New York, 28 October 2022. The measures on Cuba announced last 16 May by the government of Joseph Biden regarding the coercive design imposed during the mandate of Donald Trump have a very limited nature. The blockade remains in place and intact.
Here are some examples:
- The prohibition on regular bilateral trade and on the importation from third countries of goods containing more than 10 percent of U.S. components remains unchanged.
- The List of Restricted Cuban Entities and the List of Prohibited Accommodations remain in effect.
- Actions to prevent the transfer of fuel to Cuba are maintained.
- The inclusion of Cuba on the State Department's List of State Sponsors of Terrorism is maintained.
- For U.S. citizens, the prohibition to travel to Cuba persists. It is only possible to do so by means of licenses established in the regulatory framework of the blockade, with numerous restrictions.
- The application of Titles III and IV of the Helms-Burton Act remains intact.
It is still impossible for Cuba to use the U.S. financial system to carry out several types of transactions, including purely commercial ones, when the origin or destination of the transfers is a Cuban entity.
All this generates substantial losses due to variations in exchange rates between the U.S. currency and that of third countries in which collections and payments are made, as well as other additional costs.
As a result of 60 years of blockade, the accumulated damages during six decades of application of this policy amount to over 154 billion dollars. Taking into account the behavior of the dollar against the value of gold on the international market, the blockade has caused quantifiable damages of more than 1.391 trillion dollars.
Between August 2021 and February 2022 alone, this policy caused losses to Cuba of approximately 3.806 billion dollars, a figure 49 percent higher than that reported in the previous period (January-July 2021).
It is estimated that the GDP could have grown by 4.5 percent in these seven months if the blockade had not existed, which projected to one year represents around 8 percent.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations