Speeches at the UN During Embargo Debate

European Union

  

EU Explanation of Vote on the General Assembly resolution 

"Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" 

23 June 2021 

 

Mr. President,  

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. 

The economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba has a damaging impact on the economic situation of the country and negatively affects the living standards of the Cuban people. External trade and foreign investment can play a crucial role in setting the country on a path towards modernisation, reforms and sustainable growth, and help it overcome the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU considers therefore that lifting the embargo could facilitate the opening of the Cuban economy to the benefit of the Cuban people. 

We acknowledge that the human rights situation in Cuba remains worrying, in particular as regards civil and political rights. We are concerned about that. We therefore reiterate our call on the Cuban Government to fully grant its citizens internationally recognised civil, political and economic rights and freedoms, including freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and free access to information, to ratify the UN Covenant for Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and to extend a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures to visit Cuba. We also believe that empowering civil society is essential for the promotion and protection of all human rights, and call upon the Cuban Government to open spaces for a constructive and inclusive dialogue, without preconditions, with the whole spectrum of civil society actors on the island. A broad spectrum of civil society, both Cuban and European, should also be involved in the implementation of the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA).  

The EU believes that positive change in Cuba is best brought about by closer engagement at all levels – government, economy, civil society, but also through people-to-people exchanges. We therefore deeply regret the introduction of additional restrictions on US relations with Cuba by the previous US Administration since the last resolution was passed on 7 November 2019. The measures further restricting travel, such as the elimination of the authorisation for travelling to Cuba for professional meetings, conferences and other public performances, curtail even further the possibility for engagement with the Cuban people. The re-designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism by the previous US Administration without presenting any new facts has introduced obstacles to international financial transactions with the island. Moreover, the embargo has restricted Cuba’s ability to import pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other medical supplies needed for the combat against the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Beyond the damaging impact of the embargo on ordinary Cubans, US sanctions and other administrative and judicial measures are also negatively affecting EU economic interests. 

We have firmly and continuously opposed any such measures, due to their extraterritorial application and impact on the European Union, in violation of commonly accepted rules of international trade. We cannot accept that such measures impede our economic and commercial relations with Cuba.  

The EU strongly rejects the US activation of Title III and IV of the Helms-Burton Act in April 2019. This breaches the commitments made by the US in the US-EU agreements of 1997 and 1998. We will draw on all appropriate measures to address the effects of the Helms-Burton Act, including in relation to our WTO rights and through the use of the EU Blocking Statute, which protects against the extraterritorial application of those US sanctions to EU citizens, businesses and NGOs operating in Cuba.  

Mr President, 

For the EU, international cooperation, dialogue and closer - even critical - engagement are the way to go with Cuba. The provisional application of the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) is now in its fourth year. The agreement has put our bilateral relationship on a new and solid legal footing and sets out an agenda of critical engagement with Cuba that will also allow us to support and accompany Cuba on its path of reform and modernisation. 

We are enhancing dialogue and cooperation also on issues on which we still have fundamental differences. To this end, the PDCA has established a human rights dialogue, as a key pillar of our relationship. The third formal meeting of the dialogue was held in February 2021. 

Following the adoption of the country's new Constitution, and to overcome the current economic crisis, we call on Cuba to pursue a comprehensive reform and modernisation agenda, extending economic, judicial and social reforms and implementing them in a manner that will address the key concerns of the Cuban population, as well as meeting the legitimate aspirations of the Cuban people for more opportunities to participate in the shaping of the country's future. 

With the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, the EU offers Cuba a consistent and reliable partnership to support it as it seeks to reform its political and economic model, to pursue sustainable development, and to find common solutions to global challenges, while we continue to promote democracy and respect for human rights vigorously. 

It is our considered view that the US embargo does not contribute to promoting these aims, but impedes their achievement. Against this background, the Member States of the European Union will vote unanimously in favour of the draft resolution. 

ASEAN

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST 

ASIAN NATIONS BY SINGAPORE ON AGENDA ITEM 42: 

“NECESSITY OF ENDING THE ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL AND 

FINANCIAL EMBARGO IMPOSED BY THE UNITED STATES OF 

AMERICA AGAINST CUBA”, 23 JUNE 2021

Mr President, 

1 I have the honour to address the General Assembly on behalf of the 

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to express our support for the 

resolution to end the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by 

the United States of America against the Republic of Cuba. ASEAN aligns itself 

with the statements delivered by Azerbaijan on behalf of the Non-Aligned 

Movement, and by Guinea on behalf of the G77.

