United Nations, Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) The Permanent Mission of Cuba to the UN denounced today the impact on the financial sector of the blockade imposed by the United States on the island for more than half a century.
When five days remain for a new vote of the General Assembly on the draft resolution calling for the end of the siege, the diplomatic headquarters recalled here in press releases that the sanctions of Washington severely affect the banking sector of the Caribbean country and its programs of collaboration with other nations of the South.
According to one of the communiqués, despite the authorization in March 2016 by then-US President Barack Obama to use the dollar in Cuba’s foreign trade operations and US banks to establish links with the island, the blockade continues to hamper its materialization.
Not only the Cuban banking system is hit with the direct siege and the pursuit of its financial assets, it also attacks foreign entities under the extraterritorial component of the blockade, it warned.
In this regard, the Permanent Mission provided concrete examples of damages to third parties as a result of the economic, commercial and financial blockade applied and intensified by the last 11 administrations in the White House.
Between April 2016 and March 2017, Cuba registered damages, especially by virtue of that extraterritorial nature, in around 100 foreign banks, which means that with respect to those registered a year earlier, 40 more institutions gave in to Washington harassment, it highlighted.
Regarding the specific cases, it mentioned the closure of Cuban bank accounts in four banks (two European and two Latin American banks), the cancellation of SWIFT messaging RMA keys to 14 entities (11 from Europe, two from Latin America and one from Oceania) and the retention of funds in five banks (three in Europe, one in North America and one in Asia).
It also cited the refusal to provide banking services to 19 entities (11 in Europe, 3 in Latin America, 3 in Asia and 2 in North America) and the refusal to process and/or notify letters of credit to 36 institutions (6 in Europe and 30 in Asia).
In another statement, the island’s diplomatic headquarters at the UN condemned the impact of the US blockade on its international cooperation programs, which benefit dozens of developing countries, just in the context of boosting compliance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Central Cuban Medical Collaboration Unit has experienced problems with the Financial Banks in Djibouti and Uganda in the transfer process for payment for health services, it stressed.
It also reported that in March 2017, the Embassy of Cuba in Italy reported that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had faced difficulties in acquiring computers for a project for food security, which includes technologies of Google Earth.
It is expected that on November 1, the General Assembly will to adopt a new resolution urging the United States to lift its siege on the island, an initiative similar to that backed up here year after year since 1992.
Last year, the resolution presented by Cuba received the vote in favor of 191 of the 193 member countries of the UN, while the United States and Israel abstained.
