The Cuban Revolutionary Government denounces the more than 60 years of the economic, commercial and financial blockade on Cuba - formally imposed by the U.S. on February 3, 1962

Sixty years ago today, a Presidential Proclamation formalized the criminal U.S. blockade against Cuba

....It is the practical expression of the Monroe Doctrine in the 21st century, which views Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of an owner, whether it be the "back or front yard."

Revolutionary Government Statement

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu

february 3, 2022 10:02:47

The Revolutionary Government denounces the more than 60 years of the economic, commercial and financial blockade formally imposed by the U.S. on February 3, 1962. On this date, then President John F. Kennedy issued Proclamation 3447, which decreed a total "embargo" on trade with our country under section 620 (a) of the Foreign Assistance Act, thus formalizing the aggressive, unilateral economic actions taken against Cuba since the Revolution triumphed.

Since then, the policy of encirclement and economic asphyxiation has been consolidated as the central axis of a strategy meant to restrict the legitimate right of Cubans to defend our sovereignty and forge an emancipatory project, without imperialist domination.

The main justification used by the U.S. at the time, to support implementation of the measure, was Cuba's relationship with socialist countries, which allegedly violated "the principles of the inter-American system" and threatened U.S. and hemispheric security. Over time, the pretexts have varied, but the intent remains the same.

The most precise definition of the true objectives of U.S. policy toward Cuba policy had been stated previously, in a memorandum from Under Secretary of State Lester D. Mallory, dated April 6, 1960, which recommended fomenting, "disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship… denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."

The blockade has evolved to become the most complex, prolonged and inhumane act of economic warfare committed against any nation. Its impact has limited the possibilities of economic development, being designed to prevent trade relations with third countries, hinder banking and financial operations as much as possible, limit foreign investment and cut off all sources of income.

It is an essentially extraterritorial policy, in violation of international law, which seeks, through pressure, coercion and punitive measures, to isolate Cuba and punish those who establish any economic, commercial and financial relations with the country. It is the practical expression of the Monroe Doctrine in the 21st century, which views Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of an owner, whether it be the "back or front yard."

The blockade has never had the slightest trace of legitimacy or moral justification.  It constitutes a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of all Cubans. It qualifies as an act of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

To justify the blockade, the U.S. government feels obliged to use lies and hide its criminal impact, promoting and financing a campaign intended to sell the idea that the effects of the blockade are not real, that they do not really harm the Cuban economy, that they are not a significant problem for our development or economic stability. This is a falsehood that is disseminated by powerful media at the service of imperialism and digital networks designed to influence the thinking of many, even that of some compatriots.

The accumulated damages over these six decades have surpassed 144,413,400,000 dollars at current prices.

Since 2019, coercive economic measures have become qualitatively more aggressive. Unconventional warfare methods are being utilized, inappropriate in peacetime, in an effort to deprive Cuba of fuel supplies.

In the context of the COVID-19 battle, the tightening of the blockade has reached unimaginable limits of cruelty, obstructing solidarity donations, attempting to hinder the development of Cuban vaccines and limit access to medicines and basic supplies. 

During the pandemic, and throughout these 60 years, the blockade has had an incalculable human cost and several generations have felt it in the flesh.

The strengths of the Cuban socialist system and the unity of our people have made this possible, in spite of the blockade, preventing the economic and social collapse it seeks, achieving outstanding human development, according to indices recognized by the United Nations, ensuring unquestionable progress in social justice and conducting a gradual transformation of our economic and productive structures in search of sustainable development. Given this reality, one might ask how many small, underdeveloped economies could have survived aggression of such proportions.

This policy of economic encirclement has met with practically unanimous and universal rejection. In addition to overwhelming support for the resolution passed every year by the United Nations General Assembly, individuals, organizations and institutions around the world make constant demands and organize actions to condemn the blockade, including within the United States itself.