2 This is the sixth year that ASEAN is making a statement at the General 

Assembly calling for the lifting of the United States’ embargo against Cuba as 

soon as possible. ASEAN reaffirms our support for this resolution, which has 

been consistently adopted by an overwhelming majority since it was first tabled 

in 1992. 

3 ASEAN is firmly committed to the principles enshrined in the Charter 

of the United Nations, and which underpin the multilateral rules-based order. We 

firmly believe that differences between states should be resolved through 

engagement and inclusion, not confrontation and isolation. We also believe 

strongly that differences between states should be resolved on the basis of the 

fundamental principles of sovereign equality, non-interference and nonintervention. ASEAN does not support the imposition of unilateral economic, 

commercial and financial measures on other countries.

4 Six years have passed since the restoration of diplomatic relations 

between the United States and Cuba in 2015. This was an important step towards 

the normalisation of relations between these two countries, and remains key to 

building better regional relations in the Americas. But as noted in the latest report 

of the Secretary-General, the economic, commercial and financial embargo 

continues to affect many sectors of Cuba’s society, including limiting Cuba’s 

ability to procure preparedness and response materials for the COVID-19 

pandemic in a timely and cost-effective manner. ASEAN continues to believe 

that ending the United States’ economic, commercial and financial embargo on 

Cuba will contribute significantly to improving the quality of life and living 

standards of the Cuban people, and to the economic and social development of Cuba. It would also advance this Assembly’s efforts towards achieving an 

inclusive 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

5 ASEAN encourages the United States and Cuba to renew their 

commitment to an open and constructive dialogue, underpinned by mutual 

respect. Once again, ASEAN joins other members of this Assembly in reiterating 

our support for the lifting of the unilateral economic, commercial and financial 

embargo against Cuba as soon as possible.

6 I thank you, Mr President

         presented by the Ambassador of Singapore

  

CARICOM   Ambassador of Haiti for the Caribbean Community

https://estatements.unmeetings.org/estatements/10.0010/20210623/EkNmQKH3LuGf/ozuWgeLQfkVK_en.pdf

United States

Rodney Hunter
Political Coordinator
New York, New York
June 23, 2021

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, members of the General Assembly.

The United States stands with the Cuban people and seeks to support their pursuit of freedom, prosperity, and a future of greater dignity.

As with other Member States, the United States determines its conduct of economic relationships with other countries in accordance with its national interests. Sanctions are a legitimate way to achieve foreign policy, national security, and other national and international objectives, and the United States is not alone in this view or in this practice.

Sanctions are one set of tools in our broader effort toward Cuba to advance democracy, promote respect for human rights, and help the Cuban people exercise the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We therefore oppose this resolution.

We recognize the challenges the Cuban people face. That is why the United States is a significant supplier of humanitarian goods to the Cuban people and one of Cuba’s principal trading partners. Every year, we authorize billions of dollars worth of exports to Cuba, including food and other agricultural commodities, medicines, medical devices, telecommunications equipment, consumer goods, and other items to support the Cuban people.

Advancing democracy and human rights remain at the core of our policy efforts toward Cuba. We are engaging directly with a large swath of Cuban civil society, empowering the Cuban people to determine their own futures. We are also engaging directly with the Cuban government to denounce abuses and push for reform. The United States stands with all who defend freedom in Cuba.

Cubans, as all people, deserve the right to freedom of expression, assembly, and culture. No government should silence its critics through violations of their human rights. We celebrate the diverse backgrounds and ideas of Cuban artists, entrepreneurs, religious leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, and environmental activists – just a few of the many people in Cuba with a strong voice and a desire to be heard.

The United States opposes this resolution. We encourage this body to support the Cuban people in their quest to determine their own future.

