New York, 25 October 2019. There are many examples of the extraterritorial implementation of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, intensified by the decision of the U.S. government, under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, to permit the possibility of taking legal action in U.S. courts against entities that "traffic" in properties nationalized in Cuba in the 1960s. This provision attacks freedom of trade and reinforces the extraterritorial nature of the sanctions against Cuba, besides harming the island's economic and trade relations with the international community.
The Helms-Burton Act, which violates the principles of international law and the free determination of peoples, freedom of trade, sovereign equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, is totally inapplicable in Cuba. Act 80 for the Reaffirmation of Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty, passed by the National Assembly of the People's Power in December 1996, declares the aforementioned U.S. regulation illegal and without any legal value or effect on Cuban national territory.
The following are examples of the extraterritorial nature of this policy:
On 1 June 2018, the Luxembourg branch of the Dutch ING Bank refused to carry out a transaction from the Luxembourg company e-Time Corp. directed to CUBAEXPORT company, as a result of the U.S. blockade against Cuba.
On 12 June 2018, the New Zealand branch of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) sent a letter to the Travel Agency Association of New Zealand (TAANZ), informing that as of that moment on any transaction or dealings related (directly or indirectly) to countries under U.S. sanctions, including Cuba, were prohibited.
On 2 August 2018, the Brazilian branch of the U.S. company FEDEX cancelled its services to the Cuban Embassy and consulates in that country, based on instructions received from its parent company in the U.S. because Cuba is under OFAC sanctions. The same has happened with the accounts of our missions in Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Bahamas.
On 21 August 2018, the Panamanian bank MULTIBANK closed the current account in dollars of the Cubana de Aviación S.A airline in Panama City.
On 2 October 2018, the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk Hotel, in Japan, cancelled a reservation of the Cuban Embassy in that country following instructions of its headquarters in the U.S. and alleged that it could not provide its services due to U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
On 29 November 2018, the private capital Halyk Bank, merged with the KAZKOM Bank in Kazakhstan, sent a letter to the Cuban Embassy in that country after temporarily freezing its accounts, changing numbering without prior notice and charging a high bank commission. The letter stated that the decision was due to the blockade regulations.
In February 2019, MEDICUBA company received several communications from suppliers with whom it had signed agreements, informing that the MULTIBANK of Panama announced the closing of the accounts to Cuba, which generated difficulties for receiving payments and carrying out commercial operations, having to look for other alternatives and supplement the already signed agreements.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations