Updated Addendum to the Secretary General's Report on Resolution 74/7 "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba"
- Minrex, June 18, 2021 -
This addendum contains an update on the impacts
caused by the
economic, commercial and financial blockade
imposed by the United
States of America (USA) against Cuba, and
basically covers the period from April to December
2020.
During this time frame, the blockade continued to
be the centerpiece
of the U.S. government´s policy in relation to Cuba,
which was
tightened in an opportunistic manner, within the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course
of this year, this
system of unilateral coercive measures has
remained intact, with severe
impacts on the national efforts to contain the
pandemic and mitigate the economic and social
effects stemming from it.
For 60 years, Cuba has lived under the siege of a
virus as ferocious
as the one whipping mankind today. In its six
decades of application,
the blockade has been reinforced in times of
increased vulnerability for the Cuban people. To
intensify it under the
current circumstances, forces our country to fight
against the most
terrible pandemic in decades and against the
lengthiest and all-embracing system of coercive
measures ever. There is
no justification for such gargantuan cruelty.
The U.S. government identified in the crisis
triggered by the
COVID-19 an ally for its hostile policy against
Cuba. The malicious
intention to toughen the blockade at this juncture
reveals its particular inhumane aspect and the
marked interest in
taking advantage of the economic downturn that
accompanies the pandemic
to promote social unrest and bring the Cuban
people to their knees through hunger, shortages
and deprivations.
The blockade is real and is the main hindrance to
move forward in
the quest for the prosperity and well-being of the
Cuban population. To
ignore its existence would not only mean a
denial of the truth, but also an insult to a
people who have known no
other paradigm of development than the one marked
by the cruelest
blockade ever imposed against any country.
At current prices, the accumulated damages in
almost six decades of
application of this policy amount to over 147.8
billion dollars. Taking
into account the depreciation of the dollar
against the price of gold in the international
market, the blockade has
caused quantifiable damages of more than 1.3
trillion dollars. Between
April and December 2020 alone, such policy
brought about more than 3.5 billion dollars in
losses for Cuba, which
amounts to a total of more than 9.1 billion
dollars, if the previous
period from April 2019 to December 2020, is
examined.
The psychological impact inflicted by such
impacts within the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic far exceeds any
figure. It is not
possible to quantify the distress of a Cuban who
cannot have access to a specific medication
because a U.S. institution
refused or was banned from sending the necessary
supplies for its
production. It is not possible to calculate the
impotence caused by the impossibility of
finalizing donations and
purchases made abroad to face the pandemic because
the companies
involved in their transportation have a U.S.
company
as shareholder and fear being subject to punitive
measures. There is no
method to quantify the risk involved in making a
food import
transaction which could be frozen or rejected by a
foreign entity that does not want to be subject to
multi-million
dollar fines for not abiding by the arbitrary U.S.
laws. There is no
way to justify the desperation of an engineer who
cannot
procure the necessary software for his
professional activity.
During Donald Trump's administration, 243
unilateral coercive
measures were imposed against Cuba; out of those,
55 in 2020 alone,
which stood out for their systematicity and
intentionality. The dissuasive and intimidating
effects associated with
the inclusion of Cuba on the List of State
Sponsors of Terrorism in
January 2021, add up to this coercive system. This
unilateral and politically motivated step
increases the country's
challenges to integrate into the international
trade with current and
potential partners, conduct financial operations
and
purchase basic supplies. It constitutes a
significant stumbling block
to adequately address the economic and health
repercussions of the
pandemic and a reprehensible affront to a country
that
has been a victim of the terrorism financed,
organized and perpetrated
for the most part, from the United States.
From April to December 2020, the U.S. government
deliberately
blocked the import of supplies needed to tackle
COVID-19. This was
evidenced, for example, on November 18, when
the Department of Transportation denied, following
orders from the
State Department, a request by IBC AIRWAYS, INC.
and SKYWAY
ENTERPRISES, INC. to operate flights to Cuba
with humanitarian cargo.
The extraterritorial application of the blockade
has continued to
stymie Cuba's access to medical technologies
containing more than 10
percent U.S.-origin parts and components, as well
as the procurement of more than 30 products and
supplies which are
urgently needed for the COVID-19 prevention and
treatment protocols.
This policy prevents Cuba from accessing faster
and more expeditious
logistical transportation routes, which forces
Cuba to move cargo
containing medical supplies through several
countries at an additional increased cost. In
addition, there is the
growing refusal of financial and banking
institutions in various
countries to conduct transactions with Cuba, which
has
hampered the timely conduct of financial
transactions with the
suppliers of the purchased materials, as well as
the acquirement of
donations offered by various organizations to
fight the
pandemic.
