The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba for almost six decades is the most unjust, severe and extended system of unilateral sanctions ever applied against any country. From April of 2017 up to March of 2018, the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the US government against Cuba has been intensified and applied with strict rigor. This policy continues to be the principal obstacle to the growth of the Cuban economy and to the full enjoyment of all the human rights of the people of Cuba, constituting a serious challenge for the implementation of Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. President Trump’s adoption of the Presidential Memorandum entitled “Strengthening the Policy of the United States towards Cuba” on 16 June 2017, which among its aims renewed the intensification of the blockade against the Island, represents a serious setback to bilateral relations with Cuba. The Regulations and provisions issued in November of 2017 by the Departments of the Treasury, State and Commerce of the United States have imposed additional obstacles on the limited opportunities for the US business community in Cuba and they have restricted, even more, the right of Americans to travel to the Island. The new sanctions against Cuba have caused a visible decrease in visits coming from the US and they have generated greater obstacles for the economic and trade relations of Cuban companies with potential American and third country partners. These measures not only affect the Cuban State economy but they also affect the Cuban private sector. The coming into effect of these regulations ignores the majority support of US public opinion, the international community and the Cuban emigration in the US to the lifting of the blockade and the normalization of relations between the two countries. The strengthening of the extraterritorial application of the blockade has been another of the distinctive manifestations of the intensification of this policy, with a marked effect on Cuba’s international financial and loan relations. During the period being analyzed, the permanent persecution of Cuban financial transactions and banking and loan operations with Cuba has intensified on a world scale. This has seriously hurt the country’s economy, especially the business activities of companies and national banks in their dealings with international banking. During 2018, dozens of banks all over the world decided to shut down their relations with Cuban or foreign companies in order to eliminate any ties with their activities with Cuba, including operations related to Cuban citizens, merely for the fact that that was their nationality. The blockade constitutes a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of all the Cuban people and it qualifies as an act of genocide by virtue of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. It violates the United Nations Charter and international law and constitutes an obstacle for international cooperation. Cuba reaffirms its desire to continue the respectful dialogue and cooperation on topics of mutual interest, as well as negotiating pending bilateral matters with the United States based on equality, reciprocity and respect of the sovereignty and independence of our country. The United States must end, in a unilateral and unconditional manner, the unfair blockade which for almost 60 years has imposed suffering on the Cuban people. Cuba will not give up its principles nor will it cease its claims to totally eliminate the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America. Therefore on 31 October 2018 the Cuban government will denounce the tightening of this policy and will once again present to the UN General Assembly the draft resolution entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. Cuba reiterates its permanent gratitude to the international community for demanding the end to this illegal, genocidal and extra-territorial policy which will never prevent the Cuban people from defending their sovereignty and their right to freely choose their future.