Thank you, Mr. President.

https://usun.usmission.gov/explanation-of-vote-on-a-un-general-assembly-cuba-anti-embargo-resolution/

Cuba  

English    http  s://groups.io/g/cubanews/topic/83786397

Spanish  https://estatements.unmeetings.org/estatements/10.0010/20210623/EkNmQKH3LuGf/5mt4zFtpNIaV_es.pdf

Others can be read here

https://journal.un.org/en/meeting/officials/6ac287c1-34c4-eb11-911f-0050569e8b67/2021-06-23

Articles About the UN Vote on the Embargo June 23, 2021

 

Why Cubans see Biden as no "different from Trump"

BY PORTIA SIEGELBAUM

JUNE 24, 2021 / 10:45 AM / CBS NEWS

      

Havana — Cuban's don't wake up or go to bed with the words "U.S. economic, commercial and financial embargo" on the tips of their tongues. But if there is a thought lingering in the back of many minds here, just one word — "blockade" — probably covers it. It frequently rolls off tongues as people discuss their daily hardships.

Many Cubans watched on Wednesday as the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution condemning the United States' six-decade embargo on their island. They were most interested to see whether the U.S. would abstain from the vote, as the Obama administration did in 2016, or vote "No" again, as it did under former President Trump.

In the end, the U.S. delegation voted "No," joined only by Israel. 184 nations voted in favor of the resolution condemning the embargo. The same resolution has passed easily every year since it first came up in 1992.

Dr. Dunia Castillo Gonzalez, a hematologist at Havana's Institute of Hematology and Immunology, told CBS News that she was happy the resolution had passed, "but with the desire that they get rid of it [embargo] for real."

Like others, Castillo Gonzalez is disappointed that President Biden hasn't lifted the flurry of additional sanctions imposed by Mr. Trump on Cuba right before he left office.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made Cuba's medical professionals, and people seeking protection from or treatment for the virus, hyper-aware of the negative impact of the blockade.

In a Facebook post, Foreign Ministry official Johanna Tablada pointed out that in 2020, two long-time German providers of laboratory and other medical supplies, Sartorious and Merck, both stopped selling to the island — for fear, she said, of the sanctions the U.S. was applying internationally. This, she said, prevented Cuba from obtaining purification equipment needed as it worked to develop its COVID vaccines.

The country managed without the supplies from Germany, and it is now giving doses of two domestically produced vaccines that have shown good efficacy.

"Cuba maintains and will maintain its achievements despite the many shortages and need of our people provoked by the blockade," said Dr. Osvaldo Mendez Diaz of Havana's Tropical Medicine Institute, IPK, which treated the first COVID-19 cases in the country in March 2020.

He told CBS News that he was encouraged by the public health intervention in Havana, using the Cuban Abdala vaccine, which reduced by nearly 50% the number of confirmed cases in the capital in May, and has continued to drive a significant drop in new cases in more recent weeks.

"In addition to the victory [with the U.N. vote], Cuba is happy that it has achieved effective vaccines against COVID-19 amidst the toughening of the blockade," said the frontline doctor, barely identifiable through all of his PPE.

However, like most Cubans, Mendez Diaz believes the blockade is holding back the country's progress, and that more lives could have been saved, and could be saved going forward, if the U.S. embargo wasn't cutting off Cuba's access to some supplies.

In a statement explaining the vote against the U.N. resolution on Wednesday, American diplomat Rodney Hunter told the gathered body that U.S. "stands with the Cuban people and seeks to support their pursuit of freedom, prosperity, and a future of greater dignity," but he called the ongoing sanctions "a legitimate way to achieve foreign policy, national security, and other national and international objectives."

Hunter said the U.S. recognized "the challenges the Cuban people face," adding: "Every year, we authorize billions of dollars worth of exports to Cuba, including food and other agricultural commodities, medicines, medical devices, telecommunications equipment, consumer goods, and other items to support the Cuban people."

Dr. Niobys Sanchez, an OBGYN at the Gonzalez Coro Obstetrics Hospital in Havana, said she was happy with the U.N. vote, "especially in the current conditions, with the shortages of medical resources. Hopefully at some point the demands of so many countries will be heard and not ignored." 

"Everything's difficult," said journalist and first-time mother Laura Prado. "It's a chain of limitations. It's difficult to obtain some medicines that were previously produced here — vitamins for my 4-month-old baby, [and] for me."

