Longest-lasting Blockade in World History: “Cuba Is not Alone, this Tribunal Proves It”

By Katrien Demuynck on November 21, 2023

On Nov. 16 and 17, 2023, a tribunal against the U.S. blockade of Cuba took place in the buildings of the European Parliament in Brussels Belgium. 263 attendees from 21 countries attended. It concluded with a strong condemnation of one of the biggest scandals of the 21st century through a firmly based legal verdict. The economic, commercial, and financial blockade, officially established since 1960, is backed by more than 30 US laws and provisions. It is the longest-running and most comprehensive blockade of a country in world history. Eighty percent of the Cuban population was born during the blockade.

An international panel of five judges, led by professor emeritus of law at Hamburg University, Norman Paech, presided over the tribunal.

Chief Prosecutor Jan Fermon argued, among other things, that the blockade violates the principles of self-determination, sovereign equality among nations, and prohibition of the use of force or coercion by one country against another, which are enshrined in numerous international treaties.

The formulation of the charges was followed by a wide range of witnesses and experts on various aspects.

Public health damages

A first group addressed the public health damage caused by the blockade. The two testimonies of mothers of a child with cancer and that of a cancer specialist at the William Soler pediatric hospital in Havana were downright harrowing.

Dr. Belinda Sánchez, director of immunology and immunotherapy at the Centro de Inmonulogía Molecular (CIM), testified about the blockade hindering the production of cancer drugs and vaccines. In 2022, the additional cost of seeking raw materials further away was one million dollars. That obviously limits the Cuban government’s purchasing capacity. Moreover, replacement parts for the machines are often very difficult to purchase.

The problems of making international payments mean that patents cannot be established or maintained, meaning a loss of income on patented drugs and a loss of access to Cuban drugs by the other citizens of the world. Publications in international journals cannot be paid for. Those publications on the effects of drugs and vaccines are a requirement for international approval, resulting in innovative Cuban drugs, like their lung cancer vaccine, remaining unavailable to people outside of Cuba.

Due to visa restrictions, Cuban specialists cannot attend international conferences and or cancer or diabetes patients from the U.S. cannot seek treatment in Cuba. Conversely, foreign scientists also cannot go to Cuba for study or exchange because they are then made difficult or denied entry to the US.

Dr. Sánchez pointed out that there were unnecessary casualties in the Covid pandemic in Cuba, because the problems caused by the blockade meant that vaccines could be produced a lot later and not always in sufficient quantities.

Franco Cavalli, president of the NGO Medicuba Europe, talked about the illegal extra-territorial consequences of the blockade in the health sector. For example, Medicuba wanted to fund three additional laboratories for diagnosing infectious diseases, in Santiago, Santa Clara and Pinar del Rio to make those tests more and more quickly accessible to the population.

In doing so, Medicuba ran into payment problems with the supplying firms because of blockade restrictions. He too was formal: thousands of deaths could have been avoided by the faster production of sufficient vaccines and the timely availability of the necessary syringes.

Third countries affected

This was followed by a number of testimonies from political leaders who elaborated on the extraterritoriality of the blockade laws. MEP Manu Pineda (The Left – PCE) and former President of the European Parliament Miguel Ángel Martínez (2007-2014) complained that the EU is in fact an appendix of the US.

While the Union does not recognize extraterritoriality, it simultaneously fails to negate it and pursue a sovereign policy. Former French MP Michel Lambert also presented arguments for this.

Former UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft (2015-2016) stressed that the vast majority of the UN has overwhelmingly disapproved of the blockade for 31 years consecutively. In 2016, everything seemed to indicate that under Obama the blockade would be eased, but under Trump those hopes were dashed. Biden has not taken any initiative to do anything about it either.

Lykketoft pointed out that placing Cuba on the US list of states that sponsor terror is totally unjustified. On the contrary, Cuba is a peace-maker in Latin America, including in the internal conflict in Colombia.

Brenda López, a young union activist from the U.S. testified about the problems faced by young people in the U.S. because of the blockade of Cuba. First, any exchange between students of the two countries is made difficult. Second, the same happens for any possible exchange or cooperation at the union level.

