
suspended normal activities of the General
Assembly -- the global
community overwhelmingly stood with Cuba, voting
187-3 in support of the resolution. The only ones
who opposed it were
the United States, Israel and Brazil.
In a letter to Canada's Minister of Foreign
Affairs Marc Garneau on
June 21, the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) notes
that when the
resolution last came before the General
Assembly in 2019 Canada was once again counted
among the vast ranks of
the world's nations that voted in support of it, and calls on the
Government of Canada to continue that tradition by
voting in favour of the resolution on June 23.[1]
In its letter the CNC notes that since the early
1960s the U.S.
government has imposed on Cuba the longest lasting
regime of sanctions
in history, saying that it amounts to an economic
war whose objective is the negation and
extinguishment of Cuba's right
to self-determination, sovereignty, and
independence.
The letter points out that the U.S. sanctions are
also an egregious
violation of the human rights of the Cuban people.
Under U.S. President
Donald Trump this reached unprecedented
levels with the addition of more than 240 distinct
vindictive measures,
all of which remain in place under the
administration of President
Biden. Particularly cynical, the CNC says, is that
this has taken place during a pandemic, making it
extremely difficult
for Cuba to obtain medical equipment and other
necessary items required
to protect and preserve the health of its
people.
 The
CNC also emphasizes to Garneau that the "criminal and immoral policy"
of the U.S. government includes attempts to coerce other countries to
participate in its regime of economic sanctions against Cuba and that
Canada has not been immune from these pressures. It cites two cases
that show how the extra-territorial reach of the sanctions not only
damages Canada-Cuba relations but violates the sovereignty of Canada by
raising U.S. law above Canadian law. In one of these, the Office of
Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department fined the
American Honda Finance Corporation $87,255 because its Canadian branch
leased cars to the Embassy of Cuba in Canada. In another case, Western
Union Financial Services (Canada), Inc. decided in 2020 to end the
transfer of funds from Canada to Cuba "due to the unique challenges of
operating remittance services from countries outside of the United
States to Cuba."
The letter concludes by reiterating the importance
of Canada voting in
support of the resolution, as it has done in the
past, and rejecting the
coercive, unilateral, and extra-territorial U.S.
policy on Cuba. It reminds the Minister of Foreign Affairs that
irrespective of their political or ideological
positions Canadians
stand for the building of genuine friendship with
Cuba and
relations based on mutual respect, equality and
recognition of Cuba's
right to self-determination and sovereignty.
A reflection of this is that less than 48 hours after its release, a
petition to the Government of Canada opposing the U.S. economic
sanctions and on Canada-Cuba relations gathered the 500 signatures
required to become part of official parliamentary records. Initiated by
the CNC and sponsored by MP Niki Ashton (NDP--Churchill--Keewatinook
Aski) the aim is to get as many signatures as possible before the
petition closes in September. It can be signed here.
Note1. For the full text of the CNC letter click here.
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 16 - June 22, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/MS51163.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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