Harmful effects on medicine of the U.S. blockade

If there is one sector of life which daily suffers the effects of the U.S. blockade of Cuba, it is the field of medicine, officials from the Ministry of Public Health import agency confirmed here today.

For example, when a machine breaks down, the spare parts have to be acquired in distant markets, with the consequent increase in freight costs, given the restrictions of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington since 1962, said Fernando Martín García, vice president of Medicuba.

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Luis Orlando Oliveros Serrano, Medicuba’s commercial vice president, pointed out that the majority of medicaments imported by Cuba come from distant regions, given the impossibility of acquiring them in the country’s natural geographic market, the United States, or from a U.S. subsidiary.

The magnitude of the damage in this context can be more keenly appreciated taking into account that 350 of the basic spectrum of 800 medicaments used in Cuba have to be imported, centrally those related to organ transplants, in vitro fertilization and fighting cancer, Oliveros continued.

These limitations, he added, also have an impact on medical equipment within the health system, imported in 90% of cases.

Nevertheless, the two officials affirmed that, despite the damage caused by the blockade, Cuba has never halted its international collaboration

US Anti-Cuba Blockade Policy Punishes German Bank

The United States Treasury Department Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed on the New York branch of Germany's Commerzbank a fine of $175,000 for accepting transactions that violate the 50-year blockade on the Republic of Cuba
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The US government claims the second largest bank in Germany was the consultant in a September 2005 transaction between a Cuban company and a Canadian partner, on which Commerzbank never informed the OFAC.
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This report of the Treasury terms the operation a notorious case of violation of US Laws and "Commerzbank should be aware of the prohibitions concerning the Cuba Case (.....) to prevent such violations in the future." 
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Last November 186 among 191 countries voted for the 20th consecutive occasion at the UN General Assembly against the anti-Cuba coercive policy by every US Administration from the triumph of the Revolution.
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The government of Cuba has been exposing in world forums documented evidence of the over $975 billion loss it has endured through nearly six decades of commercial harassment.
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This very year and before the case of the German bank, JP Morgan Chase paid a $88.3M fine for alleged transgression of White House regulations to deal with Cuba, with the Treasury claiming that JP Morgan participated in 1,711 transfers for $176 million involving either private people or Cuban institutions.
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Earlier, the US branch of CMA-CNG, the third largest container shipping company, was fined $374,400 for transporting cargo to Havana.
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In December 2008, Credit Swisse Bank paid a $536M sanction because of its financial agreements with Cuba.
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In January this year, US President Barack Obama introduced slight changes to the regulations on the US blockade but the most stringent terms remain in force.
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He did approve of trips to Cuba for academic, religious, cultural or sports events, within a framework Washington defines as "promotion of people-to-people contacts." 
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Click here to read Cuba’sReport of Resolution 65/6

Cuban Foreign Minister thanks the People of the U.S

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Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla expressed his gratitude to many people in the United States for their solidarity with Cuba in its struggle for peace and justice.
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During an ecumenical church service for the recovery of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at the Riverside church of Harlem, New York, Rodriguez passed on greetings from the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, “to an emblematic church that is close to God and away from Wall Street.”
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Rodriguez, who is in New York to participate in the 66th period of sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, spoke during the service and paid tribute to icons of the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.
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The Cuban diplomat also paid homage to late Rev. Lucius Walker, former leader and founder of the Pastors for Peace U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, who always fought against Washington’s economic blockade of Cuba and for the release of the five Cuban antiterrorists who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.
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“René Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez put their lives at risk to protect the Cuban and also the American people,” Rodriguez highlighted.
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The Cuban Five —as they are internationally known— were arrested and given harsh sentences ranging from 15 years to two life terms for monitoring anti-Cuba extreme right-wing groups in South Florida that were planning and carrying out terrorist actions against the Caribbean nation.

Source

U.S. blockade Causes Billions in Losses

The  blockade has cost Cuba over 750 billion dollars in direct economic damage

The U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade has cost Cuba over 750 billion dollars in direct economic damages in half a century, reads a report introduced today by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.

