Iberia’s decision to pay the fine, which was imposed in June, and keep quiet about it indicates a more solid united front between imperialist powers on both sides of the Atlantic in their economic war against Cuba.

The London-based Financial Times disclosed in early September that over the last few months the U.S. Treasury Department has also levied fines against Alitalia Airlines and other companies in Europe, after charging them with similar violations of Washington’s embargo against Cuba.

Representatives of Iberia Airways, a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish airline, told the Financial Times that the fine is based on a four-year-old transaction. In 2000 the airline shipped goods between the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands and Central America through its regional hub in Miami. U.S. Customs agents seized the goods in Miami. Washington said Iberia was guilty of the “transportation and importations of Cuban goods to the United States,” which violates the U.S. Cuban Assets Controls Regulations.

Iberia Airways paid the fine, estimated to be several thousand dollars, without admitting guilt, said the Financial Times.

The European Union’s response to this action is likely to be mild, at most.

In its September 3 edition, the London-based daily said the “sanctions may force the European Commission, which has strongly criticized the extra-territorial application of the Cuban embargo laws, to protest to Washington.”

The paper quoted a spokesperson for Pascal Lamy, the European Union trade commissioner, saying, “We are opposed to any extra-territorial measure [from the U.S. government] that affects any European interests.” She said the commission had not reached a conclusion yet on whether the fine against Iberia constitutes an “extra-territorial measure.”

While several imperialist governments in the European Union (EU) have maintained somewhat normal trade and diplomatic relations with Cuba, they share Washington’s fear of the Cuban Revolution as an example for working people and a mortal threat to their capitalist interests. They differ with the U.S. government on how best to isolate and ultimately overthrow the revolution. In June 2003, Madrid and Rome imposed a range of sanctions against Cuba. The EU also announced that its member states had unanimously decided to end high-level visits to Cuba and cut back on cultural exchanges with the island nation.

An EU statement declared that the measures were in response to the trials and executions of three hijackers of a passenger ferry in Havana and the prosecution of several dozen opponents of the Cuban Revolution at the time who were found guilty of collaborating with Washington to advance the U.S. economic war against Cuba.

In July, the month after it was fined, Iberia withdrew from its regional hub in Miami, citing “security and visa problems.” Connection times for passengers traveling from Spain to destinations in Central America through Miami have doubled as a result of onerous transit procedures imposed by U.S. immigration authorities, said the Financial Times. Spain is the largest foreign investor in a range of joint economic ventures with the Cuban government, and has the second-largest financial investment in Cuba after Canada.

Relations between Madrid and Washington have become somewhat strained following the election of the social democratic government of Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who criticized the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and withdrew Madrid’s troops from the country last spring.

Between February and June of this year, the U.S. Treasury Department also fined Alitalia along with several other Italian companies. Most of the penalties were based on charges of shipping Cuban goods. Banca Commerciale Italiana was charged with “transferring funds” to Cuba in 2001 and fined $6,000.

Industria Compozioni Stampate and Societa Industriale Accumulatori Romano di Lombardia were fined $30,000 each. The two companies were fined directly in Italy as neither company has subsidiaries in the United States.

There is no information yet on whether these companies have paid the fines as Iberia did.

Extra-territorial application of the U.S. embargo against Cuba triggered a confrontation in 1996 between Washington and its allies, who are also its competitors, in the European Union. That’s when the Clinton administration passed the Helms-Burton law, which intensified Washington’s economic war on Cuba and sharpened a U.S trade offensive against competitors in Europe. Two years later, Washington and the European Commission reached an agreement under which the U.S. government would not penalize European companies in exchange for the EU’s withdrawal of a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

Current developments indicate that imperialist powers in Europe are more willing to cooperate with Washington over application of the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
 
 
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