For years American political leaders and media were fond of labeling Cuba an “international pariah”. We haven’t heard that for a very long time. Perhaps one reason is the annual vote in the United Nations General Assembly on the resolution which reads: “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. This is how the vote has gone (not including abstentions):
Year | Votes (Yes-No) | No Votes |
1992 | 59-2 | US, Israel |
1993 | 88-4 | US, Israel, Albania, Paraguay |
1994 | 101-2 | US, Israel |
1995 | 117-3 | US, Israel, Uzbekistan |
1996 | 138-3 | US, Israel, Uzbekistan |
1997 | 143-3 | US, Israel, Uzbekistan |
1998 | 157-2 | US, Israel |
1999 | 155-2 | US, Israel |
2000 | 167-3 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands |
2001 | 167-3 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands |
2002 | 173-3 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands |
2003 | 179-3 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands |
2004 | 179-4 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau |
2005 | 182-4 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau |
2006 | 183-4 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau |
2007 | 184-4 | US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau |
2008 | 185-3 | US, Israel, Palau |
2009 | 187-3 | US, Israel, Palau |
2010 | 187-2 | US, Israel |
2011 | 186-2 | US, Israel |
2012 | 188-3 | US, Israel, Palau |
2013 | 188-2 | US, Israel |
2014 | 188-2 | US, Israel |
This year Washington’s policy may be subject to even more criticism than usual due to the widespread recognition of Cuba’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Each fall the UN vote is a welcome reminder that the world has not completely lost its senses and that the American empire does not completely control the opinion of other governments.
Speaking before the General Assembly before last year’s vote, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez declared: “The economic damages accumulated after half a century as a result of the implementation of the blockade amount to $1.126 trillion.” He added that the blockade “has been further tightened under President Obama’s administration”, some 30 US and foreign entities being hit with $2.446 billion in fines due to their interaction with Cuba.
However, the American envoy, Ronald Godard, in an appeal to other countries to oppose the resolution, said: “The international community … cannot in good conscience ignore the ease and frequency with which the Cuban regime silences critics, disrupts peaceful assembly, impedes independent journalism and, despite positive reforms, continues to prevent some Cubans from leaving or returning to the island. The Cuban government continues its tactics of politically motivated detentions, harassment and police violence against Cuban citizens.”
So there you have it. That is why Cuba must be punished. One can only guess what Mr. Godard would respond if told that more than 7,000 people were arrested in the United States during the Occupy Movement’s first 8 months of protest in 2011-12 ; that many of them were physically abused by the police; and that their encampments were violently destroyed.
Does Mr. Godard have access to any news media? Hardly a day passes in America without a police officer shooting to death an unarmed person.
As to “independent journalism” – What would happen if Cuba announced that from now on anyone in the country could own any kind of media? How long would it be before CIA money – secret and unlimited CIA money financing all kinds of fronts in Cuba – would own or control most of the media worth owning or controlling?
The real reason for Washington’s eternal hostility toward Cuba has not changed since the revolution in 1959 – The fear of a good example of an alternative to the capitalist model; a fear that has been validated repeatedly over the years as many Third World countries have expressed their adulation of Cuba.
How the embargo began: On April 6, 1960, Lester D. Mallory, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, wrote in an internal memorandum: “The majority of Cubans support Castro … The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. … every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba.” Mallory proposed “a line of action which … makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”
Later that year, the Eisenhower administration instituted its suffocating embargo against its everlasting enemy.
The United States judging and punishing the rest of the world
In addition to Cuba, Washington currently is imposing economic and other sanctions against Burma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, China, North Korea, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa, Mexico, South Sudan, Sudan, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, India, and Zimbabwe. These are sanctions mainly against governments, but also against some private enterprises; there are also many other sanctions against individuals not included here.
Imbued with a sense of America’s moral superiority and “exceptionalism”, each year the State Department judges the world, issuing reports evaluating the behavior of all other nations, often accompanied by sanctions of one kind or another. There are different reports rating how each lesser nation has performed in the previous year in areas such as religious freedom, human rights, the war on drugs, trafficking in persons, and sponsors of terrorism. The criteria used in these reports are often political. Cuba, for example, is always listed as a sponsor of terrorism whereas anti-Castro exile groups in Florida, which have committed literally hundreds of terrorist acts over the years, are not listed as terrorist groups or supporters of such.
