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| Sunday, 6 March 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Cuban foreign policy vis -a- vis US blockade : With neighbours like these... Excerpts of a lecture delivered by the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno Fernandez on Cuban Foreign policy, on February 26, at the Cuban Embassy in Colombo.
To understand Cuban foreign policy today, it is essential to understand the tremendous pressure and the tremendous competition Cuba has been facing during the past couple of months. Practically, the main elements of its foreign policy is guided and decided one way or other by the type of relations it has with Europe and with the Government of the United States. And that is not the only concern. Equality rise from the Cuban history, when Cuban independence in the late 19th century was presented by the United States,with the initial constitution authorising the US to intervene in Cuba when considered appropriate. After the success of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the situation has radically changed. We regained our independence and sovereignty as well as the right to self-determination, and those principles have guided our foreign policy since then. The first is a struggle, a continuous struggle against the US economic, commercial and financial blockade, which has been in force for the past 45 years. That blockade is presented by some as an embargo. In fact, it does not imply, exclusively that there are economic, trade and financial relations between Cuba and the United States. The United States is attempting to apply its laws and regulations in an extra-territorial manner. It means that laws and regulations of the United States pertaining to Cuba are not limited to the relations between the two, but also try to create obstacles for Cuban economic relations with the rest of the world. The Torricelli Law and Helmes Burton Law are good examples. According to international law, Cuban subsidiaries abroad cannot have trade with Cuba, for the simple fact, that it is a subsidiary of a US company. Another fact is that vessels carrying merchandise to Cuba have been forbidden from touching US ports for six months, as they had touched its coasts. Another fact, any company that carries out economic, commercial or financial operations with Cuba from abroad is immediately prosecuted by the US embassy in the country of operation. This is a continuous attempt to strangle Cuban economy and as the then US Secretary of State said in 1960, 'the objective is for the Cuban people to surrender by hunger and illness'. And that is what we have been struggling against for the last 45 years, And of course, that is the very important foundation of the present foreign policy. Since 1992, resolutions have been passed in the UN General Assembly emphasising the necessity to put an end to the commercial, economic and financial blockade against Cuba. Last year, for example, before the US Presidential elections, the General Assembly once again adopted that with 179 votes in favour. Some argued like this: `What is the purpose of the resolution passed in the United Nations that does not have the capacity to bind the United States to lift the blockade?' My response is simply, yes. We go by two facts. On the one hand, they demonstrate that the international community as a whole is against the US policy on Cuba, it serves to soften the attitude within the United States on the blockade. Now that has been happening in the US Congress, finding draft laws, draft amendment to laws towards the elimination of the US blockade. This situation has compelled us to once again step up foreign policy action against the United States. Last year, the first Bush administration, created a Commission in order to enforce a chain of action to be carried out by the US government to change the regime in Cuba. The final objective, the final aim and the final purpose of it was the destruction of Cuban Revolution and the change of regime. This Commission's report was adopted by the President of the United States on May 6, 2004, is so inclusive and so interventionist, that it had been rejected not only worldwide, but also within the United States. According to this report, Cubans living in the United States cannot visit their families in Cuba. They could be prosecuted by law, and sentenced to seven years prison, and a fine of not more than $40,000 if they visited their families in Cuba. They are only allowed to visit their families once in every three years. This is an example of the inhumanity of the measures taken against our country and the region, and that is why we have taken steps to counter those measures of the present US administration. Our struggle in the Human Rights Commission is significant. Year after year, the US attempts, directly or through its proxies, to present and adopt draft resolutions in the Commission condemning Cuba for alleged violations of human rights of Cuban people. Many of you have visited Cuba and many of you have lived in Cuba. You might have noticed the reality. The United States emphasises much on imprisoned persons, disappearances and tortures on a daily basis a massive violations of human rights, in this Latin American country. This is an imagination of the United States. Resolutions are passed every year by one or two votes, to pressurise and to blackmail independent countries. For example, last year a Latin American country's credit pending was discussed at the World Bank. They threatened the country that its credit facilities would