A third issue is that young people of color make up less than 6 percent of medical students. This is because young people who want to become doctors in the U.S. accumulate an average of $215,100 in student debt. That’s while Cuba offers free training at the Latin American Medical Faculty in Havana. 47 percent of American young people studying there are black, 29 percent are of Latino descent.

Fourth, the blockade has created gigantic obstacles to scientific cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba. Fifth, U.S. farmers incur losses of up to a billion dollars a year by not being able to sell their products in the nearby Cuban market.

Her sixth and final point was that the tens of thousands of climate activists in the U.S. and worldwide do not have access to the approach of Cuba, which in its climate plan Tarea Vida starts from the needs and interests of ordinary people and offers an alternative to the lack of response in the capitalist world.

Problems at the commercial level

The blockade also has very serious consequences at the commercial level. Spanish entrepreneur Juan Francisco Fernández indicated that he currently sees 77 of his 79 possible lines of credit closed to trade with Cuba.

Italian entrepreneur Michele Curto explained how the blockade legislation multiplies the price on every intermediary. This forces Cuba to work cheaper as well, which also leads to economic loss.

To underline the criminal nature of the blockade, he gave the example of a muscle relaxant drug needed to comfortably intubate a patient, extremely important during the pandemic. His organization could not purchase and resell it to Cuba because of the restrictions.

From France, Victor Fernández came to testify about a much-needed investment in Cuban railroads that the French government-owned SNCF planned to make that could not go through because of problems with the banks.

University cooperation blocked

VUB professor of international and European law Stefaan Smis testified about the strategic partnership the VUB has had for years with Santa Clara’s Marta Abreu University, which grew into a partnership with seven Cuban universities. The blockade interferes in every possible way.

For example, Zoom, Teams or Canvas cannot be used for mutual communication. A series of academic sites are not accessible in Cuba. Professors who have traveled to Cuba for an academic exchange cannot go to the U.S. for a year and are subject to difficult interrogations even after that to obtain an entry visa.

Certain books cannot be delivered in Cuba. Gerold Schmidt of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation reported similar problems.

Media complicit in blockade

The consequences of the blockade also appear to be extremely serious in the area of communications and media. Spanish journalist Pascual Serrano argued that the major communications media are necessary accomplices to the criminal blockade of Cuba. They ensure that it can continue to exist because they publish untruths about it or remain silent about the damage it does.

They also lie about Cuba’s alleged support for terrorist organizations or about alleged political prisoners or human rights violations, or even about the Castro family’s supposed fortune.

Serrano wondered aloud why there is silence on what is really happening in countries like Saudi Arabia in that regard. While they attribute everything that goes wrong in Cuba to the country’s leadership, they don’t do that at all with capitalist countries.

They never mention global solidarity with the island, for example, this tribunal. They never talk about the terrorist attacks against Cuba, nor even less about the aspects in which Cuba is an example to the world.

José Manzaneda, director of the website Cuba Información, talked about unfairly giving airplay to so-called civil anti-Castro organizations, which in reality barely have a base within Cuba. He also indicated how under Trump a whole series of sites and media have been created and funded with “Cuba” in their name, in addition to the media in Miami, to disinform. This is done through government agencies like USAID and NED.

Commercial media also play the game to distort the image about Cuba for the general public. As a result, tourism to Cuba, for example, is discouraged. The Cuban pharmaceutical industry is harmed by lies about its vaccines.

Cuba’s international medical cooperation, which in many cases is free or at expense, is presented as a “profitable business of the Cuban regime” based on “slavery of the medical personnel,” with the aim of breaking existing contracts around medical cooperation.

Manzaneda himself risks six years in prison and $50,000 fine because of a report, in October 2020, in which he exposed the combined work of Prisoners Defenders and the State Department in destroying such medical collaborations.

Women’s rights under pressure

Svevi Koukuma, a former member of parliament, chairwoman of POGO (Pancyprian Federation of Women’s Organizations) and vice president of Europe FEDIM, started by mentioning that Cuba surpasses the majority of developed countries in terms of women’s political empowerment.

Women’s participation in parliament exceeds 55 percent. In 2021, women represented 51.5 percent in state and government positions. 52.3 percent of State Council members are women. In ministerial positions, they represent 48.5 percent and among county governors and deputy governors, 53.3 percent.

