FRFI 163 October / November 2001
The Cuban government recently issued a report to the United Nations on the effects of the US blockade. The issue is due to be debated again at the UN this October. Every year since 1992 the UN General Assembly has voted by a huge majority against the US blockade. Only the United States, Israel and one or two other lackeys vote in favour. The US always then vetoes the UN decision.
The blockade was imposed by the US after the declaration of the socialist nature of the Cuban revolution in April 1960 with the express aim of causing ‘hunger, desperation and the demise of the government’ in Cuba. The Cubans regard the blockade as an act of genocide under Item C of Article II of the Geneva Convention. Two years ago the Cuban government submitted a compensation claim of $121 billion to the US government for losses caused by their economic warfare against Cuba.
The costs, both in human and economic terms, to the Cuban people include:
• Lack of access to new drugs – 50% of which are produced by US companies and their subsidiaries – and biotechnology products (80% produced by US companies and subsidiaries). The report cites, in particular, examples of desperately-ill children denied life-saving treatment because of the blockade. Sometimes supplies are cut-off midway through treatment when a US company takes over a foreign firm. These severe material deficits can only be partially offset by the high scientific and professional level of Cuban health workers and by their spirit of human solidarity.
• Damage to food production. The vast costs of purchasing food imports from markets other than the US amounted to $38 million in 2000 alone, a sum equivalent to another 100,000 tons of bread wheat, 20,000 tons of wheat flour, 40,000 tons of rice, 5,000 tons of milk powder and 1,000 tons of chicken. Just trying to find raw materials for poultry feed from distant markets represents an additional cost equivalent to an extra 250 million eggs a year. After the Torricelli Act was passed in 1992 chicken production was reduced by 78% and egg production by 52%. These problems are symptomatic of the difficulties faced by all sectors of Cuban agriculture. The report states that, without the blockade, Cuba would be able to fully supply its population with food of sufficient quantity, quality and diversity.
• Losses to travel and tourism. Cuban airlines are unable to use US-controlled fuel services at many international airports. Cuba does not have access to state-of-the-art aviation equipment, forcing it to use planes that consume more fuel. They are unable to use US hotel reservation systems that cover over 65% of all international accommodation. Following US-backed terrorist bombs in Cuban hotels four years ago Cuba lost $350 million in expected tourist revenues.
• Fewer homes. Tight restrictions on Cuba’s access to normal international financing and US dominance of international finance force Cuba to rely on short and medium-term loans at high rates and to trade in third currencies liable to instability, creating excessive administration costs. The Cuban report estimates access to normal loans for social development would have enabled an extra 100,000 homes and six 600-bed hospitals to have been built in the last four years.
• Loss of foreign capital. Many joint ventures and agreements have been cancelled due to US threats to the foreign firms involved. Examples mentioned in the report include agreements with German steel manufacturers Sket and Thyssem Krupp, sales of nickel to Svedala Industries, Canada and several hotels and tourist developments of over $100 million by Spanish and Latin American firms. The losses to Cuba are twofold – the final project and costs already incurred in planning. In the case of abandoned ventures in nickel mining alone these amounted to $130 million between 1992 and 2000.
US policy towards Cuba is deliberately creating shortages and suffering for the Cuban people at every level. It must be lifted. As the Cuban report states, however, all the signs are that Bush and his friends in the Miami mafia have every intention of tightening, not slackening, the blockade.
Jim Craven
