Cuba denounced the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade applied against it by the United Status for more than half a century, in defiance of the worldwide call to end it.
Millions of dollars in fines imposed against entities engaged in operations with Cuba, prosecution of transactions, extended laws and an increasing extra-territorial dimension have been characteristic of the U.S. siege of Cuba in recent months.
According to the Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations, Bruno Rodriguez, up until December of 2011, Washington's unilateral action caused losses of more than $1.66 trillion dollars, considering the depreciation of the dollar relative to gold.
Yesterday evening here in this capital, Rodriguez presented a report on the U.N. General Assembly's Resolution 66/6 on "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba." He provided an update on the impact of the blockade's sanctions on different sectors.
In coming weeks, the resolution will be submitted for the 21st time to the General Assembly, where it has been consistently approved ever since 1992 and in October of last year received 186 votes in favor and only two against (United States and Israel).
Other organizations such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States have also recently expressed their rejection of the blockade.
While the international community is making a unanimous demand for an end to the unilateral measure, Washington has responded by intensifying it, said the Cuban foreign minister.
During his third year in office, Rodriguez pointed out, President Barack Obama has not only maintained the siege but reinforced it, above all by going after and prosecuting those engaged in financial transactions with Cuba.
In June of 2012, the United States announced the imposition of a $619 million dollar fine against the Dutch bank ING, the highest ever against a foreign entity, for its commercial connections with Cuba.
Insurance companies like Metlife and a supplier to the oil industry, Flowserve Corporation, were also punished for violating the siege.
The fines under the Obama administration went from $89 million dollars in 2011 to $622 million so far this year, the foreign minister told journalists while presenting the latest report.
For the third consecutive year, Obama extended the Trading with the Enemy Act, a norm that supports the blockadeâ�Ös application and facilitates the imposition of other initiatives meant to complement it.
Additionally, Cuba was included once again on the list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism, which Washington uses as justification for intensifying its scrutiny of commercial and financial transactions with Cuba.
Extra-territorial nature of the blockade
The current U.S. administration has demonstrated recurrent interest in accentuating the extra-territorial nature of the blockade, according to a text released for the debate at the U.N. General Assembly.
A fine against the French shipping firm CMA CGM for providing services to Cuba and investigations of the Spanish bank BBVA for its presumed participation in Cuba-related investments are a few of the examples cited in the report presented by Rodriguez.
The foreign minister also mentioned pressures exerted against the executives of the Hilton hotel in Trinidad and Tobago, which forced the Cuba-Caricom Summit to move to a different location in December of 2011.
Businesses are not the only entities suffering the blockade extra-territorial effects. U.S. authorities froze 137,000 Danish kroner (some $2,385) belonging to a Danish citizen for purchasing Cuban tobacco in Germany.
Strictly speaking, Obama has intensified the blockade, said Cuba Foreign Minister.