Is decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba coming to end?

Between Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, a Plenary Meeting of UN General Assembly will debate the necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed on Cuba by the U.S. since 1960

A section of the diplomatic community wonders if the blockade does not amount to a war against humanity.

The Executive Order 3447, signed by President John F. Kennedy on Feb. 3, 1962, proclaimed "an embargo upon all trade between the United States and Cuba."

The order cited the island nation's "alignment with the communist powers," then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), now the Russian Federation.

However, on the eve of the embargo's entry into force on Feb. 7, 1962, Kennedy ordered for himself a shipment of 1,200 Cuban cigars—a product since then illegal for U.S. citizens.

John Kavulich, President of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, said the goal of such embargoes, at least publicly, is "a change in the behavior of the regime."

The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, introduced by the U.S., is to maintain sanctions on Cuba as long as the government refuses to move toward "democratization and greater respect for human rights.''

The introduction of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, was among other things, to discourage foreign investment flow to Cuba

Since 1960, successive U.S. governments have either reinforced or imposed various forms of laws with the view of making their blockade more severe and draconian.

Many experts have described the U.S. blockade against Cuba as the most enduring trade embargo in modern history.

Some others say America's sanctions against Cuba remain one of the world's longest-running boycotts by one country against another.

The U.S. has justified the sanctions by pointing to rights violations by Cuba and its support for the government of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.

Alina Hernandez, a Cuban researcher and editorial writer, said the U.S. has gone ahead to justify its blockade with many claims and actions.

"For as long as it was bilateral, it was easier for Cuba," she said.

Such actions by the U.S. in the form of a blockade have triggered a series of protests against the Cuban government and the Communist Party of Cuba.

The protests, which began on July 11, 2021, were caused by a shortage of food and medicine and the government's response to the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic.

The protests were the largest anti-government demonstrations since the Maleconazo in 1994.

Reacting to the protests, U.S. President Joe Biden said: "We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba's authoritarian regime."

"The Cuban people are bravely asserting their fundamental and universal rights." Those rights, including the right to peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected.

But the U.S. embargo has eaten deep into the socio-economic fabric of Cuba so much that it has gone beyond being bilateral to becoming unilateral and globalized, according to experts.

Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Parrilla, said that between January 2021 and February 2022, 642 foreign banks reported that the U.S. financial system had threatened to take action against them if they continued to do business with Cuba.

He said this while presenting an updated national report to national and foreign media with the title: "The Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial, and Financial Blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."

"What does the U.S. blockade against Cuba seek to achieve?"It is to prevent American businesses and businesses organized under U.S. law or majority owned by American citizens from conducting trade with Cuban interests.

For the reasons I mentioned, the country's capacity to manufacture medicines has been seriously hampered.

"Cuba manufactures 60 percent of the essential medicines it needs." However, in order to manufacture those medicines, it needs not only some raw materials, spare parts, and components.

"It also needs, of course, funds, which the oppressive and comprehensive implementation of the blockade prevents from reaching our country,'' Parrilla said.

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Carlos Fernandes de Cossio, Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister, said in a sideline interview with Democracy Now that "since 1960, the aim of the U.S. blockade against Cuba is to make life difficult for its people,''

"Calling Cuba a failed state is the U.S.'s wishful thinking."

"Cuba continues to thrive in science, technology, education, sports, and through a robust health system." These are not the attributes of a failed state, "he told Democracy Now in an interview during the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

One of the major foreign policy achievements of President Biden when he was vice president was the so-called Cuban thaw, which warmed up one of the Cold War's last icy spots in the Western Hemisphere.

However, the Donald Trump administration discouraged it by ending bilateral travel, re-imposing sanctions, and designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Analysts of international relations and diplomacy are of the view that U.S.-Cuba tension is already putting pressure on the Biden administration geopolitically.

They point to the reaction of the Mexican President, Andres Manuel López Obrador, to the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the June 6–10 Summit of the Americas, which was held in Los Angeles.

That created a domino effect as the leaders of Bolivia and Honduras announced they would also boycott the meeting.

This prompted criticism from the leaders of Chile, Argentina, and multiple Caribbean countries.

In a new survey by Morning Consult published on June 6, Matthew Kendrick wrote that the Biden administration has largely turned a cold shoulder to re-engaging with Cuba after former President Donald Trump's reversal of Obama-era rapprochement.

The piece suggests that the stance is in line with public opinion—reconciliation is not a priority for most Americans.

Keen followers of global diplomacy have observed that as Nov. 3 approaches, an opportunity is being provided by the UN General Assembly Penary, where a debate on the need for the U.S. to withdraw its blockade against Cuba will ensue.

They urge the UN and particularly the U.S., to consider that Cuba is already steeped in a humanitarian crisis.

They argue that lifting the embargo will be a welcome relief for Cubans, especially amid the devastating effects of Hurricane Ian, which killed three people and caused widespread damage across western Cuba.

The Nov. 3 to Nov. 4 debate will be the 13th time the item has been on the agenda of the UN.

Meanwhile, speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Clara Pulido-Escandell, urged the U.S. government to remove the blockade it imposed against the country.

The blockade, she said, affects every Cuban family, Cubans residing in the U.S., as well as U.S. citizens, people, and companies from all over the world.

She also said the blockade is causing severe damage by depriving Cuba of financial resources that are indispensable to acquiring supplies, equipment, spare parts, technology, and software.

Lorena Barberia, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of So Paolo, said that by its posture against Cuba, the U.S. appears not to be in solidarity with the Americas.

"The reluctance of the U.S. to engage with Cuba further contributes to perceptions that the U.S.'s proclaimed solidarity with the region does not translate into concrete new policies," the don said.

Experts, however, say it is heart-warming to see the United States authorizing, for the first time in six decades, an investment in a private business in Cuba.