Opposition to Imperialist
Sanctions and Blockades
High-Level Representatives of Affected Countries Call for Lifting of Economic Sanctions
 
On May 9, as part of an international campaign
calling for
the lifting of sanctions and blockades everywhere, a webinar
sponsored by the U.S.-based Sanctions Kill coalition provided a
platform for representatives of six countries subjected to U.S.
economic sanctions to speak about how this form of warfare is
affecting their countries, in particular their ability to cope
with the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar was viewed by over 1,000
people from around the world, with another 4,000 watching it
livestreamed on Facebook.
There are 39 of the 193 member states of the
United Nations
currently subjected to economic warfare in the form of unilateral
coercive measures, also referred to as economic sanctions. The
only sanctions considered legal under international law are those
endorsed by the UN Security Council. All others, such as those
the U.S. has put in place unilaterally against more than 30
countries and a host of individuals and organizations under
various pretexts, are in violation of the UN Charter and the norms
of international law and diplomacy. They are illegal and amount
to acts of war aimed at the people of targeted countries, despite
being presented cynically by those who impose and support this
type of coercion as "non-violent" and "peaceful." The U.S.
maintains unilateral coercive measures of different types,
including those that are called comprehensive in that they
broadly target the people in countries or whole regions with whom
almost any kind of U.S.-linked dealings are prohibited. Such
measures currently apply to Iran, Syria, Cuba, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Crimea.[1]
The U.S. and some of its allies, that include
governments in
Europe and Canada, also apply what they call targeted sanctions
against individuals and entities with whom their citizens,
residents and others inside the country are prohibited from having
financial or other dealings of all sorts. Targeted sanctions also
involve such things as prohibitions on travel to, or the targeted
persons' "inadmissibility" to the country applying the sanctions, the
freezing or seizure of property or assets such individuals or entities
might have in the country, and more.
What Representatives of Sanctioned Countries Had
to Say
Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the UN
Ana Silvia
Rodríguez opened the program. She stated that the economic,
financial and commercial blockade the U.S. has imposed on Cuba
since 1962 has been strengthened by an array of restrictions and
laws signed over the years. Over the past year in particular the
U.S. has stepped up its aggression, targeting the tourism
industry and preventing shipments of fuel, medical equipment and
other supplies necessary to combat the pandemic from reaching
Cuba, she said. Rodríguez said multilateralism and
anti-imperialist solidarity are needed to counter the
blockade.
A statement read on behalf of Dr. Frank Guni, a
representative
of ZANU-PF in North America, said Zimbabwe had been subjected to
unilateral coercive measures aimed at forcing regime change since
2001. Dr. Guni said the U.S. set out to destroy the country's
economy because Zimbabwe's struggle for independence and for the
return of the land to the people represents a bad example for
Namibia and other countries in the region, to the U.S. and others
intent on recolonizing Africa. He said that due to prior
experience in dealing with natural disasters and epidemics,
Zimbabwe has been able to limit the impact of COVID-19. He called
the sanctions against Zimbabwe a declaration of war, adding that
it is "a war we must win."
Nicaraguan Ambassador to the U.S. Francisco
Campbell said the
U.S. was using its international influence to restrict
Nicaragua's access to loans in violation of international law. He
said that in spite of U.S. sanctions impacting Nicaragua's health care
system and ability to deal with COVID-19, the work of its public
health care brigades in communities, implementation of policies
related to social distancing and contact tracing, border control
agreements with neighbouring countries and the assistance
provided by China, Cuba and others had greatly limited the
virus's spread.
Syria's Permanent Ambassador to the United
Nations, Bashar
Ja'afari, pointed out that two billion people -- almost 20 per cent
of humanity -- are affected by unilateral coercive measures right
at a time when combatting the coronavirus pandemic requires all
governments to work cooperatively. Instead, the U.S. and others
following its lead, in applying unilateral coercive measures are
wreaking havoc with people's basic rights to such things as
health care and education, he said. Ja'afari said all Syria's
basic economic sectors are affected by unlawful and illegitimate
sanctions. "The central bank of Syria is unable to access our own
funds, frozen by sanctions and U.S. pressure on international
banks. The sanctions amount to health terrorism, on top of
political, economic, financial, media and military terrorism by
the U.S.," he stated.
Ja'afari said the so-called humanitarian
exemptions granted by
the U.S. Treasury Department were and still are subject to
politicized considerations so that this aid, which he said
includes weapons, is delivered exclusively to areas under the
control of armed terrorist groups.
Ja'afari expressed appreciation for recent
statements made at
the UN Security Council against unilateral coercive measures and
by UN Secretary General António Guterres who called for the
lifting of sanctions, but noted that several draft resolutions
and declarations put foward by "dozens" of UN member states
lacked any reference to Guterres' call because of infiltration by
those he called phony Western humanitarians.
