The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5
=> New escalation in the tightening of the blockade, despite its impact on the
| New escalation in the tightening of the blockade, despite its impact on the |
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Posted by
Jeffrey
(Guest)
- Monday, November 5 2007, 5:20:58 (CET) from 69.14.30.71 - d14-69-71-30.try.wideopenwest.com  Commercial -  Windows XP -   MozillaWebsite: Website title: |
Press Release New escalation in the tightening of the blockade, despite its impact on the Cuban people and its extraterritoriality Yesterday Wednesday, October 24, President George Bush made statements that evidence an unprecedented escalation in the US government’s policy towards Cuba, and which are a prelude to more blockade, subversion and attempts to isolate the Caribbean island, and to renewed efforts to surrender the Cuban people by hunger and disease. The current policy to bring about a regime change in Cuba, even by force, is thus confirmed. The call to “accelerate the transition period”, which Cuba is allegedly plunged into, is tantamount to re-conquering the Cuban territory by force. Violence is fostered and the use of force to overthrow the Cuban Revolution is called for, when he says that “The operative word in our future dealings with Cuba is not "stability." The operative word is "freedom." In referring to the blockade, the American President expressed that “Cuba's regime uses the U.S. embargo as a scapegoat for Cuba's miseries…” President Bush purports to justify and strengthen the blockade, notwithstanding the international isolation of his policy proven by the adoption by overwhelming majority, year after year, of the General Assembly resolution demanding the lifting of the blockade on Cuba. They seek to tighten the blockade, despite the known, direct repercussions of this policy on Cuba's economy and society, which are compounded by the extraterritorial effects of the sanctions, taken to unprecedented extremes with the passing of the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Act and the Bush Plan for annexing Cuba that they are now trying to strengthen. These laws and regulations continue to cause a great deal of damage, in Cuba and also in third countries whose right to benefit fully from the opportunities created by the Cuban economy is being restricted. The extraterritorial elements of the policy prohibit • US subsidiaries in third countries from dealing in any way with firms in Cuba • foreign firms from exporting to the United States products of Cuban origin or products whose processing involves the use of any component of that origin. • third countries' firms from selling to Cuba goods or services whose technology contains more than 10% US components, regardless of whether their owners are nationals of the country concerned.. • vessels carrying goods to or from Cuba from entering US ports, regardless of their country of registration. • banks of third countries from opening accounts in US dollars for Cuban individuals or firms, or effecting transactions in US dollars with such parties. • third countries' businessmen from investing or doing business in Cuba involving properties subject to claims by American citizens or others who, having been born in Cuba, acquired such citizenship Between May 2006 and May 2007, at least 30 countries were affected by the extraterritorial nature of the sanctions policy, including Germany, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland. Extraterritoriality has been taken to such an extreme that Cuban citizens living abroad have been obliged to close their bank accounts, or risk having them cancelled, at local banks that have been taken over by American banks or have some kind of affiliation with the latter. The intense and rapid process of international takeovers, mergers, megamergers and strategic alliances, something in which the United States plays a significant role, has intensified the impact of the blockade in Cuba’s now reduced foreign economic space. A large number of our traditional customers and suppliers have been obliged to break off trading or financial relations with Cuba following their takeover by or merger with a US concern. In this regard it would be important to highlight several examples: • The Cuban oil industry was unable to obtain spares for a Nuovo Pignone gas compressor, following the takeover of its Spanish supplier RODABILSA by America's General Electric, which refused under the terms of the blockade to allow supply any material destined for Cuba. • On 15th June 2006, the Canadian company Sherritt ordered a transfer of funds amounting to $7,140,000 from the National Bank of Canada (NBC), in payment of insurance premiums to the Cuban firm ESICUBA. A day later, the bank reported that the funds had been intercepted, placed in a frozen account and could not be unblocked without the approval of the US authorities. NBC applied to the latter accordingly, but its request was denied. • The incident that occurred at the beginning of last year in Mexico with a hotel belonging to the Sheraton chain was followed on 18th December 2006 by a scandal that erupted when the management of the Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in Norway informed the Cuban tourism office in Stockholm that it was obliged to cancel the reservations of the delegation from the Cuban Ministry of Tourism and Cuban companies who were to attend the International Tourism Fair held in Lillestrom on 11th-14th January 2007. • Applying the extraterritorial rules of American law, the Scandic hotel, acquired in March 2006 by the Hilton chain, denied accommodation to the Cuban delegation. Backing this decision, a spokesman for the Hilton Group in London publicly announced that the chain would ban Cubans from all its hotels around the world. • More than 20 banks in third countries have bowed to US extraterritorial pressures. Their executives have been obliged to accept these impositions and withdraw services provided to Cuban nationals and firms, for fear of severe reprisals by the Bush administration. • For instance on 30th June 2006, a European bank closed the SWIFT codes and accounts of Banco Internacional de Cuba S.A. (BICSA) at its Hong Kong and London branches; on 3rd November 2006, a Latin American bank refused to notify a BICSA letter of credit payable in euros, on the grounds of instructions from OFAC; the same happened in subsequent months with letters of credit at European banks and the European branches of Asian banks. New York, 26 Octuber 2007 --------------------- |
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