Referring to the U.S. sanctions, which have also blocked shipments of Venezuelan petroleum to Cuba, she noted that just as her son is beginning to start on solid foods, "root vegetables don't get to market because there is no fuel. How do you explain that to a baby?"

Prado wasn't surprised by the level of support for Cuba from the international community. But she, too, expressed disappointment in President Biden, and noted the difference with the Obama administration's moves to repair bilateral ties.

"Biden hasn't shown himself to be any different from Trump," she said. "What's needed is action and deeds."

First published on June 24, 2021 / 10:45 AM

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-embargo-on-cuba-un-vote-cubans-say-biden-no-different-trump/

US again votes against United Nations resolution to drop economic embargo against Cuba

 

Justin Vallejo

Cuba slammed Joe Biden for breaking an election promise to improve relations between the two countries after the US voted against a United Nations resolution to end the blockade of the island.

The Biden administration voted against the UN General Assembly’s annual resolution to end the economic embargo despite the president’s campaign commitment to lift current restrictions on remittances and travel.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the UN in New York on Wednesday that Mr Biden’s "pernicious passivity" was due to the Democrat’s electoral ambitions in Florida.

"The electoral platform for the Democratic party around the election promised voters that it would rapidly reverse actions taken by the government of Donald Trump, and in particular that it would eliminate restrictions on travel to Cuba, remittances and the fulfilment of bilateral migratory agreements, including restrictions to the issuance of visas," Mr Rodriguez said.

"What will those that who voted for president Joseph Biden think of what is happening. Mr President, the human damage caused by the blockade is incalculable. No Cuban family has escaped the effects of this inhumane policy."

The Trump administration added more than 200 sanctions against the Communist-run government, with the State Department designating the country a state sponsor of terrorism just days before the former president left office.

Asked in March about the new administration’s position toward the country, press secretary Jen Psaki said it was carefully reviewing policy decisions made by their predecessors.“A Cuba policy shift is not currently among President Biden’s top priorities,” Ms Psaki told reporters

It came after a group of 80 Democrats from the House of Representatives wrote Mr Biden to lift Mr Trump’s "cruel sanctions’ and revert to the position of former president Barack Obama

“With the stroke of a pen, you can assist struggling Cuban families and promote a more constructive approach,” the letter said.

Despite pressure from within his own party, the US voted against the UN resolutions to lift the embargo for the 28^th time – with the one exception in 2016 when Washington abstained under Obama.

The US’s diplomat at the UN on Wednesday, Rodney Hunter, told the General Assembly that sanctions against Cuba were a "legitimate tool" in achieving its foreign policy objectives and to support the Cuban people.

"Sanctions are one set of tools in our broader effort toward Cuba, to advance democracy, to promote respect for Human rights, and help the Cuban people exercise the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights," he said.

"The United States opposes this resolution. We encourage this body to support the Cuban people in their quest to determine their own future," he added.

While the UN resolution passed with 184 votes versus two against (including Israel), it carries no binding consequence at lifting the embargo, which can only be done by the US Congress.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/us-again-votes-against-united-nations-resolution-to-drop-economic-embargo-against-cuba/ar-AALmGSb

 

 

U.S. Opposes U.N. Resolution on Cuba Embargo, Signaling Biden Caution

It was the 29th year that the U.N General Assembly had approved the resolution, an annual event used by critics of the United States to vent their anger over the Cold War embargo.

 

By Rick Gladstone

June 23, 2021, 4:45 p.m. ET

For the 29th year, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn the Cold War-era American embargo on Cuba, with many diplomats exhorting the Biden administration to resume the reconciliation that was upended by former President Donald J. Trump.

In what was seen as a litmus test of President Biden’s willingness to quickly reverse his predecessor’s tough stance toward Cuba, the United States opposed the resolution. During the last year of the Obama administration, when Mr. Biden was vice president, the United States abstained on the resolution for the first time.

The Biden administration’s no vote appeared to signal, at least for now, that it would move cautiously to undo Mr. Trump’s policy on Cuba, which remains a politically contentious issue in the United States, particularly in Florida, home to many Cubans who fled Fidel Castro and his successors.

The resolution denouncing the six-decade embargo is symbolic only, having no practical effect. But the vote, held since 1992, amounts to a tradition for critics of American policy to vent their anger and express solidarity with Cuba at the United Nations.

