European Union: “The US blockade of Cuba affects our interests”

Brussels / New York. The European Union, in a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, warned of the negative consequences of the US blockade on Cuba on its interests, and stressed its refusal to exceed this policy of territorial boundaries. This was reported by the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina with reference to a similar document that became known on Monday.

This means that EU member states are responding to the report that Guterres wrote at the request of the United Nations General Assembly in its 2019 resolution on the need to end Washington’s blockade of Cuba, said Prensa Latina.

In its assessment, the European Union found that unilateral actions taken by the United States against Cuba would violate international trade rules accepted by the countries. The European Union recalled that in November 1996 its Council of Ministers issued regulations to protect European interests, both companies and individuals, from the extraterritorial effects of the Helms-Burton Act. Titles 3 and 4 were activated in 2019 by US President Donald Trump to increase pressure on foreign investors who want to do business with Cuba.

In the document sent to Guterres, Brussels also referred to the economic consequences of the embargo on Cuba and the standard of living of the population, including in the humanitarian field. “The embargo is an additional obstacle to Cuba’s ability to confront the Covid-19 pandemic,” Prensa Latina quoted the letter as saying. The tightening of sanctions also has implications for “the ability to communicate with the Cuban people” and “the development of the private sector in Cuba.”

The United Nations General Assembly in New York will vote on Wednesday, June 23, at 10 am local time, for the 29th time since 1992 on the draft resolution “the need to end the economic, commercial and governmental system imposed by the United States on Cuba. The American debate and vote on the financial embargo.”

In the last vote, 187 countries voted to end the blockade, three countries abstained (the United States, Israel and Brazil) and two countries (Colombia and Ukraine) abstained.