IN hampering Cuba’s economic, commercial and financial relations, the Donald Trump-led administration is weighing what could become the most serious tightening of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba in more than two decades.

According to Ambassador of Cuba to Guyana, Narciso Reinaldo Armador Socorro, on January 16, 2019, the United States State Department announced the decision to suspend for only 45 days, the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

President Donald Trump, he said, is threatening to take a new step that would dangerously reinforce the blockade against Cuba, flagrantly violating international law, and directly attacking the sovereignty and interests of countries.

“Cuba rejects this threat in the most energetic, firm and categorical way. It regards it as a hostile act of extreme arrogance and irresponsibility, while condemning the disrespectful and slanderous language of the State Department’s public message,” the Cuban envoy noted.

Adding that the Helms-Burton Act came into force in 1996, the Cuban envoy explained that it was devised to codify and tighten the economic, commercial and financial blockade policy, officially imposed in 1962, with the aim of subverting and overthrowing the Cuban government, and imposing a regime to the liking of the United States government.

Further, Ambassador Armador Socorro said it has been almost unanimously rejected by the international community in the United Nations.

Under the provisions of the Helms-Burton Act itself, the envoy said all U.S. Presidents since 1996, including Trump in 2017 and 2018, have made consecutive use of executive power to suspend the application of Title III every six months.

“They recognised that it consists of the grossest and most unacceptable aspect of this law, contrary to international law and the sovereignty of other States. Also understanding that its application would pose insurmountable obstacles for any prospect of settling claims and compensation for legitimate U.S. owners,” he explained.

Meanwhile, President of the Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM), Halim
Khan, said the decision that the United States Government threatens to adopt would be contrary to what is established in international law and the practice of international relations.

He explained that foreign individuals and entities with legitimate businesses in Cuba may face the threat of unfounded and illegitimate claims before courts of the United States.

“The politically-motivated and venal behaviour of certain courts in Florida, frequently used as a weapon against Cuba, is well known,” he noted. “If they take this decision they will be moving from a policy of limiting U.S. engagement with Cuba to a policy of very actively trying to disrupt the Cuban economy,” Khan said.

Khan said that the majority of the United States public consistently opposes the economic blockade, as recognised by the most respected surveys.