In the run-up to the vote on Wednesday, speaker after speaker representing blocs of countries that form the overwhelming majority in the 193-member General Assembly denounced the embargo as a cruel legacy of the Cold War and a humanitarian and financial disaster, reinforcing the isolation the United States has faced on this issue.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez of Cuba, who attended the General Assembly vote, said the United States under the Trump administration had used the coronavirus pandemic “as an ally” in its repression of the country, which he called “a cunning blow.”

Antonio Rodrigue, the ambassador from Haiti, representing a bloc of Caribbean countries, told the assembly that ending the embargo “would improve the prospects for peace, cooperation and development in the region.” Representatives from countries ranging from Azerbaijan to Vietnam expressed similar views.

Ambassador Vasily A. Nebenzia of Russia used the forum to criticize the American use of economic pressure, denouncing what he called “the sanctions war that Washington has unleashed.”

Rejecting the criticism before the vote, Rodney Hunter, the political coordinator at the United States Mission to the United Nations, told other delegates that his country supported the Cuban people and was a significant supplier of aid despite the trade restrictions.

“Sanctions are one set of tools in our broader effort toward Cuba to advance democracy, promote respect for human rights, and help the Cuban people exercise the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Mr. Hunter said.

The General Assembly’s previous vote, in November 2019, was 187 to 3, with the United States joined by Israel and Brazil in voting no, and the remainder abstaining or not voting. The vote held in the assembly’s current session, which began in September 2020, had been postponed because of the pandemic.

The final vote was 184 to 2 — with the United States and Israel opposed, three abstentions and four countries not voting.

The United States always had voted no against the resolution until 2016, when it abstained in a signal of the Obama administration’s move to fully repair U.S. relations with Cuba after more than a half-century of estrangement.

Mr. Trump sought to reverse that direction after he took office, and the United States resumed voting against the resolution during his term. He went much further, adding sanctions on Cuba and — in his final weeks in office — putting the country back on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The embargo can only be rescinded by Congress.

While a full termination of the embargo seems highly unlikely any time soon, Mr. Biden is still expected to gradually move away from Mr. Trump’s stance on Cuba.

Mr. Trump’s hard-line approach to Cuba’s communist leadership led to an array of restrictions on tourism, visas, remittances, investments and commerce, which have worsened an already poor economy. The pandemic compounded the problems, in large part by bringing tourism, a major source of foreign currency, to a grinding halt.

Cuba has sought to combat the virus crisis largely on its own, with some noticeable measures of success. The Cuban health authorities said on Monday that their country’s three-shot Abdala vaccine against the coronavirus had shown a high rate of success in late-stage clinical trials.

Rick Gladstone is an editor and writer on the International Desk, based in New York. He has worked at The Times since 1997, starting as an editor in the Business section. @rickgladstone

A version of this article appears in print on June 24, 2021, Section A, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: In U.N. Vote On Embargo, U.S. Refuses To Back Off . 

U.S. Abstains in U.N. Vote Condemning Cuba Embargo

Oct. 26, 2016

 

Cuba, Though Angered by Terror Designation, Is Looking Past Trump

Jan. 12, 2021

 

Trump Administration Defends Cuba Embargo at U.N., Reversing Obama

Nov. 1, 2017

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/world/americas/un-resolution-cuba-embargo.html

 

 

US votes against UN resolution condemning US embargo on Cuba

By Edith M. Lederer | AP

June 23, 2021 at 3:28 p.m. EDT

UNITED NATIONS — The United States voted against a U.N. resolution Wednesday that overwhelmingly condemned the American economic embargo of Cuba for the 29th year, maintaining the Trump administration’s opposition and refusing to return to the Obama administration’s 2016 abstention.

The vote in the 193-member General Assembly was 184 countries supporting the condemnation, the United States and Israel opposing it, and Brazil, Colombia and Ukraine abstaining. Four countries did not vote -- Central African Republic, Myanmar, Moldova and Somalia.

Before the vote, the U.S. Mission’s political coordinator, Rodney Hunter, told the assembly that the Biden administration voted “no” because the United States believes sanctions are key to advancing democracy and human rights which “remain at the core of our policy efforts toward Cuba.”

