ADDRESSING the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday September 21, President Joe Biden announced a new direction in US foreign policy.
“Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future,” he said.
Eight months into his presidency there is no sign that he wants to end a war of the past when it comes to US policy on Cuba.
During his presidential campaign, Biden promised to “promptly reverse the failed Trump policies that have inflicted harm on the Cuban people.”
It is profoundly disappointing that he has not delivered on any of these pledges.
Conversely, he has maintained and introduced his own additional sanctions — actions that are indefensible during the current health pandemic.
In recent months the shortages in food, medicine and fuel in Cuba have reached critical levels and I am very aware of the difficulties and suffering this has caused on the island.
Like many countries across the globe, the current international health crisis has put immense pressure on Cuba’s health service which has suffered the additional strain of not being able to access basic medicines and equipment due to the blockade.
Fifty of the 243 extra sanctions imposed by the Trump administration were implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In May, Oxfam, the international development charity, released a report calling for the blockade to end.
It said: “For over a year, these sanctions have represented a real obstacle to the procurement of mechanical ventilators, face masks, diagnostic kits, reagents, vaccination syringes, and other necessary materials to address Covid-19.”
So the impact of the US blockade is as severe as at any time during its 60-year history. This is why I and many of my parliamentary colleagues have been calling for action for months.
In February, I tabled and signed, along with 57 other MPs, early day motion 1550.
This EDM called for the British government to improve trade relations and for the Biden administration remove the island from the “state sponsors of terrorism list,” and normalise relations to support the Cuban people in this difficult time.
At a minimum the Biden administration could have reversed those Trump sanctions which prevent Cubans living abroad from helping family on the island by sending home remittances.
But none of these things have been done despite a growing food crisis and shortages in Cuba as a direct result of US actions.
US policy towards Cuba is driven too much by the politics of confrontation and personal interests from those in Florida when it would be better driven by compassion and co-operation.
Our own experience in this country is that co-operation and dialogue between Britain and Cuba has opened the door to constructive relations which have been beneficial to both parties, especially during the current global pandemic.
In April 2020, Cuba provided safe docking for a Covid-19 stricken British cruise ship, the MS Braemar, and in August 2020 Cuban doctors provided medical support against the virus in British overseas territories, one of the 57 Cuban medical brigades working in 40 countries in the fight against Covid-19.
For its own part, Britain has helped with training and provided scholarships for Cuban students to study here.
I am glad that Britain and Cuba have relatively positive relations and exchanges which are beneficial to both countries and people, however there is a lot more that the British government could do to challenge blockade policy towards the island.
Earlier this month, my colleague, Zarah Sultana MP asked the Foreign Secretary if they had done anything recently to encourage the US administration to end the blockade of Cuba.
She received a response from the Foreign Office saying that Britain votes against the blockade at the United Nations general assembly; considered the US unilateral secondary sanctions, such as the activation of Titles III and IV of the Helms Burton Act, to be contrary to international law; and regularly engaged with US officials on the matter, including most recently raising it with the US State Department on August 11.
We should not just be “raising it” with the US State Department. We should be putting pressure on the US government to stop threatening foreign banks and companies from working with Cuba.
The British government should implement antidote legislation which aims to deter businesses from adhering to US blockade legislation.
It is criminal that the blockade remains and has been tightened during a global health crisis, and this vindictive US policy is undoubtedly costing lives in Cuba.
So in many ways it is not surprising, given the severe shortages and hardships experienced in Cuba in recent months, that there has been unrest on the island.
However, it is extremely worrying that there are people in the US, including several Florida-based politicians who are seek to exploit this as justification for US intervention.
The calls for a “humanitarian corridor” — which we know is a euphemism for military intervention — come from the same people in Florida who have enthusiastically supported the blockade being tightened under Donald Trump.
They are politicising a humanitarian crisis to reinforce US policies of hostility and isolation which do nothing to help the people of Cuba.
I am pleased that the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, of which I am a member, has condemned any attempts by the US government or others to use the current difficulties in Cuba to call for foreign intervention.
I welcome genuine efforts to support and deliver aid to the Cuban people at this time. I also applaud the efforts of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign including their members and trade union affiliates in Britain who have raised more than £100,000 to by medicines and syringes to help treat Covid patients and deliver the vaccination programme in Cuba.
If the US government is serious about wanting to help the Cuban people, then the best action it could take would be to reverse the Trump era sanctions and end its blockade of the island today.
Such a move would give immediate relief to millions on the island and allow the Cuban people themselves to overcome their current difficulties.
Article published by the Morning Star: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/vindictive-us-policy-costing-l…