be blocked by the US delegation if it voted with Cuba. Another Latin American country that has a large number immigrants in the United States was threatened that if it voted with Cuba, the immigrants would be sent back. So, this gives you an idea how these policies and measures are adopted. The Human Rights Commission has Cuba as its main priority. Some may say that what is in a small piece of paper. It is much more than that. It is the piece of paper that allows the government of the United States to place blockade against Cuba, its policy and its regime, on the pretext of its human rights violation. Among other priorities, is the Non-Aligned Movement of which Sri Lanka and Cuba are both founder members. We will hold the 14th Summit of the Movement in Havana in 2006, exactly 30 years after the 5th Summit was held in Colombo and in which I had the honour to participate. The Movement has suffered after the demise of the Cold War, after the softening of so-called East-West relations, after the world became unipolar and unilateral measures against developing countries accompanied by pressures, etc. We have the objectives of trying to revitalise the Movement. The countries of the South need a forum, where they can join hands where they can arrive at common positions in the world scenario. They can reach consensus and objectives in order to reappraise the international relations. We shall not reappraise one by one. This is totally impossible in the present day world. We have to unite. We have the means of uniting within the NAM, following the principles that even before the inception of the Movement, we had enshrined in the Bandung 1955 principles of sovereignty, independence, equality, non-interference in internal affairs, non-use of force in international relations, self-determination and development. All those principles enshrined 50 years ago in Bandung are the basis for the origin of the Non-Aligned Movement which was created after six years and which is totally valid even today and in actions they will remain crucial. The other is our relations with neighbouring countries. One of the main objectives of the US policy against Cuba in early 60s, was to isolate my country from the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean. That policy totally failed and in the 70s, most of those countries, those who had no relations with Cuba on the instructions of the United States and the Organisation of American States at that time, re-established links with us. And now in 2005, only one Latin American and Caribbean country remains without relations with Cuba, that is El-Salvador. We give enormous importance to relations with the countries of the region. In the Caribbean, there is a regional organisation, CARICOM, mainly composed of English speaking Caribbean countries. CARICOM is working now on the full integration of the Caribbean. We are not a member of the CARICOM, but we do participate in some of the political activities of the organisation. We carry out strong meetings with them, for example we will have a meeting in March with Caribbean countries and to provide assistance. We provide doctors. Five hundred and eighty-two Cuban doctors serve in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. In Latin American context, we are now in a new situation. Today, in the region, the international financial institutions and the US have imposed neo-liberal economic policies which had failed totally. A new situation has arisen in Latin America with an independent government in Venezuela, a government with the popular composition in Brazil, an independent government in Argentina, a government which has won in popular elections in Uruguay, a government with a popular leaning in Bolivia and another one with the same characteristics in Paraguay. You see a new situation in Latin America, mainly in South America, as a result of the demise of the neo-liberal policy. Of course, the Central American countries are the bastion of the most backward policies in our region. In general we have a priority of foreign policy to strengthen relations with all countries not only in the region but in all countries in the Third World. We have now have 131 diplomatic offices aborad. This shows the relations Cuba has with other countries. Cuban presence is there even in a small manner. This serves for the cooperation and dialogue with the Third World countries. Cooperation as such is the fundamental element, an essential priority of our foreign policy. We have no financial resources, we have no material resource and we have no national resources, but we do have human resources. It is our wish to serve those countries with our human resources. At present more than 4,000 doctors and others are working abroad. More than 10,000 Latin American and Caribbean students are studying medicines in Cuba. Children of poor families studying in Cuba have only one commitment. That commitment is that to return their motherland and serve the people in the countryside and mountains, without going to Philadelphia or London. We have almost 600 doctors in Haiti, 400 in Honduras and Guatemala each. This is only one of the tremendous fields of cooperation we have with number of countries in the Third World.Exactly 40,372 students from Third World countries have graduated in Cuba in the last 40 years. Some of them are here in Sri Lanka. I think, there is not a single country in the Third World where it is difficult to find people graduated from Cuba. This is our foreign policy of co operation. - MPM |
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