“Sanctions are a legitimate way to achieve foreign policy, national security, and other national and international objectives,” Hunter said, “and are one set of tools in our broader effort toward Cuba to advance democracy, promote respect for human rights, and help the Cuban people exercise the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

“We therefore oppose this resolution,” he said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the Biden administration of following Trump administration policies that tightened economic, commercial and financial sanctions and restricted travel by U.S. citizens in a blow to its tourism sector, which caused the country record losses estimated at around $5 billion.

“All these measures remain in force today and are being fully implemented,” he said. “And paradoxically, they are shaping up the behavior of the current U.S. administration particularly during the months when Cuba has experienced the highest COVID-19 infection rate, the highest number of fatalities and a much worse economic impact.”

Rodriguez said the restrictions remain despite the Democratic Party platform that “promised voters to swiftly reverse the actions taken by the administration of Donald Trump, particularly the elimination of restrictions on travel to Cuba, financial remittances and the implementation of the bilateral migration accords, including the granting of visas.”

He said “a large majority” of Americans support lifting the embargo, restoring freedom to travel and establishing normal relations.

“There are some who put the blame of this pernicious inertia on the electoral ambitions associated to Florida or the balances, in no way transparent, of the political and legislative elites,” Rodriguez said.

The General Assembly’s last vote in November 2019, during its 74th session, was 187-3 with the U.S., Israel and Brazil voting “no,” and Colombia and Ukraine abstaining. The assembly’s 75th session began in September 2020, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the vote on the Cuba resolution was postponed from last fall to Wednesday.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding and are unenforceable, but they reflect world opinion and the vote has given Cuba an annual stage to demonstrate the isolation of the U.S. on the embargo.

It was imposed in 1960 following the revolution led by Fidel Castro and the nationalization of properties belonging to U.S. citizens and corporations. Two years later it was strengthened.

Former Cuban President Raul Castro and then-President Barack Obama officially restored relations in July 2016, and that year the U.S. abstained on the resolution calling for an end to the embargo for the first time. But Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, sharply criticized Cuba’s human rights record, and in 2017 the U.S. again voted against the resolution.

Hunter, the U.S. diplomat, said the United States recognizes “the challenges the Cuban people face.”

“That is why the United States is a significant supplier of humanitarian goods to Cuba and one of Cuban’s principal trading partners,” he said. “Every year we authorize billions of dollars worth of exports to Cuba, including food and other agricultural commodities, medicines, medical devices, telecommunications equipment, consumer goods, and other items to support the Cuban people.”

Cuba’s Rodriguez sharply disagreed. He said the damage to Cubans from the embargo is “incalculable” and accused the United States of “a massive, flagrant and systematic violation” of their human rights, arguing that under the 1948 Geneva Convention this qualifies “as an act of genocide.”

In the health area, the foreign minister said, “there’s a lingering impossibility to access equipment, technologies, devices, therapies and the best-suited pharmaceuticals” from U.S. companies. And the embargo, which Cubans call a “blockade,” has deprived the country’s industries of funds and restricted food imports from the U.S. to specific volumes that create shortages, rising prices, and long lines day after day in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

“Cuba demands to be left in peace, to live without a blockade, and calls for an end to the persecution of our commercial and financial relations with the rest of the world,” Rodriguez said. “We call for an end to manipulation, discrimination and the obstacles to relations between Cubans living in the United States and their relatives in Cuba and the country where they were born.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-votes-against-un-resolution-condemning-us-embargo-on-cuba/2021/06/23/d9446a86-d448-11eb-b39f-05a2d776b1f4_story.html

Leahy-Blinken Dialog on Vietnam and Cuba

 

Senate Appropriations Committee, June 8, 2023

Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on State Department Fiscal Year 2022 Budget | C-SPAN.org

https://www.c-span.org/video/?512200-1/secretary-state-blinken-testifies-2022-budget#

 

