The economic, commercial and financial blockade is the central element that has defined U.S. policy toward Cuba for more than six decades. The effects of this undeclared war against the economy, society, daily life and dreams of progress of more than 11 million Cubans have not ceased for a single day.
More than 80% of the current Cuban population has only known a Cuba with a blockade.
This report covers the damage caused by this policy between March 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023, a period marked by the continuous and deliberate application of the maximum pressure measures instituted during the Donald Trump administration, the validity of the laws that make up this system of unilateral coercive measures, and the inertia and immobility of the current administration of President Joseph Biden to promote real progress in bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States.
Joseph Biden's government has not been able to articulate its own policy toward Cuba that would put into practice the electoral promises that underpinned the Democratic Party's platform in 2020. In practice, it has kept intact the most hostile actions against the island, which continue to cause significant damage to all Cubans.
The possibility of taking action in the U.S. courts in lawsuits filed under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, the permanence of Cuba on the arbitrary List of State Sponsors of Terrorism drawn up by the U.S. Department of State, the persecution of the country's financial and commercial transactions, the impossibility of processing nonimmigrant visas in Havana, the intimidation of companies that send fuel supplies to the island, the attempts to thwart the recovery of the tourism sector after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the campaign to discredit Cuban medical cooperation programs, define the current most severe features of the hostile policy of the United States towards Cuba.
These measures are particularly harmful in the conditions of an international economy in crisis, increasingly interconnected, interdependent and subject to the dictates of the financial centers of power that are controlled from Washington.
It is estimated that, in the absence of the blockade, Cuba's GDP could have grown by 9% in 2022. At current prices, the accumulated damages during more than six decades of application of this policy amount to 159,084.3 million dollars. Taking into account the behavior of the dollar against the value of gold in the international market, the blockade has caused quantifiable damages of more than 1 trillion 337 thousand 57 million dollars, a figure lower than that reported in the previous report that covered August 2021 to February 2022, while the price of gold at the end of February 2023 decreased by 4.2% compared to the same month of 2022.
From March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023, the blockade caused damages to Cuba, estimated in the order of 4,867 million dollars. This represents an impact of more than 405 million dollars per month, more than 13 million dollars per day, and more than 555 thousand dollars for each hour of blockage.
No other people has had to undertake a social and development project under such conditions, with such systematic and prolonged hostility on the part of the greatest power that humanity has ever known. Even so, under the worst circumstances and the most criminal pressures, Cuba was able to defeat the severe Covid-19 pandemic with its own efforts and talent.
The blockade constitutes a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of all Cubans. Due to its declared purpose and the political, legal and administrative framework on which it is based, it qualifies as an act of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Few issues have managed to unite the international community as much as the condemnation of the blockade. More and more forces and actors around the world are taking responsibility for denouncing this inhumane and illegal policy at every opportunity and in every scenario. The present report is intended to contribute to those efforts.
For more information, please visit: Informe de Cuba en virtud de la resolución 77/7 de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, titulada “Necesidad de poner fin al bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero impuesto por los Estados Unidos de América contra Cuba”
(EMBACUBA ETIOPÍA)