The case of the SARTORIOUS and Merck German
companies stands out, as
well as that of Cytiva and other regular providers
of laboratory
material, reagents and supplies, which, due
to the tightening of the blockade stopped their
shipments to Cuba in
2020. During the period, the country was unable to
access a total of 32
equipment and supplies related to the production
of vaccine candidates against the COVID-19
pandemic or to the
implementation of stages that allow the completion
of the
vaccine´s clinical studies, including equipment
for the
purification
of the vaccine candidates, accessories for
production equipment,
filtration tanks and capsules, potassium chloride
solution, thimerosal,
bags and reagents.
Cuba had to resort to other providers as
intermediaries, which
entailed a price increase that ranged from 50 to
65 percent of the
historically established price, given the
impossibility to
directly enter into a contract with the
manufacturer.
This impacted on the work of several institutions
of Cuba's
biopharmaceutical industry, including the Center
for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology, the Finlay Vaccine
Institute,
the AICA Laboratories Company, and the Farmacuba
Import-Export Company,
which are directly linked to the country's efforts
to confront the
pandemic.
As a result, the impact on the health sector
amounted to U.S.$198.3
million dollars between April and December 2020.
This figure, although
comprising a shorter period of time (only 9
months), exceeds the figure reported between April
2019 and March 2020
by 38 million.
The continuation of the smear campaign against
the medical
cooperation Cuba offers was particularly perverse
and immoral in this
context. Limiting the possibility that third
countries
could benefit from pharmaceutical,
biotechnological products and
treatments developed in Cuba is inhumane and
contrary to the calls of
hundreds of U.S. institutions and personalities
who
advocated in 2020 for scientific exchanges with
Cuba. Those who try to
tarnish the work of over 400,000 health
professionals who, in 56 years,
have carried out missions in 164 nations,
inescapably collide with the weight of truth and
with the indelible
footprint that the 57 Cuban medical brigades have
left in 40 countries
and territories in their fight against COVID-19.
Access to health is a human right. Despite its
unquestionable and
overwhelming impact, the U.S. blockade has not
been able to crack the
foundations of the national health system built
in Cuba, which is of quality, universal and free
of charge. The country
has guaranteed the protocols to treat COVID-19
infected and suspected
cases, the free PCR tests, and the start-up of
molecular biology laboratories in all the
provinces as well as the
development of its own mechanical ventilator
prototypes. Today, the
nation carries in its five vaccine candidates the
strength of a country that does not forget its
history. There is no
blockade capable of overshadowing these
achievements. The truth is with
us; these are facts, not words.
Between April and December 2020, the impacts on
production and
services in the agricultural and livestock sector,
the hurdles in
monetary-financial operations, the additional
costs
owing to the geographic relocation of trade and
other obstacles to
procure technologies and fuels, had a serious
effect on the production
and purchase of food in Cuba, resulting in damages
to the tune of 330.4 million dollars.
During this period, under artificial pretexts and
in order to
intensify the siege on the Cuban entrepreneurial
system, the U.S.
Department of State expanded the "Cuba List of
Restricted
Entities" on several occasions, with which
individuals subject to U.S.
jurisdiction are banned from carrying out
operations. To date, the list
includes 231 companies, mostly linked to the
country's retail trade network, the supply system
of the most important
resources for the economy and the population, all
the hotel facilities
of the nation and several institutions in the
financial sector.
The inclusion of FINCIMEX and American
International Services (AIS)
in June and September 2020, respectively, and the
impossibility of
processing remittances through them,
eliminated the main formal channels to send
remittances. The effects of
this announcement, combined with the restrictions
previously adopted,
served as the finishing stroke to impose
greater difficulties on the links between Cuban
families in both
countries, already severely battered by COVID-19.
Travel was also a repeated target of attacks
during this period. In
addition to the measures adopted in recent years,
private charter
flights were suspended throughout the country,
except
to Havana, whose frequencies were also limited.
Similarly, the
authorization for persons subject to U.S.
jurisdiction to attend or
organize professional meetings or conferences in
Cuba was
removed, as well as the carrying out of
negotiations related to public
performances, clinics, workshops, exhibitions,
sports competitions and
other types of events. Consequently, restrictions
in these areas, which had been an example of
respectful and productive
relations between the two countries, were
reinforced.