Senator Leahy

I ALSO LOOK AT VIETNAM, WHERE MANY OF US HERE HAVE GONE, I'VE GONE THERE SEVERAL TIMES WITH THE LEAHY WAR VICTIMS' FUND. THE FIRST TIME WITH THE HELP OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH. WE SEE VIETNAM'S ECONOMY GROWING. ITS PEOPLE ARE EAGER TO COMPETE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. BUT THEY'RE A ONE-PARTY STATE. POLITICAL DISSENT IS NOT TOLERATED. WE CAN GO THERE FREELY, SPEND MONEY FREELY, WE DO. WE GIVE AID TO THEM, COOPERATE WITH VIETNAM IN MANY AREAS, RAISE HUMAN RIGHTS WITH THEM. I MENTION THAT BECAUSE CLOSER TO HOME, CUBA IS A ONE PARTY STATE. POLITICAL DISSENT IS NOT TOLERATED. WHY DON'T WE HAVE A SIMILAR RELATIONSHIP WITH CUBA? BECAUSE I SEE IT AS WE ISOLATE THEM. I HAVE TO THINK THAT THE RUSSIANS AND THE CHINESE ARE SAYING, KEEP ISOLATING THEM BECAUSE WE'LL COME IN. WE'LL HELP WITH JOBS. MANY OF US HAVE VISITED YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE STARTING THEIR OWN COMPANIES, SUDDENLY SHUT OFF FROM VISITORS FROM THE U.S. THEY'RE RIGHT ON OUR -- THEY'RE JUST A FEW MILES FROM OUR SHORE. IF WE KEEP EXCLUDEING THEM, WHAT'S GOING TO BE OUR REACTION WHEN CHINA AND RUSSIA SAY, HEY, WE'LL COME IN HERE, WE'LL HELP YOU OUT. WE'LL DO WHAT THE AMERICANS TRIED TO DO TO BEGIN WITH. WHAT WOULD THE REACTION BE TO THAT?

00:30:50

Secretary Blinken

FIRST ON VIETNAM, I COULDN'T AGREE MORE WE SAW A PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION IN THE RELATIONSHIP. I THINK BILATERAL TRADE IS LIKE $90 BILLION, WE HAVE A GROWING SECURITY RELATIONSHIP, COOPERATION IN PUBLIC HEALTH, EDUCATION, THE LEGACIES OF WAR -- I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO THERE SEVERAL TIMES WHEN I WAS DEPUTY SECRETARY. AND, OF COURSE, AS YOU KNOW -- AS MANY OF YOU KNOW, IT'S A PLACE WHERE THE UNITED STATES IS VERY POPULAR. AND WE ARE WORKING TO DEEPEN THAT PARTNERSHIP. THE PRESIDENT'S INTERIM NATIONAL SECURITY GUIDANCE CALLS ON US TO DEEPEN THE RELATIONSHIP AND WORK HAS BEEN DONE ACROSS ADMINISTRATIONS TO DO THAT. WITH REGARD TO CUBA, MR. CHAIRMAN. WE'RE CONDUCTING A VERY THOROUGH REVIEW OF OUR POLICY. AND IN DOING THAT, WE ARE ENGAGING WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES, ALL OF THE DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS, BOTH IN CUBA, OUTSIDE CUBA, WHETHER IT'S ACTIVISTS, JOURNALISTS, NGOs,THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY, WE WANT TO GET AS MUCH INPUT AS WE CAN AS WE ARE LOOKING AT THE POLICY. I THINK WE HAVE A COUPLE OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN MIND. ONE IS TO MAKE SURE WE ARE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO ADVANCE DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM FOR THE CUBAN PEOPLE AND DOING IT IN A WAY THAT EMPOWERS THE CUBAN PEOPLE TO SHAPE THEIR OWN FUTURES AND DESTINIES. WE'RE LOOKING AT THE DIFFERENT POLICY COMPONENTS THAT WOULD GO ALONG WITH THAT. I WELCOME THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO YOU, TO SPEAK TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN THIS AS WE'RE CONDUCTING THE REVIEW, AND YOUR INPUT, YOUR IDEAS ARE VITAL IN THAT.

 

Privatization and Growth of Tourism in Vietnam

 

Tourism & Economic Development in Vietnam (bham.ac.uk)

https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/1783/1/Ng08MPhil.pdf

Tourism development in Vietnam: New strategy for a sustainable pathway

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344416150_Tourism_development_in_Vietnam_New_strategy_for_a_sustainable_pathway

Reimagining tourism: How Vietnam can accelerate travel recovery | McKinsey

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/asia-pacific/reimagining-tourism-how-vietnam-can-accelerate-travel-recovery#

Cuban Government Expands Private Sector But Monopolizes Travel

 

Cuba approves long-sought legal status for private businesses

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By Marc Frank

HAVANA, June 2 (Reuters) - Cuba has approved a reform that includes long-sought legal status for private businesses that began operating decades ago under the title of "self-employed", state-run media reported on Wednesday.