Since 1959, thirteen Presidents have occupied the White House. In all cases, with some subtle differences, the permanent commitment has been maintained to provoke the economic collapse and the unsustainability of our revolutionary project, through the strict imposition of the blockade. It would seem that 60 years have not been enough for its promoters to understand that the objectives have not, and will not be attained.

The Revolutionary Government, on behalf of the Cuban people, emphatically and energetically demands, once again, the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. Our condemnation will remain firm and invariable, until this inhuman, illegal policy is ended, in its entirety.

Havana, February 3, 2022

Source

U.S. Congress Urged to End Ban on Cuba Travel

By Maria Peña:

WASHINGTON – Activists lobbied on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a bill that would remove restrictions on travel to Cuba for all Americans, arguing it would be in keeping with President Barack Obama’s pledge to change U.S. policy toward the communist-ruled island.

During a meeting at the House of Representatives’ Rayburn House Office Building, several congressional leaders and more than 70 activists from a dozen states said the travel ban violates Americans’ basic rights.

Supporters of the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, including Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel and Bill Delahunt and Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, say Washington has tried for more than four decades to isolate Cuba economically and diplomatically without achieving the desired result.

They added that now is the time to try something different and that the bill has enough support in the House and Senate to be approved before year’s end.

The measure, submitted in March, would allow all Americans to travel to the island, not only Cuban-Americans with family members living there. Only in the event of war or imminent danger to Americans could travel to Cuba be disallowed.

While hearings on the legislation could begin next month, the proposal faces opposition from Republicans and Cuban exiles, who denounce the continued violation of human rights on the island.

In April, Obama lifted restrictions of Cuban-Americans’ travel and remittances that had been imposed by the Bush administration and allowed U.S. telecommunications companies to apply for licenses to operate in Cuba.

In an exception to the economic embargo imposed in 1962, Washington for several years has allowed the sale of U.S. farm products to Cuba. The value of those transactions averages around $500 million a year.

Some experts who took part in Wednesday’s meeting told Efe that the measures Obama has adopted thus far are limited and insufficient.

“It disappoints me that more things aren’t being done more quickly, because most Americans support a relaxation of the embargo. We have nothing to show for the embargo, which has been in place for decades,” said John Block, agriculture secretary under the Ronald Reagan administration.

“We travel to and do business with China and Vietnam. Aren’t we being hypocritical with this? We should open up trade with Cuba because this embargo is only providing the regime in Havana with an excuse” for the island’s economic woes, Block said.

For his part, Wayne Smith, who served from 1979-1982 as chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, said that Obama “hasn’t done anything” and that, as a step toward change, “we should start a dialogue and lift the travel restrictions.”

“It’s disgraceful for a handful of lawmakers to block legislation when most Americans and the new generation of Cuban-Americans want relations with Cuba to improve,” Smith said.

Obama has said he will not consider lifting the embargo – imposed three years after Fidel Castro took power – unless Cuba frees political prisoners and undertakes democratic reforms.

Wednesday’s lobbying effort, described by organizers as an “education day for lawmakers,” comes amid a possible thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba, which have resumed talks on immigration, suspended in 2004, and are mulling the possible resumption of postal service after 46 years.

Bisa Williams, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, met recently in Havana with high-ranking Cuban officials to discuss a range of issues. She visited an agricultural facility and areas affected by the three hurricanes that battered the island last year, the State Department said Tuesday.

She was the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Havana since 2002.

Leaders of Cuba’s dissident movement said Wednesday that they met with Williams during her stay on the island.

The chairman of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Elizardo Sanchez, told Efe that encounter took place over lunch at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

Miriam Leyva, founder of the Ladies in White, a group comprising relatives of political prisoners, said Williams encouraged them to express their opinions and “showed solidarity at all times.”

Among the issues discussed, Leyva said, was the plight of Cuba’s 208 political prisoners, the government’s repression of the opposition and the situation in general on the island.

Also present for the lunch were prominent dissidents Vladimiro Roca, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Laura Pollan and Marta Beatriz Roque. EFE


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