But the blockade reinforces the gender gap. The strong position of Cuban women within society only demonstrates their resilience and determination. The blockade causes a range of problems in mother and child care. 71 percent of health care professionals are women and face directly the consequences of the blockade to do their jobs well. Same for scientists, where women make up 53 percent of the workforce.

Art under blockade

President of the Union of Cuban Artists (UNEAC) and Cuban MP Luis Morlote testified how the blockade makes it difficult for artists to sell their works or perform abroad. Because of the extraterritorial effects of the blockade, this applies not only to the U.S., but worldwide.

Art education is completely free in Cuba but is experiencing serious difficulties in obtaining the necessary materials to function properly.

He also cited the hate campaign against Cuban top group Buena Fe in May 2023 in Spain that led to the suspension of concerts. As well as the smear campaign against internationally acclaimed author and poet Nancy Morejón, which led the organizers of the 40th Paris festival le Marché de la Poésie to cancel her as honorary president of the festival on May 31, 2023, one week before its start.

That last testimony concluded the first day of the international tribunal.

International solidarity and blockade

On Friday, Nov. 17, proceedings resumed again at 9 a.m. sharp. First to speak were representatives of solidarity organizations. Marco Papacci, president of ANAIC Italia, testified, among other things, how banks blocked urgent emergency aid collected for the Matanzas petroleum depot fire disaster.He ended with: to a stricter blockade, we respond with more solidarity. Cuba is not alone and this tribunal proves it.

Angelica Becker of the German Netzwerk Cuba gave a whole host of examples. Not only of impossible financial transfers with Cuba, but also within Europe, if those transactions included the word or theme of Cuba.

Wim Leysen of the Belgian Coordination for the Removal of the Blockade focused his talk on the extraterritorial impact of the blockade on banks in Belgium. He cited concrete examples of ING, TRIODOS, KBC, Bpost and BNP-Paribas-Fortis. They refuse financial transactions with Cuba because they risk heavy fines because of the State Department.

But on the other hand, they are violating European law by complying with those U.S. blockade laws, specifically Regulation 2217 of 1996 that prohibits European actors from complying with third-country laws.

Manolo García of the Solidarity Movement with Cuba (MESC) from Spain testified about 7,000 euros of emergency aid after the devastation of Hurricane Irma in 2017 that banks refused to transfer.  Or about the failure of a payment, within Europe, for Cuban rum because the word Cuba appeared in the communication.

More seriously, the purchase of a Supervisory Control System for drug production was made problematic because the three mandatory bids prior to the purchase, could not materialize. Only one bid came in. The rest of the manufacturers did not come forward, fearing possible US sanctions.

Samuel Wanitz of the Swiss Friendship Association with Cuba testified about member dues not being able to be paid, payments not going through and even the freezing of his personal account for several days after he symbolically tried to deposit 1 pound for medical aid to Cuba.He also reported the difficulties for receiving pensions or disability by Swiss residents in Cuba or Cuban citizens who have accumulated pension or disability rights in Switzerland.

Impact on migration

Maite Mola, vice president and head of international affairs of the Party of the European Left (PIE), concluded the set of testimonies with a completely different aspect of the economic blockade, namely emigration.

She read the testimonies of several Cubans who say they want to stay, but are forced to emigrate because of the economic situation or because of problems in the supply of vital medication. She concluded that a truly multipolar world is impossible if Cuba’s blockade remains in place.

The judges’ verdict

Based on the hearings and taking into account the defense arguments, the judges unanimously decided that the extensive political and economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Cuba are a violation of international law.

In a detailed five-page text, the panel led by Norman Paech solidified its verdict. The blockade violates Articles 2(4) and 2(7) of the UN Charter on the Protection of Sovereignty, Self-Determination and the Prohibition of Intervention, the articles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

In addition, World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions on the protection of freedom of trade and numerous principles of the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht Treaty) were also violated. Moreover, the blockade should be qualified as genocide based on Article II of the Geneva Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

The panel decided that not only should the blockade be completely lifted, but the U.S. should additionally make reparations for the damage caused to the Cuban state, businesses and citizens.

Katrien Demuynck is the Coordinator of the Belgium chapter of the Network in Defense of Humanity