Negative Impact of US Blockade Extraterritoriality Hurts Cuba

‘Cuba is subject to comprehensive sanctions by the United States. Therefore, we could not transport any shipment to/from an embassy of the government of Cuba, and such shipments at this time or in the future will be rejected to be picked up or returned to the sender,’ the US company reported in a letter addressed to the Cuban ambassador in this capital, Gustavo Veliz.

The letter, to which Prensa Latina had access, adds that FedEx and its subsidiaries, like US companies, are governed by the laws of that country, which makes it impossible to negotiate with governments subject to sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, as part of the legal scheme of export control of the northern country. President John F. Kennedy decreed on February 3, 1962, the total ‘embargo’ of trade between Washington and Havana, pursuant to section 620 (a) of the Foreign Assistance Law, a policy that in practice equates to an economic, commercial, and financial blockade.

Cuba continues to be prevented from exporting and freely importing products and services to or from that country, it cannot use the US dollar in its international financial transactions or have accounts in that currency in third-country banks.

Likewise, it is also not allowed to access loans from banks in the US, its subsidiaries in third countries and international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

As a consequence of the aforementioned, the normal development of the Caribbean country in all spheres of economic, social and cultural life, continues to be seriously hampered, its authorities reiterated.

The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act or Helms-Burton Act (1996) codified the provisions of the blockade, expanding its extraterritorial scope, they recalled. (Taken from Prensa Latina)