New York, 29 September 2016. The right to development in Cuba is limited due to the negative effects of the Embargo. Sectors such as biotechnology, tourism, transportation, mining, renewable energies, telecommunications, and others, have suffered considerable losses due to this unfair policy.
Cuba’s biopharmaceutical industry has not been spared from the impact of the economic, commercial and financial Embargo imposed by the United States.For this important sector, the total economic implications caused by this policy, amount to $171,665,136.96 from April 2015 to April 2016.
Despite Cuba has welcomed various delegations of U.S. businessmen interested in Cuban biotechnology, and contracts have been signed with some of them, the Embargo still restricts exchange between the two nations. This deprives the U.S. people of receiving the benefits of Cuban biotechnological and pharmaceutical products.
Executive measures adopted by the Government of the United States to date, have not had any significant impact on the Agro-Industrial and Sugar Industry Sector either. This branch has suffered implications of $3,305,600 from April, 2015 to April, 2016.
In the communications and computer science sector, including telecommunications, implications totaling $59,208,700 were recorded during the same time-frame.
The process towards normalization of bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States has also made it possible to establish direct interconnections to provide telecommunications services with operators in both countries. But, at the same time, the Embargo policy continues to openly affect Cuba’s free access to the network of networks and the right to expressed and accepted freedoms by the authors publishing software with General Public Licenses (GPL-GNU). Damages materialize through non-access to service or downloading of information, once recognized that the link comes from an (IP) Internet address granted to the .cu Cuban domain.
The tourism industry in Cuba has also experienced severe implications resulting from the Embargo. Within the mentioned time-frame, the impact of this policy amounted to $2,058,250,000. It is estimated that at least 15 percent of U.S. citizens travelling as tourists to the Caribbean, would have travelled to Cuba if tourism travel prohibitions did not exist. On this basis, the Cuban tourism industry could have earned revenues of $1,890 million. Likewise, in terms of touristic promotions, Cuba is unable to have access to U.S. advertising companies or promotion channels. In the meantime, Cuba has been submitted to US campaigns which aim at discrediting its tourism industry.
Cuba’s Science, Technology and Environmental sector has also been affected by the U.S. Embargo policy. The Center for Research on Coastal Ecosystems, the Center for Research on Biofoods and the Center for Technological Information and Management have no access to data bases in the United States in the management of knowledge on topics of climate change, management of natural resources (water, biodiversity and beaches), animal nutrition and meteorology.
Damage caused by the Embargo on the sector of energy and mining is estimated at $106,352,561, in the given term.This amount represents an increase of $61,266,017, if compared to the damages calculated during the preceding period. The impact is manifested in the imposition of fines on third country companies for having relations with Cuba; the prohibition on access to cutting-edge technologies, to hydrocarbons and their byproducts produced in the United States; the impossibility of exporting Cuban nickel, or products having some amount of Cuban nickel, to the U.S. market, among others.
Likewise, the impact on the transport sector during this term reached the figure of $232,111,000. Civil aeronautics continue to be the transport sector most severely hit by this policy, with 67.5 percent of the total. The amount of economic implications on Cuban aviation due to the Embargo is estimated at $156,648,000. (Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations)