End US economic embargo of Cuba

BY EMMA JOHNSON

Since Washington and Havana re-established diplomatic relations last year, Cuba’s revolutionary government has built on that victory to press for an end to the economic, diplomatic and financial warfare that 11 U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have imposed on the island over more than five decades. This is a fight that deserves the support of working people everywhere.

“There can be no normal relations between Cuba and the United States as long as the economic, commercial and financial blockade continues to be fully implemented,” said a July 1 statement issued by the Cuban government announcing the opening of its embassy in Washington. Havana also called for the return of the U.S.-occupied territory housing the Guantánamo Naval Base and an end to Washington’s destabilization programs.

The revolutionary leadership has made clear that Cuba will not abandon a single one of its principles, nor cede a millimeter in defense of its national sovereignty.

So far Washington has removed Cuba from its self-proclaimed list of “state sponsors of terrorism” and opened access to banking services for Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Washington. In three different rounds, the latest on Dec. 17, the White House eased some travel and trade restrictions. All these measures have been executive orders by President Barack Obama.

Cuban officials point out that despite the latest changes, the web of legislation aimed to block Cuba from international trade still has a big impact on the country’s economy. Most purchases from U.S. companies are impossible under existing restrictions, which specifically prohibit any interaction with many Cuban state companies and entities. All sales to companies that would “primarily generate revenue for the state” are denied. Cuba cannot use dollars in international financial transactions. And many banks in other countries still won’t conduct business with Cuba, because they fear possible U.S. penalties.

French President Francois Hollande called on Washington to end the economic embargo on Cuba at a Feb. 1 joint press conference with Raúl Castro in Paris, during the first-ever state visit by a Cuban president to France. The two signed six bilateral accords on economy, tourism, trade, railroads and development aid.

Castro’s visit followed a deal in December between Cuba and the “Paris Club” of imperialist creditor countries, in which Havana agreed to pay off $2.6 billion in debt over a period of 18 years. Some $8.5 billion in interest that had piled up since Havana suspended payments in 1986 was written off.

The opening of diplomatic relations came only after Washington released the remaining three of the Cuban Five, revolutionaries framed up and imprisoned in the U.S. for up to 16 years.

Want to ‘destroy us with bear hug’

“We have reason to be very cautious. The U.S. has always seen my country as its backyard, and there are powerful interests who now see an opportunity to achieve what they have been unable to do by other means during half a century,” Gerardo Hernández, one of the Five, told the Spanish daily El País Jan. 28. He was visiting Spain to thank supporters for their solidarity and to visit his mother’s birthplace in the Canary Islands.

“Influential congressmen and the administration itself haven’t given up their objectives with respect to Cuba,” Hernández said. “The goal has always been to destroy the revolution. Now they are wagering they can do it with a bear hug.”

Hernández pointed to the large appropriations of money by the U.S. government, both public and covert, devoted to subversion in Cuba.

For the fiscal year 2016, the U.S. Congress increased funding for “democracy assistance and international broadcasting to Cuba” and provided direction on “denying the issuance of visas to members of the Cuban military and the Communist party.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development announced Jan. 21 that it is offering $6 million in grants over a three-year period to organizations they claim will “provide humanitarian assistance to political prisoners and their families, and politically marginalized individuals and groups in Cuba.” The amounts can range from $500,000 to $2 million.

Related articles:
Cuban 5: ‘We extended solidarity and received it’
Cuban revolutionaries, fellow workers in US prisons resist ‘justice’ system organized to break them

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