…the US Federal Reserve imposed a
fine of 100 million dollars in May 2004 on the Swiss Bank, UBS AG,
for having supposedly violated the US sanctions on Cuba, Libya,
Iran and Yugoslavia. The purpose of this was to prevent the deposit,
exchange into other currencies or transfers through banks in third
countries of the dollars that Cuba obtains legitimately by way of
tourism, remittances and sales in shopping centres, with the aim of
preventing Cuban importations, mainly of food, medicine and fuel,
thus promoting a collapse in the economy and an extremely critical
social situation [pp.6-7]
30 September 2004, the US Treasury Department let it be known
that, following the recent changes to the Regulation for Control of
Cuban Assets, 31, CFR part 515 (the Regulations), US citizens or
permanent residents cannot legally buy products of Cuban origin,
including tobacco and alcohol in a third country not even for their
personal use abroad. The penalty for violating these Regulation can
be a fine of as high as one million dollars for corporations and of
US$250,000 and up to 10 years in jail for individuals. Fines of up to
65 thousand dollars can be imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department [p.7]
22 February 2005, the OFAC reinterpreted the concept of ‘payment
in cash and in advance’ to purchases by Cuba of agricultural and
medical products in the United States, saying that this means that
this means that the payment must be made before the merchandise
is loaded in a US port for shipping to Cuba. This measure, which
represents an extra obstacle for the limited importations of food,
came into effect 24 March 2005. The lack of security in the supplies,
derived from this interpretation, forced Cuba, in the first four
months, to purchase use alternative food suppliers from third
countries in order to ensure the purchase of 3 million dollars worth
of food and agricultural products that were originally going to be
imported from the United States. The transactions fell by 26%
between January and April of 2005 compared to the same period in
2004, according to statistics issued by the US Department of
Agriculture. This contraction includes a decrease of 52% in the
purchases of rice. [p.8]
Subsidiaries of American companies based in third countries are
forbidden from carry out any kind of transaction with Cuban
companies, or acquire goods that have been made using any
Cuban product.
Companies from third countries are forbidden from exporting any
product to the United States if it contains Cuban raw material.
Companies from third countries are forbidden from selling goods or
services to Cuba which use US technology or which are made using
products from this country which exceeds 10% of their value, even
when the proprietors of these products are from third countries.
Ships that have transported merchandise to or from Cuba are
prohibited from entering US ports.
Banks in third countries are prohibited from opening accounts in US
dollars to Cuban juridical or natural persons or to anyone who carry
out any financial transaction in this currency with Cuban entities or
individuals, and if they do the accounts shall be confiscated.
Businessmen from third countries are prohibited from making
investments or during business in Cuba, under the supposition that
these transactions are related to properties subject to retrieval by
the United States. The businessmen who do not honor this ban will
be the target of sanctions and reprisals. [pp. 14-15]
Examples of the impact of the extraterritorial application of the
blockade
In August 2004, as part of a social programme aimed at providing
soy yogurt to all Cuban children aged 7 to 13, Cuba purchased
equipment from the Brazilian company MEBRAFE in order to
modernize all of the UNION LACTEA’s refrigeration facilities. The
equipment purchased included 14 Danish SABROE refrigeration
compressors, which cost Cuba $ 339,389, a price already 40 %
higher than that which could have been paid buying these
compressors in the US market. Denmark’s SABROE was bought
over by the American company York and York’s distributor in Brazil
received instructions from the US head office to prohibit the sale of
compressors to Cuba [p.26].
Since 2004 to date, the government of the United States has
forbidden the European laboratory Intervet Holanda from selling
Cuba vaccines for avian diseases, claiming these contain 10 % or
more antigens produced in the United States. This prohibition
includes the Marek vaccine, designed for a specific type of avian
disease and a vaccine for other diseases such as Gumboro, New
Castle, bronchitis and Reovirus. Cuba is forced to purchase these
vaccines through third countries, paying more than what it did when
it purchased them from the WINCO firm — $ 9.50 (as opposed to $7) for every unit of the Marek vaccine and $ 150 (as opposed to $
68) for every unit of the quadruple vaccine. By undertaking
measures to reduce the number of birds in Cuba, the United States
hopes to undermine an important source of food products for the
Cuban people [p.27].
With respect to cancer treatment, Cuba has been unable to
purchase spare pieces and radioactive sources for two
automatic deferred charge units used to treat gynaecological
tumours (brachitherapy units), purchased from the Canadian
company MSD NORDION, as the latter sold the trademark to
the American firm VARIAN. As a result of this, 120 patients
were unable to receive this kind of treatment (the best option
available) until these units were replaced with others of
European make [p.28].
2.1 Overview of the impact of the blockade on some of the most vital
social sectors
The blockade has brought the Cuban people untold sorrows. Highly
vulnerable sectors upon which any country’s wellbeing depends, such as
food, health, education, transportation and housing, have been some of the main targets of this genocidal policy [p.37]
More: http://www.granma.cu/bloqueo/infome-ingles.pdf