This figure reveals that despite there is a new US government, allegedly inspired by the philosophy of change, there hasn’t been any change in its policy towards the island, said the Cuban Minister.

Rodriguez Parrilla presented today to the domestic and foreign press the report on the subject that Cuba will take to the 65 regular session of the UN General Assembly.


An act of genocide

He called the blockade an act of genocide that has extraterritorial reach, since its unilateral sanctions would have a widespread effect on business outside the U.S. territory over third countries and their citizens.

He denounced that Cuba continues being prevented from exporting or importing goods and services freely to or from United States; it cannot use the US dollar in international transactions or have accounts in that currency in banks of third countries, and it is not allowed access to credit from U.S. banks , its subsidiaries and institutions under its control.

He cited statements made to NBC by the economic adviser to President Barack Obama Lawrence Summers, according to which, the lifting of the embargo, as he euphemistically call it “will depend on what Cuba does”

No intention to change

 “It is clear that the United States government harbors no intention to change in its policy toward Cuba, or to comply with the repeated resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations calling for its removal,” said the minister.

On the contrary, he said, they still cling to interventionist unacceptable conditions and requirements as a condition for a correction of their strategy.

Although he had a considerable political support in Congress, in the press, public opinion and the business sector, President Obama has been far below the expectations of its prerogative to alter significant aspects of policy, he said.

It is a smoking mirror the claim that the U.S. president cannot change the economic, commercial and financial siege that has lasted half a century, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Violation of basic international norms and continued political subversion
 
However, he warned, the current U.S. administration, violating basic international standards, continues using political subversion as a weapon in its confrontation with Cuba and approved, to promote such programs, 40 million US dollars for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years

In 2009 representatives of 187 countries showed their support to Cuba at the Un General Assembly, with only three against: U.S., Israel and Palau, the last two dependent on the first.

The 65 session of the General Assembly of the United Nations began on Tuesday and there will be a debate with the participation of Heads of State and Ministers of Foreign Affairs. It will run from September 23 to the 30.
Source

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Report By Cuba

On Resolution 64/6 of the United Nations General Assembly

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United Nations Documents

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
62/3. Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba


Reports of the Secretary-General at the United Nations on the Us Blockade Against Cuba

2005    2006   2007  2008

Amnesty criticises President Obama’s decision on Cuba

In a statement release September 8th Amnesty International has criticised the Obama administration for renewing the blockade of Cuba. The refusal to change course is, according to Amnesty a “long overdue step toward dismantling a policy that is both ineffective and detrimental.”

The statement notes that the blockades

"...impact on economic and social rights, concluded that sanctions, which the USA has imposed since 1962, are negatively affecting Cuban access to medicines and medical technologies and endangering the health of millions. United Nations agencies and programs operating in Cuba, such as UNICEF, UNAIDS and UNFPA, have reported that the US embargo has undermined the implementation of programs aimed at improving the living conditions of Cubans."

The full statement can be found on Amnesty’s webpage

Amnesty International’s 2009 report, The US embargo against Cuba: Its impact on economic and social rights, can be found here

Obama Prolongs US Blockade of Cuba

President Barack Obama notified on Friday the extension of sanctions against Cuba as established by the Trade with the Enemy Act. The action aims at maintaining the US economic, financial and commercial US blockade on the Caribbean nation.

A communiqué released by The White House explains that Obama signed and send a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and to the Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner extending the enforcement of the legislation until September 14, 2011.

In the memorandum, the US President explains that the extension for a year of these measures on Cuba is in the national interests of the United States.

By extending these regulations, Washington reiterates its stance that the Cuban government is still a risk for US national security and therefore it prohibits US companies from making business with Cuba.

The renovation of the measures is just the same old story, since previous US administrations continued to extend the regulations annually; so then, Obama follows up on the same policy without any change at all.

Cuba is the only country of the world submitted to sanctions established by the Trade with the Enemy Act, which dates back to 1917, after the Bush administration decided to not renew such regulations in 2008 against the People´s Democratic Republic of Korea. 

Source Granma

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The Blockade – Amnesty International’s View