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Cuba Longest-lasting Blockade in World History
Longest-lasting Blockade in World History: “Cuba Is not Alone, this Tribunal Proves It”
By Katrien Demuynck on November 21, 2023
Brussels Tribune on the Blockade of Cuba
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.
Continue reading Cuba Longest-lasting Blockade in World History
Once again the Great Majority of Nations of the World Stand with Cuba
Once again the Great Majority of Nations of the World Stand with Cuba Calling for an End to the Blockade
By Alejandra Garcia on November 2, 2023 from Havana
Today, as it happens in the beginning of November every year, the resolution presented by Cuba to call for the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States was overwhelmingly approved Thursday by the General Assembly with 187 votes in favor. There were 2 votes against that were not a surprise; the US and Israel with Ukraine abstaining.
The resolution recognizes the blockade as the central element of U.S. policy towards Cuba for more than six decades. In all that time its effects have not ceased for a single day; 80% of the Cuban population have never known their country free of the blockade.
Speaking at the plenary of the 78th session of the General Assembly in New York, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denounced the violations against the right to life, education, progress and well-being of Cubans caused by the U.S. blockade.
“Families in the country feel it in the shortages, excessive prices and devalued salaries,” said the foreign minister, and recalled the efforts that the Government of Havana must go through to guarantee the basic food basket to the population despite the obstacles imposed.
“Only with one third of the cost of the effects of the blockade from March 2022 to February 2023 would it have been possible to cover the expenses for that concept”, he asserted.
At the same time, he pointed out that sectors such as agriculture and energy face serious obstacles in acquiring spare parts or new machinery.
Under strict licenses, some agricultural products in the United States travel to the island while subject to draconian and discriminatory laws that violate international trade regulations, he recalled. “These products,” he added, “arrive in U.S. ships that have to return empty because of the blockade itself.”
Rodríguez Parrilla pointed out the intensification of harassment policies during the hardest years of the pandemic, when the exemption of sanctions was promoted for humanitarian reasons for some countries but not Cuba. Instead the blockade was tightened up even further by Trump with 243 new sanctions that continues under Biden; in fact it has gotten even worse under this democratic president.
“Why was Cuba excluded from that temporary relief?” questioned Rodríguez Parrilla in rejection of the use of the pandemic as an ally in Washington’s policy of hostility towards Cuba.
Today is one of those days when the support and love we get from the entire world is on display and we appreciate it. Since 1992 there have been 31 consecutive years of votes with resounding support to end the blockade in the General Assembly and our question to our arrogant neighbor to the North is how many more will it take for you to get in stride with the humanitarian sentiment of the world.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed his gratitude on Wednesday for the support of the international community,
Havana, November 1 (RHC) — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed his gratitude on Wednesday for the support of the international community, which raised its voice at the UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly, against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on the Caribbean nation.
In his official account in the social network X, the foreign minister expressed that in the debate at the UN the forceful rejection of the international community to that inhumane policy has been manifest, and the demand to exclude Cuba from the list of State sponsors of terrorism.
“Once again, the U.S. government will be isolated in the face of the overwhelming demand of the international community for a better Cuba without blockade”, he added using the tags that are moving today in that social network.
Tomorrow, Thursday, the vote will take place to approve the report presented by Cuba which is framed between March 2022 and February 2023, and in which it is explained that the damages and losses to Cuba caused by Washington’s policy are calculated in the order of four thousand 867 million dollars. (Source: ACN)
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