The U.S. government recently
announced the elimination of some aspects of its economic warfare against Cuba,
effectively bringing back rules in place during the Clinton administration.
Changes include permitting
travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens for academic, educational, cultural and
religious purposes as well as sending limited remittances. The new measures
will also permit U.S. international airports to request permission to operate
charter flights to Cuba under limited conditions. However, there will be no
reciprocity for Cuban companies to travel to the United States.
Using typical anti-Cuba
doublespeak, White House officials stated that “President Barack Obama
believes that these measures, combined with continuation of the embargo, are
important steps to achieve a widely shared goal of a Cuba respecting the basic
rights of all its citizens.” (Xinhua News, Jan. 16)
Although these changes are
positive, they will only allow select sectors of the U.S. population to travel
to Cuba. U.S. citizens will remain the only people in the world who cannot
freely travel to Cuba. Trade and diplomatic relations will also remain
unchanged between the two countries.
Cuban Foreign Ministry on the policy changes
These changes to U.S. policy
towards Cuba do nothing to end the ongoing threats against the island nation of
12 million people. As the Cuban government pointed out, the new measures “keep
intact the economic, financial and trade blockade.”
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said in a statement: “The adoption of these measures is the result of
efforts by broad sectors of U.S. society which, in their majority, have been
demanding the end of the criminal blockade of Cuba and the elimination of the
absurd prohibition of travel to our country.
“It is also an expression of
recognition that the U.S. policy towards Cuba has failed and new ways to
accomplish the historic objective of dominating our people are being sought.
“Although the measures are
positive ones, they are much less than what is being justly demanded, their
reach is very limited and they do not modify policy against Cuba …
“These measures confirm that
there is no willingness to change the policy of blockade and destabilization
against Cuba. Upon announcing them, U.S. government officials made it very
clear that the blockade will remain in force and that the administration is
proposing to use the new measures to strengthen subversion and intervention in
Cuba’s internal affairs.”
World opposes the blockade
The struggle to end the
blockade on Cuba continues as many countries throughout the world condemn the
criminality of the U.S. government. In 2010, for the 19th consecutive year, the
U.N. General Assembly voted for the U.S. government to end its blockade of Cuba
with 187 member states standing in solidarity with the Cuban people—the
greatest majority ever.
Cuba justly calls the U.S.
policy a blockade, not an embargo, for it is not only far more extensive and
damaging than just a trade ban, but it also has political aims—namely, the
overthrow the government of Cuba and a return of the island to its former
status as a U.S. dependency.
The 1992 Torricelli Law banned
foreign subsidiaries of U.S. firms from trading with Cuba, and provided that
any ship that docked in Cuba would be banned from entering a U.S. dock for six
months. Signed four years later, the Helms-Burton Act gave Washington the power
to penalize foreign companies trading with Cuba, or anyone
“trafficking” in Cuban property formerly owned by U.S. capitalists.
These extraterritorial measures
work like heat-seeking missiles as the U.S. government searches out all
financial and economic transactions between other countries and Cuba to apply
sanctions or threaten those companies and countries with economic ruin.
Solidarity with Cuba from
people around the world and in the United States is more important than ever to
demand the end of the blockade.
