Cuban Consul General to The Bahamas, Felix Wilson, told reporters at a press conference held at his office, that any further restrictions against the country would lead to irreparable damage to the economy.
The embargo has seriously affected all of Cuba’s economic and social sectors, Mr. Wilson said, with more than $685 million in foreign exchange lost in 2002.
And total economic losses since the economic and political blockade was imposed in 1962 have exceeded $72 billion, according to preliminary studies, he said.
Except for a short-lived agreement with the United States in 1984 over Cuban emigration and repatriation of “undesirables”, US sanctions against Cuba have progressively tightened since wholesale nationalizations by the Marxist-Leninist regime of Fidel Castro, who assumed power after the military dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country in 1959.
Social impact
Of the embargo, Mr. Wilson said that, “Every sector of the Cuban economy has suffered the extraterritorial consequences of this policy. Of the $685 million losses in Cuba’s foreign trade in 2002, as a result of the embargo, $178.2 million (26 per cent) was a directly attributable aspect of US policy.”
Citing examples of the difficulties faced by the Cuban educational system as a result of the embargo, he said that the nation’s purchasing power for Cuban school requirements had fallen by 25 to 30 per cent since the early 1990’s, as a result of having to be obtained from remote markets, sometimes at higher costs.
“Agriculture, a sector whose development is key to food production and, hence, to raise nutritional standards for the Cuban people, suffered losses due to the US so-called embargo totaling $108.5 million,” he said.
Appeal to international community
“For all these reasons, Cuba expects that the international community overwhelmingly reaffirms, once more, its condemnation to this policy and renews its request to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo maintained by the United States government against Cuba,” Mr. Wilson added.
In recent years, the United States appeared to be loosening its grip on the Cuban government. But US President George Bush announced recently the introduction of measures designed to hasten the end of Communist rule in Cuba.
Some of the measures announced by the US include: Strictly enforcing any existing US laws forbidding Americans from traveling to Cuba for pleasure; imposing controls on shipment to the island and cracking down on illegal money transfers.
Mr. Bush said the new measures were being introduced because Cuban leader Fidel Castro had orchestrated a new round of brutal oppression.
Resolution before UN
For 12 consecutive years, Cuba has had up for consideration by the UN General Assembly a draft resolution entitled: “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”
The resolution will be presented again next month, and Mr. Wilson is hoping that The Bahamas and other countries will continue to support Cuba in its fight.
“Ever since we began introducing these resolutions The Bahamas has been along with almost all the rest of the world in opposing the embargo. And we expect the Bahamas this year again to support the countries that vote in favour of the resolution,” he said.
“The resolution is aiming at pushing the US to lifting the embargo,” Mr. Wilson said.
According to aviation sources, a long-standing ban by the United States on Cuban flights transiting US territorial airspace enroute to Canada was rescinded prior to a formal review of the matter by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
By Keva Lightbourne, The Nassau Guardian
