‘Blockade against Cuba’ is the title of the op-ed. article by columnist Julio Cesar Roca, who offers data on the onset of that unilateral policy, applied by numerous US governments for over six decades.
The text refers that all the measures constitute a violation of the principle of self-determination of peoples, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), of which the United States is a member.
In that regard, Roca emphasizes that the UN General Assembly, since 1992 and on an annual basis, overwhelmingly demands, the end of the blockade against Cuba.
‘Only 184 of the 193 member States did so,’ he points out, noting that only the United States and Israel opposed it.
Likewise, the reporter warns that the almost unanimous condemnation of the blockade is not only in the organization, but also at the level of the world population and of the offending country itself.
The op-ed. article also refers that the measures began during the Kennedy administration, in view of the nationalizations of US companies carried out by the Cuban Revolution.
In that sense, the journalist states, ‘(…) in 1964 the US Supreme Court ruled that the nationalizations were valid. A fact conveniently hidden.’
He then adds, ‘Furthermore, if the great power considered such measures illegitimate, it should resort to the International Court of Justice, to which both countries answer and not apply the law of the strongest.’
In the space, Roca also refers to some of the provisions applied against Cuba, such as the freezing of Cuban assets in that nation and the prohibition of transactions in dollars to US natural or legal persons or third countries with Cuba.
Other restrictions mentioned are the impediment to enter US territory, for 180 days, to foreign ships that dock in Cuban ports, as well as to export agricultural products to Cuba, if they are not paid in cash and in advance.
As for the current fight against Covid-19, the columnist affirms that the blockade implies the deprivation of Cubans to use donated or sold inputs to fight against the pandemic.
The article was published a few days before the most recent UN vote on the resolution: ‘Necessity of ending the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba,’ which took place on June 23.
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