The ban on the arrival of U.S. cruise ships to
Cuba since 2019, the
restrictions on flights, the elimination of
fast-track channels for
sending remittances, the suspension of the family
reunification program, as well as the suspension
of consular services
in the national territory and their processing in
third countries, have
primarily impacted the Cuban people.
In particular, the damage of these measures on
the non-state sector
has been noticeable. A large number of transport
carriers, home
renters, craftsmen, and food service workers,
among
others, have not only seen their incomes affected,
but also their
possibilities of accessing financing and material
supplies to sustain
their economic activity, which in 2020 comprised
13
percent of the working population (600,000
people).
At present, 34 legal proceedings are still under
way pursuant to
Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, based on the
questioning of the
legitimate nationalization process carried out by
the
Cuban government in the 1960s. The activation of
this Title seeks to
attack from all possible fronts the country´s
genuine economic
relations, planting the seeds of distrust in the
international business community regarding its
relations with Cuba.
This Law also embodies the genesis of the
political subversion program
financed by the U.S. government against our
country.
In recent years, the financial persecution has
turned into a
ruthless hunt, damaging our transactions with
third countries, our
ability to pay and collect payments and the
possibility of
accessing credits. Only between April and December
2020, the
monetary-financial impacts reached 404.2 million
dollars, a figure that
represents an increase by 42 percent with respect
to
the one reported in the period April 2019-March
2020.
In particular, the imposition of coercive
measures by the Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury
Department on the
U.S. and third country entities for alleged
violations of the embargo has continued. Between
2017 and 2020, the
total amount of these penalties amounted to over
3.7 billion dollars.
Another significantly impacted sector has been
the
telecommunications sector. The modifications to
the "Export Control
Regulations" by virtue of the designation of Cuba
as a "foreign
adversary" by the Department of Commerce in 2020,
brought about the
tightening of the controls on the export of
technologies associated
with this sector. These obstacles, together with
those imposed in the last four years, restrict the
flow of information
and the large-scale access to Internet in Cuba,
make connectivity more
difficult and expensive and make conditional the
entry of Cuban users to various virtual platforms.
The impact of the
blockade in this area has stymied previously
established agreements,
such as the underwater cable capacity rental
project
between ETECSA and the company CABLE &
WIRELESS NETWORKS. The
latter applied for the required license from the
U.S. Federal
Communications Commission in September
2018, and in October 2020 withdrew that
application, given that it had
not yet been considered.
The cancellation of Cuban media accounts in
various digital sites
has also been recurring. In August 2020, when Cuba
was about to
announce its first vaccine candidate against the
COVID-19, Google censored the YouTube profiles of
Granma, Mesa Redonda
and Cubavisión Internacional media, claiming
alleged violations
of U.S. export laws.
During the pandemic, offers for the development
of distance learning
courses and the participation in online events
have been declined, due
to the fact that several videoconference
platforms are blocked for our country, such as
Cisco, Webex and Zoom.
The above has also thwarted Cuba's presence in
virtual meetings
convened by international organizations, including
the United Nations system.
In the midst of this whirlwind of measures, Cuba
has not been alone.
The Cuban flag has flapped in the caravans that,
in more than 50 cities
around the world, some of them in the
United States, have built bridges for the
international call to put an
end to the blockade and for the call to the
current President Joe Biden
to reverse the measures of his predecessor.
Like the virus that causes this pandemic, the
blockade separates,
strangles and harasses. Overcoming the
difficulties deriving from it
has not been an easy task. This has been an
endeavor in which the leading role has been played
by the resistance of
the Cuban people and their unwavering
determination to defend their
free, sovereign and independent motherland.
Every Cuban man and woman inside and outside the
country has
experienced in their own flesh the unjust and
disproportionate
viciousness of the government of a nation that
does not
conceive the idea of an alternative model under
its own nose.
Our government has ratified its willingness to
establish a
respectful dialogue with the United States,
without making concessions
inherent to its sovereignty and independence and
without ignoring the indubitable role of the
blockade as the main
obstacle to a lasting and sustained development of
bilateral relations.
Cuba and the world will once again speak out
against this policy on
June 23 at the United Nations General Assembly.
Its lifting would be
consistent with the call of almost the entire
international community which has voted in a
consecutive manner at this
forum for the elimination of the blockade, and
would listen to the
voices that, within the U.S., also urge upon the
end of this failed and antiquated policy.
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 16 - June 22, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/MS51165.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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