Havana, September 20, 2019.- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba denounced today in this capital that the resurgence of the economic, commercial and financial blockade continued to be the central axis of the United States government's policy towards Cuba during the last year.
From April 2018 to March 2019, the blockade has caused losses to Cuba in the order of four thousand 343, 6 million dollars, according to the report under resolution 73/8 of the United Nations General Assembly, entitled "Need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba," presented by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
The document specifies that the blockade continues to be the fundamental obstacle to the implementation of the Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030, and of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is part of a strategy of the current Republican administration focused on consolidating confrontation and hostility, both at the declarative level and in the execution of measures of economic aggression against the country.
In the analyzed period, the damages caused by the blockade in the sectors of production and services were quantified in 79 million dollars, which represents an increase of 28 percent in relation to the previous stage.
Health, food, sport, education, culture, industry, tourism, transportation, information technology and telecommunications, construction and energy and mines, are among the most affected sectors, mainly due to the impediments to access technologies, markets and knowledge spaces.
Only foreign trade reported damages of 2 thousand 896 million 581 thousand 555 dollars, due to the impossibility of accessing the United States market, the prohibition of the use of the dollar, the increase in freight and insurance and the use of intermediaries with the consequent increase in the cost of the goods
The Report indicates that, during the period under review, the strengthening of the extraterritorial application of the sanctions system against Cuba was reflected in constant effects on Cuban companies, banks and embassies, which face colossal obstacles in their commercial and financial activities in many countries. of the world.
The document underlines as an unprecedented demonstration the decision to allow the possibility that, under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, legal action can be taken in US courts. before lawsuits filed by US citizens or entities against companies or individuals from Cuba or third countries that are commercially related to nationalized properties in Cuba in the 1960s.
At this stage, the State Department extended three times the “List of Restricted Cuban Entities” that are subject to additional sanctions to those imposed by the blockade regulations, the general licenses for group educational trips “town to town” were eliminated and Licenses to non-commercial aircraft and passenger and recreational vessels in temporary stay, including cruises, were denied.
The report specifies the multiple signs of rejection of the blockade, even within the United States itself and denounces that these sanctions qualify as an act of genocide under the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 and as an act of economic warfare as established in the London Naval Conference of 1909.
Taken from CUBAMINREX-ACN
EMBACUBA DOMINICA