The Deputy Foreign Minister for North America of
the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Carlos Ron, said his country has
been subjected to unilateral coercive measures since 2006 but
that these spiked in 2014 just before Obama issued his spurious
Executive Order of 2015 declaring Venezuela "an unusual and
extraordinary threat to U.S. national security." He also made it
clear that all Venezuela's attempts to import food and medical
products, which the U.S. says are exempt from its sanctions, are in
fact blocked, typically by banks that refuse to receive payments
from Venezuela, given U.S. domination of the international
financial system. As in the case of Syria, Iran and Cuba, he said
the illegal U.S. punitive measures targeted all sectors of
Venezuela's economy. Suppliers either will not sell to Venezuela
fearing penalties from the U.S. or they charge two or three times
the price for their goods. The same applies to insurers of
shipments and shippers.
 Ron said
Venezuela has a case before the International
Criminal Court against the U.S. for its acts of collective
punishment and extermination against the Venezuelan people. He
also denounced the fact that, in the middle of the COVID-19
pandemic, the U.S. was holding its biggest military exercises in
30 years in the Caribbean not far from Venezuela's shores. In the
face of all this, he reported that with the solidarity of Cuba,
China and Russia, assistance from the World Health Organization,
and relying on its personalized public health measures and the
efforts of the people's organizations, Venezuela was successfully
managing the pandemic, administering the most tests per capita in
the region.
Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Majid
Takht-Ravanchi said the
unilateral coercive measures applied against Iran were the most
drastic ever imposed on a country, inhibiting its ability to
treat those afflicted with COVID-19 despite the high professional
level of Iran's medical personnel. He also emphasized it was
untrue that U.S. sanctions do not apply to medical supplies. He
said the Swiss channel Iran has been using for international
transactions is subject to fierce pressure from the U.S. and that
several medical suppliers recently stopped shipping to Iran
because the U.S. had made it virtually impossible. Everyone fears
accidentally getting caught in the web of the U.S. sanctions
because of the breadth of their reach, he pointed out.
Sanctions Kill has announced that it will sponsor
webinars and
other efforts and actions on sanctions during the COVID-19 crisis
and build toward an International Week of Actions Against
U.S.-Imposed Sanctions and Economic War from May 25-31.
Further information, as well as links to view the webinar, can be
found at sanctionskill.org.
Note
1.
Gibson Dunn, one of
the many law firms that have proliferated around the world to
advise businesses in particular about how to avoid falling afoul
of U.S. unilateral coercive measures of all types, states in its
Year-End Sanctions Update for 2019:
Sanctions
promulgated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of
Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") have become an increasingly
prominent part of U.S. foreign policy under the Trump
administration. For the third year in a row, OFAC blacklisted
more entities than it had under any previous administration,
adding an average of 1,000 names to the Specially Designated
Nationals and Blocked Persons ("SDN") List each year -- more than
twice the annual average increase seen under either President
Barack Obama or President George W. Bush. Targets included major
state-owned oil companies such as Petróleos de Venezuela,
S.A.
("PdVSA"), ostensible U.S. allies such as Turkey
(and -- almost -- Iraq), major shipping lines, foreign officials
implicated in allegations of corruption and abuse, drug
traffickers, sanctions evaders, and more. As if one blacklisting
was not enough, some entities had the misfortune of being
designated multiple times under different regulatory
authorities -- each new announcement resulting in widespread media
coverage if little practical impact. At last count, Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC") has been sanctioned
under seven separate sanctions authorities. Eager to exert its
own authorities in what has traditionally been a solely
presidential prerogative, in 2019 the U.S. Congress proposed
dozens of bills to increase the use of sanctions. Compounding the
impact of expansive new sanctions, OFAC's enforcement penalties
hit a record of more than U.S.$1.2 billion.
While President Obama described his sanctions
team as his favorite "combatant command" (likening it to the
traditional military forces employed by the United States),
President Trump has truly unleashed the power of OFAC
sanctions -- employing them frequently, quickly, and unilaterally.
The Trump administration announced new sanctions 82 times in
2019 -- eclipsing the previous record set in
2018.
In its update, Gibson Dunn refers to
OFAC's "compliance guidelines" for the sanctions it administers,
showing how the U.S. blockades targeted countries such as Cuba,
Venezuela, Iran and others by taking extraterritorial punitive
measures against non-sanctioned countries and entities for
violating its illegal economic and other sanctions against
countries and individuals it has targeted for attack. These
pernicious measures are also referred to as secondary sanctions.
To avoid penalities for violating U.S. sanctions, OFAC advises
organizations and individuals against such things as
"facilitating transactions by non-U.S. persons; exporting or
re-exporting U.S.-origin goods, technology or services to
OFAC-sanctioned persons or countries; and utilizing non-standard
payment or commercial practices."
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 18 - May 23, 2020
Article Link:
Opposition to Imperialist
Sanctions and Blockades: High-Level Representatives of Affected Countries Call for Lifting of Economic Sanctions
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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