Cuba, which has been on the sponsor-of-terrorism list longer (since 1982) than any other country, is one of the most glaring anomalies. The most recent State Department report on this matter, in 2012, states that there is “no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups.” There are, however, some retirees of Spain’s Basque terrorist group ETA (which appears on the verge of disbanding) in Cuba, but the report notes that the Cuban government evidently is trying to distance itself from them by denying them services such as travel documents. Some members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been allowed into Cuba, but that was because Cuba was hosting peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government, which the report notes.
The US sanctions mechanism is so effective and formidable that it strikes fear (of huge fines) into the hearts of banks and other private-sector organizations that might otherwise consider dealing with a listed state.
Can anyone please post an article/academic paper with verifiable statistics on how the Cuban “embargo” hurts the everyday citizen in the island please!
REUTERS: Cuba says U.S. climbs to 5th leading trade partner-HAVANA | Thu Aug 14, 2008 – The United States ranked among communist Cuba’s top five
trading partners for the first time in 2007 despite the decades-old U.S.
trade embargo, as U.S. agriculture sales increased by $100 million.
Trade data for 2007 posted on the Web site of Cuba’s National Statistics
Office placed the United States fifth at $582 million, compared with
$484 million in 2006, including shipping costs. The United States, which began selling food to Cuba in 2002 under an amendment to the embargo, placed seventh in 2006 and 2005.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/08/14/us-cuba-usa-trade-idUSN1447847620080814
U.S.-CUBA TRADE AND ECONOMIC COUNCIL, INC.
ECONOMIC EYE ON CUBA- February 2012 – Report For Calendar Year 2011
2011-2001 U.S. EXPORT STATISTICS FOR CUBA
The following is the data for exports from the United States to the
Republic of Cuba relating to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export
Enhancement Act (TSRA) of 2000, which re-authorized the direct
commercial (on a cash basis) export of food products (including branded
food products) and agricultural products (commodities) from the United
States to the Republic of Cuba, irrespective of purpose. The TSRA does
not include healthcare products, which remain authorized by the Cuban
Democracy Act (CDA) of 1992.
The data represents the U.S. Dollar value of product exported from the
United States to the Republic of Cuba under the auspice of TSRA. The
data does not include transportation charges, bank charges, or other
costs associated with exports from the United States to the Republic of
Cuba. The government of the Republic of Cuba reports data that,
according to the government of the Republic of Cuba, includes
transportation charges, bank charges, and other costs. However, the
government of the Republic of Cuba has not provided verifiable data. The
use of trade data reported by the government of the Republic of Cuba is
suspect. The government of the Republic of Cuba has been asked to
provide verifiable data, but has not.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!
http://www.cubatrade.org/CubaExportStats.pdf
Lift the Cuba Embargo ? WHAT EMBARGO! By Humberto (Bert) Corzo*
In this article I analyze the arguments of lifting the Cuba embargo,
which are more rhetorical than real, answering each one of the specific
considerations of those that support the end of it.
EFFECT OF THE EMBARGO
The United States Government has always exempted from the embargo
medicine and humanitarian supplies to the Cuban people, as long as such
aid is distributed by independent non-governmental organizations (NGO)
such as the Catholic Church and international organizations such as
Pastors for Peace.
Since 1992, the U.S. has approved 36 of 38 license requests for
commercial sales of medicines and medical equipment to Cuba. During the
period from 1993 to 1996, the U.S. has licensed over $150 million in
humanitarian assistance, more than the total worldwide foreign aid
received by Cuba in those years. This total does not include the
millions of dollars in medicine and food sent to Cuba in the form of
“care packages” from relatives living in the U.S. [1]
In the year 2000 the Department of Commerce approved the export to
Cuba of approximately $550 million in medicines, medical equipment, cash
remittances, gift parcels and food (cash remittances and gift parcels
account for about 75% of the total amount). The United States
government’s embargo has had little effect on the Cuban economy, since
it only represents 5 % of Cuba’s commerce with the rest of the world.
The embargo only affects the American companies and their subsidiaries.
The rest of the countries, 180 since the last count in 2007, are free to
conduct business with Cuba and are doing so, as confirmed by imports
surpassing $13.78 billions during 2007 [2]. In reality there is not such
embargo since in the year 2000 the United States Congress lifted the
prohibition of the sale of agricultural products and medicines to Cuba,
thereby allowing Castro’s regime to buy everything it needs by paying in
cash.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ACADEMIC PAPER WITH FOOTNOTES & EVERYTHING!
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y09/abril09/09_O_3.html