Por Jorge V. Jaime *
Havana (Prensa Latina) The legislative and institutional aggressions of the United States against Cuba actually increased in the course of 2011, despite the relative flexibilities of the blockade decreed by U.S. President Barack Obama at the beginning of the year.
The attacks and attempts to thwart the projects of firms belonging to the government and Cubans were led mainly by congress people linked to the Cuban-American extreme right wing, mainly in the cities of Miami and New Jersey.
In general, Washington's historic hostile behavior against Cuba was maintained without significant changes, although, for the twentieth consecutive year, the United Nations General Assembly in October again condemned the blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba half a century ago.
In the presence of Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, the world forum voted in favor of another resolution on "the Necessity to End the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade," with only two votes against and 186 in favor.
Nevertheless, two days after the historic vote in New York, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, openly asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to take more forceful actions against the government of Havana.
During a congressional hearing, the ultraconservative Lehtinen criticized Clinton because of what she called Washington´s "double standard," for using force to remove leaders like Muammar Gadaffi, while it abstains from similar actions against Cuba.
Lehthinen's provocative statements were added to others throughout the year with the same tone, spread by congress people from the group of politicians considered as anti-Cuban reactionaries: Marco Rubio, Mario Díaz-Balart, Bob Menendez, David Rivera, Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, among others.
In that same sense, Congressman Diaz-Balart, from the Republican Party of Florida, argued that U.S. President Barack Obama's policy on Cuba has been counter-productive, since the Cuban government has interpreted it as a sign of weakness.
"Obama´s concessions have been seen as a sign of weakness by the White House and are another demonstration of how wrong the U.S. administration's policies regarding Havana really are," said the congressman of Cuban origin.
In January 2011, by virtue of a resolution by the U.S. President, some regulations related to Washington´s blockade against Cuba were relaxed, but important restrictions against Cuba remained in force.
The minor changes signed by the White House only allow trips for academic, religious, cultural or sports events that comply with certain regulations, and especially with a policy Obama has called "promotion of person-to-person contact."
The U.S. Department of Treasury warned that the flexibilization of educational and cultural trips by U.S. citizens cannot be interpreted as the promotion of tourism to Cuba.
The Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) decided to clear up what it called "mistaken interpretations appearing in some media," which had talked about an alledged broad opening of trips to Cuba.
Indeed, this very month, the OFAC and the Department of Treasury sanctioned another foreign bank for trading with Cuba in the context of the economic blockade maintained by the U.S. government for more than 50 years, despite international protests against this extra-territorial measure.
The OFAC reported that a New York branch of the German Commerzbank was fined 175,000 dollars, for carrying out transactions violating the U.S.-imposed financial blockade against Cuba.
Before Commerzbank, in this same year, JP Morgan Chase had to pay a fine of 88.3 million dollars for alledged transgressions against the regulations of the White House for dealings with Cuba.
Also, the U.S. branch of CMA-CGM, the world´s third biggest shipping company, was fined 374,400 dollars for transporting goods from Cuba.
In tune with Ros-Lehtinen´s incitements against Cuba, another congressman from the ultra-right wing, David Rivera, orchestrated attempts to revoke the relaxation of the restrictions on trips to the Caribbean island.
Rivera, a Republican from south Florida, presented an amendment that was approved by 36 votes in favor and 6 against in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
This proposal was very similar to the one presented by Diaz-Balart, which was added to a Department of Treasury bill and was certified by a committee of the U.S. Senate.
Both Rivera´s and Diaz-Balart´s amendments would restore the drastic prohibitions to travel to Cuba that were in force during the George W. Bush administration.
While the U.S. government increases its hostility towards Cuba, U.S. non-governmental organizations are sponsoring initiatives in favor of the Cuban people, and are denouncing the absurd laws ratified by different U.S. administrations.
A recent example of this was the Conference of Washington. This forum, convened against the U.S. government´s inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries fostering terrorism, was a success and gathered renowned academics in defense of Cuba.
"It was very important that academic and civil society sectors with certain voice and influence in the U.S. political system declared the unfairness of the measure," commented Carlos Alzugaray, a professor at the University of Havana.
In a telephone conversation with Prensa Latina from the venue of the event, this political scientist and an expert in the United States, said that the seminar allowed establishing dialogue emphasizing that subject in the very center of power of the country.
"We agreed that there is no reason to maintain Cuba on that list, which in fact is arbitrary, because the first thing we should discuss is Washington's right to create a registry of alleged terrorist states," emphasized Alzugaray. The United States included Cuba in the controversial list in 1982, at the request of then Secretary of State Alexander Haig and by a resolution certified by then President Ronald Reagan.
The NGOs Latin America Working Group and the Center for International Policy sponsored the pro-Cuban meeting at the National Press Club, in Washington D.C.
Among the distinguished lecturers were the university professor Arturo Lopez-Levy, of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in the University of Denver; Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomatic representative in Cuba, and Sarah Stephens, from the Center for Democracy, among others.
The Washington-imposed blockade of Cuba has caused direct economic damage estimated at almost 975 billion dollars and, according to some experts, the amount would be higher if the calculation were made taking into account the inflation of U.S. retail prices.
Cuba reasserted this year its traditional position to maintain respectful dialogue with the government of the United States.
Such dialogue must be developed on the basis of fairness, equality and reciprocity," said the director of the North America Department at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal.
Obama has the historic opportunity to change relations with Cuba. There is an international demand for the White House to make that decision, turn the page and change this relationship of 50 years that does not respond to the interests of the U.S. or Cuban people, said the Cuban official.
* Head of the North American Desk at Prensa Latina.
Modificado el (domingo, 18 de diciembre de 2011)
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