DRAFT RESOLUTION "NEED TO END THE ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL BLOCKADE IMPOSED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AGAINST CUBA"

INFORMATION ON THE DRAFT RESOLUTION "NEED TO END THE ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL BLOCKADE IMPOSED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AGAINST CUBA"

• Due to the complex health situation imposed by COVID-19 pandemic at a global level and in particular in the United States (USA), including New York City it was decided on July 2020 to postpone the presentation of the draft resolution entitled “The need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

- In this regards Cuba informs that the presentation and vote of the resolution will take in May 2021 in the resumed session of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a date that we will provide in the coming days.

 • On this occasion, the Cuban draft resolution will be presented in a particularly adverse context, marked by the complexities imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and its direct impact on work at the UN headquarters.

• In the last 4 years, there has been a progressive and systematic increase in the aggressiveness of US policy against our people and against all sovereign States that maintain or attempt to establish economic, commercial and financial relations with Cuba. The more than 240 measures applied during the government of Donald Trump, with more than 50 adopted in 2020 alone, illustrate the particular cruelty of this policy against the Cuban people and government.

• Since the activation of Title III of the Helms Burton Act, in May 2019, until January 2021, have been established 28 lawsuits in US courts. This extraterritorial measure has affected US and third-countries companies, who have done or do business with Cuba. It has also caused notable damage to the economy of our country, due to its intimidating effect on the international business community.

• Between 2020 and early 2021, the US State Department expanded the “List of Restricted Cuban Entities” on several occasions. This has had considerable effects on Cuba's business system and commercial operations, as it has deterred some foreign counterparts from engaging or continuing to operate with Cuban entities included in unilateral lists.

• Added to the above was the creation of the List of Prohibited Accommodations in Cuba, which included 422 hotels and rental houses. These measures, along with others such as the suspension of charter flights to the entire country except Havana, severely restrict the travel of Americans, contradict the support of broad sectors of the US people to end the blockade and they attack the emerging Cuban private sector.

• The prohibition of sending remittances to Cuba from third countries through the Western Union company, the constant persecution of Cuban financial operations abroad, the impossibility of processing remittances through the companies Fincimex and American International Services (AIS), as well as such as intimidation of companies that transport fuel supplies to our country, are also examples of the intensification of the blockade in this period.

• To the regime of coercive measures derived from the blockade regulations, there are also the dissuasive and intimidating effects associated with the recent inclusion of Cuba in the List of States Sponsoring Terrorism. This unilateral action, lacking moral and legal justification, has a negative impact on every sphere of Cuban society, since it increases the country's difficulties in entering international trade and carrying out financial operations.

• The inhumane nature of the blockade is exacerbated and even more cruel amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The US government has used this policy, and in particular its extraterritorial component, to deliberately deprive the Cuban people of mechanical lung ventilators, masks, diagnostic kits, protective glasses, suits, gloves, reagents and others supplies necessary for the management of this disease.

• In this context, the slanderous campaign against Cuban medical cooperation, aimed at depriving other peoples of that indispensable contribution to their health system, which is immoral in any circumstance, is particularly offensive to Cuba and the world. Despite its efforts, the US has not been able to prevent thousands of Cuban collaborators from contributing to the fight against the pandemic in more than thirty countries and territories. More than 28 thousand health professionals who already provided their services in 59 nations before COVID-19 have joined these efforts.

• The blockade constitutes a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of Cuban men and women. It qualifies as an act of genocide under the 1948 Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and as an act of economic warfare according to the London Naval Conference of 1909. In addition, it is a violation of the UN Charter and the Law International.

• The maintenance and intensification of this policy constitutes an affront to the international community, which for 28 consecutive years has consistently condemned the blockade within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly. Likewise, it is unaware of the successive resolutions and declarations of the African Union, the Caribbean Community of States (CARICOM), the Group of 77 plus China and the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, among other international forums, where has been demanded its lifting.

• The blockade constitutes the most unjust, severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures that has been applied against any country. It continues to represent a brake on the development of all the potentialities of the Cuban economy, for the implementation of the National Economic Development Plan and Social Security of the country, as well as to achieve the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.

• The draft resolution to be presented this year maintains the same essence of the text adopted at the 74th session of the UNGA, with the rigorous technical updates.

• In our effort to lift the blockade, Cuba and its people have historically had the support of their country. In this particularly complex context, we reiterate our appreciation and hope to once again have your country's vote in favor of our draft resolution.