Top officials have said for months they were planning changes to sort out rules for state-run companies and private cooperatives and businesses so they can function on an equal footing in the Communist-run country.

The Council of Ministers agreed the measure at its latest closed-door session, state-run media wrote, without detailing when it would become law.

The reform would include legal status for the private sector's thousands of businesses from eateries and garages to construction and beauty salons and for cooperatives.

"With this decision we are approving how to organize the actors in our economy, which goes much further than the simple recognition of some of them," Communist Party leader and President Miguel Diaz Canel was quoted as stating.

Unlike Communist Party-ruled China and Vietnam, Cuba has been slow to implement market reforms to its Soviet-style command economy.

But the government has picked up the pace in the face of a severe economic crisis and food, medicine and other shortages it blames largely on U.S. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, while admitting failure to reform is also at fault.

Still, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz emphasized the state would remain the dominant economic player, insisting "we are not privatizing the economy", according to the report.

Private farmers and cooperatives have operated for decades in Cuba in agriculture. The "self-employed" sector meanwhile - that includes businesses, their employees, trades people and others such as taxi drivers - has expanded over the past decade to include more than 600,000 workers.

Thousands more work in non-agricultural cooperatives, a new category allowed in 2012. Authorities had suspended issuing new licenses for such cooperatives but under the new reform will start issuing them once more.

All in all, the private sector now makes up around a third of the six million strong labor force.

Oniel Diaz, co-founder of the private businesses consultancy AUGE, said approval signaled a further expansion of the private sector was on its way, but it still could take a while.

"The wait continues," he tweeted.

National travel agencies to have primacy in tourist services in Cuba

Resolution 132/2021, published in the extraordinary Gaceta Oficial 46, indicates that national travel agencies are the only ones authorized to carry out procedures such as the issuance, reception and service of tourists, the representation of foreign tour operators, and the design and marketing of tourist packages.

by  OnCuba Staff

 June 9, 2021

in Tourism in Cuba

The Cuban Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) approved a regulation for the activity of national travel agencies, which gives them primacy in a group of tourist activities and services on the island.

Resolution 132/2021, published in the extraordinary Gaceta Oficial 46, indicates that national travel agencies are the only ones authorized to carry out procedures such as the issuance, reception and service of tourists, the representation of foreign tour operators, and the design and marketing of tourist packages.

 

The regulation establishes that Cuban legal entities or individuals that market services “made up of groups, programs, circuits, excursions or other modalities, must do so through national travel agencies, with the exception of those authorized to do so directly,” according to the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency.

 

The text also indicates that these agencies will be in charge of tourist guide hiring and servicing, the leasing and sale of airline capacities, the procedures for the extension of visas, and the selling of tourist cards.

 

According to the regulation, which will come into effect next month, national travel agencies will also mediate in the sale of reservations and services in all types of accommodation, transportation, insurance policies, and non-hotel services.

 

In the same way, they are the only ones authorized to sell phone cards, postcards, maps, and tourist guides, and they will be in charge of organizing the programs of international events and meetings that take place in Cuba, said the ACN in its report, according to which branches and representations of foreign travel agencies on the island must contract all services through national agencies, except accommodation capacities, which can be done directly.

 

The regulation indicates that to create an agency of this type requires the approval of the MINTUR, which will demand a description of the activity, the draft statutes, and the economic feasibility study, as part of the application.

 

The report, on the other hand, does not specify the nature of these agencies, if only the state agencies are considered or if agencies could be created as a cooperative or by private initiative.

 

So far, a group of activities for the non-state sector related to tourism is authorized, such as the rental of rooms and gastronomic and transportation services, but it is not clear if there will be new openings at least in the near future. This, despite the demands of professional sectors, such as tourist guides, to carry out their work autonomously, and the recent government measures to expand self-employment.

 

https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/economy/tourism-in-cuba/national-travel-agencies-to-have-primacy-in-tourist-services-in-cuba/