<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" lang="en-US" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/11/17/international-tribunal-finds-us-blockade-of-cuba-in-violation-of-international-law/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">International tribunal finds US blockade of Cuba in violation of international law <br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Zoe Alexandra - November 17, 2023<br></div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>The International Tribunal on the Blockade of Cuba was held in the European Parliament in Brussels. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
</p><div>
<p>“Comrades, my first words are for the Palestinian people that suffer a
true genocide by Israel with the complicity of the North American
government, the same one that has blockaded us for more than 60 years.”
With these words Homero Acosta, the secretary of Cuba’s National
Assembly and member of Cuba’s State Council kicked off the sessions of
the International Tribunal Against the Blockade of Cuba, highlighting
the inextricable connection between the assault on the Palestinian
people and the Cuban people: US imperialism.</p>
<p>The tribunal held in the European Parliament in Brussels was
organized by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples and The
Left, a parliamentary group in the European Parliament. It sought to
discuss the human impact of the economic, commercial, and financial
blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States for the last 60 years. It
focused on how the blockade violates international law and also the
human rights of both the Cuban and the European people. The
intensification of the blockade through the designation of Cuba as a
state sponsor of terrorism by the United States was also a key element.</p>
<p>The judges presiding over the tribunal included the German
International Law expert Normal Peach, member of the Democratic Jurists
Society and professor, Dimitris Kaltsonis, member of the Lawyers College
of Portugal, Ricardo Joao Duarte, president of the National Lawyers
Guild Suzanne Adely, writer and journalist Daniela Dahn, and the
International Law specialist Simone Dioguiardi.</p>
<p>The prosecution which presented the opening arguments was composed of
Jan Fermon, of the Lawyers College of Brussels, Nana Gyamfi of the
National Conference of Black Lawyers of the United States, and Antonio
Segura of the Lawyers College of Madrid.</p>
<p>Throughout the sessions of the tribunal, in addition to the
prosecution’s arguments, judges heard oral and written arguments from
Members of European Parliament, members of European and Cuban civil
society, scientists, Cuba solidarity activists, representatives of the
business community in Europe, Cuban cancer patients, journalists,
feminist activists, and many others whose lives and livelihoods have
been impacted by the many different components of the US blockade on
Cuba. The diversity of economic and social sectors represented among
those who presented arguments in the tribunal speaks to the expansive
and extraterritorial nature of the six-decade blockade – breaking with
the myth that the blockade is precise and uniquely impacts Cuban
political leaders.</p>
<h3><b>The blockade on Cuba inhibits the advancement of people everywhere</b></h3>
<p>In her opening argument as prosecutor, the lawyer and rights
activists Nana Gyamfi declared: “The blockade has had a
disproportionately negative impact on Cuban women and people with
disabilities. The blockade has exacerbated the gender gap and impeded
women from achieving their goals for themselves and their families.
Women as primary caregivers and healthcare professionals are affected by
the embargo’s impacts to Cuba’s healthcare sector. Cubans with
disabilities also face disproportionate harm as the blockade prevents
them from accessing equipment and software that enables social inclusion
and personal autonomy and improves their quality of life.”</p>
<p>During the tribunal, participants also watched a video testimony from
doctors and family members of child cancer patients in Cuba who have
encountered tremendous difficulties in accessing necessary, life-saving
treatment due to the restrictions imposed by the blockade. The health
workers in the video manifested that they face the difficulty of
accessing sufficient medical supplies and working equipment, essential
in providing quality care to their patients. Those who testified on this
issue and several others, highlighted that this situation is created
not necessarily because of the lack of available funds to purchase such
supplies or treatment, but the restrictions on financial transactions.</p>
<p>This difficulty was echoed by European business owners who testified
in the tribunal. Those who attempt to do business, invest, or trade in
Cuba, are not only often unable to find banks to carry out their
transactions, but they have also suffered retaliatory measures such as
having lines of credit canceled. This has been the case for Spanish
businessman Juan Francisco Fernández Campaña who testified on November
16 in the tribunal.</p>
<p>Peter Mertens, a leader in the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB), spoke
in the contextualization portion of the tribunal and condemned Europe’s
submissive attitude towards the US. He declared: “One cannot be
sovereign and, at the same time, continue to listen to Washington’s
orders. Any country claiming to be sovereign should establish its own
relationships and not submit to the United States’ illegal practices of
coercion and punishment. Europe must go its own way and establish full
relations with Cuba.”</p>
<p>He added that, “The cooperation between the European Union and Cuba
is a win-win situation on many levels, including science. A European
regulation, known as the “blocking law,” states that “companies are not
authorized to apply US laws imposing sanctions, including against Cuba.”
Banks are therefore not allowed to block transfers to Cuba or apply
sanctions. Yet, most Belgian banks do. This must stop, and it can stop.”</p>
<p>Belinda Sánchez, a Cuban scientist and one of the creators of the
Soberana COVID-19 vaccine, testified and spoke about the multitude of
ways that Cuba’s scientific research and development is severely limited
by the blockade. Cuba being essentially banned from buying from US
markets means that it has limited access to necessary materials for
research and at least a 20% price increase for obtaining materials from
other markets.</p>
<p>Sánchez also highlighted that the blockade even impacts the reach of
Cuba’s scientific advances because many banks do not accept their
payments for patents and scientific publications as they come from Cuban
banks. She explained that “Not paying for a patent has the direct
consequence of losing the patent in that territory, which leads to it
being copied, with the potential loss of markets for Cuba. Not paying
for a scientific publication has the direct consequence that the
publication is withdrawn from the journal and that the authors are
prohibited from publishing in it again.”</p>
<p>She emphasized: “Years of research aimed at human health are being
destroyed. In my Institution alone, we currently have a payment arrears
of 24 publications on the topic of Cancer Immunotherapy, some of which
are older than 4 years.”</p>
<p>The aforementioned testimonies are just a small sample of the type of
arguments heard during the two days on the basis of which the judges
presiding over the tribunal made their ruling.</p>
<h3><b>The blockade violates international law</b></h3>
<p>In the closing session of the tribunal on November 17, the judges
ruled that the blockade violates International Law and universal norms
for peaceful coexistence.</p>
<p>They also stressed that the economic, commercial, and financial
blockade imposed by Washington violates the UN Charter, which enshrines
the sovereignty of the countries, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and agreements of the World Trade Organization, among other
norms.</p>
<p>After hearing the arguments of the Prosecution and the witnesses
about the human and economic damage of the blockade, the court recalled
that the United States has applied this unilateral system of coercive
measures for more than 60 years, affecting the living conditions of an
entire people, its development, and the performance of the various
sectors of society.</p>
<p>Likewise, the magistrates’ decision reflects the extraterritorial
scope of the blockade, a component contrary to International Law, the
unjustifiable nature of the siege, and its intensification with the
inclusion of the island on the state sponsors of terrorism list.</p>
<p>The opinion read by the judges, also pointed out the blockade as
violating the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights of 1966. It also refers to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the possibility that
Washington’s hostility and its determination to cause systematic
collective damage fits into this crime.</p>
<p>The international tribunal urged the United States to end the
blockade against Cuba and compensate affected companies and citizens.</p>
<p>As the key partner of the US, Israel, continues to commit flagrant
violations of international law in its genocidal attacks on Gaza and the
Palestinian people, many ask, who does international law apply to?
Until the formal and binding tribunals will judge the crimes committed
by the US and its allies, the courts of the people will continue to make
their judgements and the organized people will demand justice on the
streets.</p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>