By : Ing. Yayah A. B. Conteh.
For several decades now Cuba has been subject to a comprehensive US embargo.
The longest embargo in modern history has been the US economic blockade against Cuba, which has deeply affected every facet of life on the Caribbean Island. It has been described as“vast, cruel and immoral” at a UN General Assembly in New York. This is due to the fact that it has damaged Cuba’s economy, hindered its development, and isolated the country from the global community.
It was in 1958 that the US first imposed this embargo on arms sales to Cuba. It was extended in 1962 to include almost all exports.
At a later date in time, it was broadened by former US President Donald Trump, who established in place more than 240 more sanctions, including banning all commercial flights from the US to Cuban destinations except for the capital city Havana, and limiting remittances Cuban Americans send to their families back home.
Although the current Biden administration on assuming the reigns of governance, allowed airlines to resume flights to other Cuban cities other than Havana, yet the web of sanctions against this small Caribbean country still remains largely in place.
The US blockade is inhumane, ruthless and unilateral, and prevents Cuba’s private sector from getting access to foreign markets, thus limiting the country’s access to food, medicine and technology.
In a desperate attempt to bring about the economic collapse of the Cuban nation, the US continues to aggressively pursue all sources of foreign exchange coming into the country. It continues to reinforce pressure on banking institutions, companies and other governments across the length and breadth of the world that are interested in establishing relations with Cuba to cease forthwith.
What has even made the lives of the Cuban people harder in recent years is not only the impact of the staggering global economy but the increasingly tightened US sanctions combined with the COVID-19 pandemic on the country as a whole.
It appears as if the main aim of the US is to “starve” the island of Cuba by way of imposing an infamous blockade that has spanned for more than six decades.
Notwithstanding, however, the bulk of humanity firmly oppose the criminal US blockade against Cuba which is largely designed to suffocate the Cuban people.
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Cuba recently criticized successive US governments for being in favour and supporting “the policy of abuse against Cuba and its people, which is rejected by almost all members of the international community”. He spelt out in no unmistakable terms the dire need of the US government to lift its long decade-long infamous trade embargo against Cuba, which has caused the country losses estimated in billions of dollars.
The message from the Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister comes ahead of the Cuban government’s annual submission to the UN General Assembly of a draft resolution calling for an end to the embargo.
The General Assembly is scheduled to discuss and vote on the draft resolution in early November, 2022.
Even some Latin American President including those of Argentina, Honduras and Bolivia, who have always established an unbroken relationship with Cuba, also called for an end to the US embargo, claiming that it goes against international law and the UN charter.
If the international community is committed to supporting Cubans, then there is no other alternative but one way forward only: end the infamous embargo imposed against the Caribbean island.
Ing. Yayah A. B. Conteh is the Director of the Mechanical Services Department (MSD) of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA).
Tel. no : 076640364 / 077718805.
E-mail: contehyayahab2020@gmail.com.
