Thursday, October 20, 2022

Cuba calls U.S. trade embargo a 'hurricane' that never ends

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Wednesday said the decades-old U.S. trade embargo has been causing record financial losses and untold human suffering in recent months, at a time when Cuba was also battling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ian.


Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks in Havana



Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez made the comments at the launch of an annual campaign for a United Nations resolution condemning the trade embargo, which was put in place after Cuba's 1959 revolution.

The foreign minister's comments follow a Biden administration announcement on Tuesday saying it would provide $2 million to Cuba for emergency relief efforts following Hurricane Ian, a rare olive branch between the two long-time foes.

"Despite the positive announcements... the blockade has not changed in its scope or depth," Rodriguez told reporters in a news conference in Havana.

He said Cuba was grateful for the U.S. aid but was still crippled by the embargo, which he called a "hurricane" that never ceases to batter the island.

Related video: Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall in Cuba as It Approaches Florida
Duration 1:30
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"The embargo is a permanent pandemic, a constant hurricane," he said. "Today the policy of President Biden's government towards Cuba is... the same Republican policy, no changes have been introduced in that policy."

Former U.S. President Trump, a Republican, introduced stiff new sanctions against Cuba, beginning in 2017. The administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has since eased some policies around remittances, flights, tourism and more recently, migration, saying it would reopen full consular services in Havana in 2023.


Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks in Havana
© Reuters/ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI

The broader embargo, however, has remained largely unchanged. The web of U.S. laws and regulations complicate financial transactions and the acquisition of goods and services by the Cuban government.

The United States has said its policies are aimed at channeling "funds toward the Cuban people and away from a regime that has failed to meet the most basic requirements of a free and just society."

Rodriguez on Tuesday blasted that assertion, saying the blockade was "aimed at causing the inability of the country to meet the fundamental needs of the population."

The U.N. General Assembly will vote on Nov. 2 and 3 on a non-binding resolution condemning the trade embargo. It will be the 30th time Cuba has marshaled international support against the embargo. The resolution has historically garnered near unanimous support from member nations and is expected to pass again this year.

Economic losses caused by the embargo from August 2021 through February 2022 amounted to $3.8 billion, a record for that seven month period, Rodriguez said, bringing the total cost to $154 billion since the embargo's inception.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Nelson Acosta, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Cuba estimates monthly losses due to U.S. blockade at more than 454 million euros

Daniel Stewart - Yesterday -
 News 360

The Government of Cuba has denounced this Wednesday that between August 2021 and February 2022 the island suffered losses amounting to 3,806 million dollars (a similar figure in euros), equivalent to more than 450 million per month, due to the blockade imposed by the United States six decades ago.


Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez - 
MINISTERIO DE EXTERIORES DE CUBA

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who emphasized in a statement that this means monthly losses of 454 million dollars, denounced that during the first 14 months of U.S. President Joe Biden's term of office, Cuba has lost 6.364 billion dollars, a milestone he described as a "historic record".

"Between August 2021 and February 2022, the losses caused by the blockade are in the order of 3.806 billion dollars. This is an historic record amount for a reduced period such as these seven months. Cuba's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to very conservative data, could have grown, despite the adverse circumstances faced by the Cuban economy, by 4.5 percent in that period, had these measures not been applied," Rodriguez assured during a press conference.

Since the United States imposed a blockade against Cuba six decades ago, the island would have requested a total of 154.217 billion dollars, more than seven times the U.S. GDP.

"(This is an) exorbitant figure for a small economy, without great natural resources, insular, underdeveloped, like the Cuban one (...). Imagine, imagine, imagine what Cuba could have done with these resources. What Cuba would be like today if the country had had those resources," added the Cuban Foreign Minister.

The Cuban Executive has accused Biden of continuing "inertially" the same policy as his predecessor, Donald Trump, regarding the economic blockade of Cuba, which was strengthened by the previous tenant of the White House during his term in office.

He also remarked that the blockade "reaches and harms every Cuban family, Cubans living in the United States, U.S. citizens and people and businesses around the world", which is why he has called on Washington to remove it.

"Cuba has the right to live without a blockade, it has the right to live in peace. Cuba would be better off without a blockade, better off. Everyone would be better off without it. The United States would be a better country without a blockade against Cuba," Rodriguez said during the press conference.


SIX MILLION MORE THAN THE U$ GAVE

The UN provides almost 8 million euros to support the reconstruction of Cuba after hurricane ‘Ian’.

Daniel Stewart - Yesterday -

The United Nations has announced $7.8 million (a similar figure in euros) to support relief efforts following the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in Cuba, where more than half a million people are in need of humanitarian aid and 3.2 million people have been affected.


Aerial view of hurricane 'Ian' as it advances towards Cuba
 - NOAA / ZUMA PRESS / CONTACTOPHOTO

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, has ordered the release of funds from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to "enable relief efforts and kick-start recovery" on the island in the wake of the hurricane.

"The people of Cuba have shown tremendous resilience and have acted quickly with early warnings when faced with storms," Griffiths said, assuring that, however, the weather crisis "makes storms more intense and frequent."

"People were expecting 50 centimeters of rain, but they experienced three times that amount, losing their homes, family photos, school supplies for children and medicine for elderly parents. We must all help people respond and recover," the assistant secretary general said.

Related video: All of Cuba without power after Hurricane Ian
Duration 1:39

In this regard, he detailed that food, health supplies, hygiene kits, shelter supplies and other items that arrived prior to the hurricane "are already being distributed to people in need".

However, Griffiths warned that the Cuban population needs "much more support", since "Ian" damaged nearly 170 health clinics and more than 1,000 schools, affecting the education of 139,000 children.

"Several community food distribution centers and processing warehouses were lost, and many people lost fishing boats, livestock and other means of livelihood," he said.

In addition, he warned that the lack of electricity in much of the affected area and the limited availability of fuel are hampering the UN response.

Hurricane Ian claimed the lives of at least two people in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio and displaced more than 50,000 people in the west and center of the island.

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