Paris, Jun 2 (Prensa Latina) The U.S. sanctions against French bank BNP Paribas for alleged violation of the blockade against Cuba are a violation of international law, which does not allow for extraterritorial application of any particular law, analyst Salim Lamrani stated today. Washington is threatening France’s largest bank with a fine of $10 billion USD, considered among the largest ever imposed in the United States against a financial entity.
According to current regulations, U.S. law should not apply in France, just as German law is not used in England. What should prevail is national legislation, said Lamrani, who holds a doctorate in Iberian and Latin American Studies at the Paris-Soborna University, in remarks to Prensa Latina.
In this case “what governs is the law of the strongest, rather than international law,” he stated.
Lamrani said the government of President François Hollande should firmly condemn that attack against France’s national sovereignty and fundamental interest, as BNP Paribas is the country’s premier banking institution.
The expert in relations between Cuba and the United States recalled that when Barack Obama was running for president, he admitted a total failure of policy towards the Caribbean nation and promised to find a new direction.
However, during his administration, he has applied the territorial nature of economic sanctions even more severely than his predecessor George W. Bush.
Lamrani also recalled the overwhelming demand of the international community to lift the blockade against Cuba. Since this siege was implemented in 1962 through 2013, damages inflicted on the Cuban people have been calculated at $1.157 billion USD, considering the depreciation of that currency against the value of gold.
The analyst stated that, according to the most recent survey, 70 percent of the population in the United States favors normalized relations with Cuba.
