New York, 12 September 2019. The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed against Cuba by the government of the United States is based on a series of laws and regulations, whose validity and strict compliance have been maintained throughout six decades.
Several U.S. government agencies, including the Department of the Treasury and Commerce and in particular the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), are responsible for enforcing the following regulations:
- Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 (TWEA)
- Foreign Assistance Act (1961): this authorized the President of the United States to establish and maintain a total "embargo" on trade with Cuba and it prohibited granting any kind of aid to the Cuban government.
- Presidential Proclamation 3447: it was issued on 3 February 1962 by President John F. Kennedy; it decreed a total "embargo" on all trade between the U.S. and Cuba, in compliance with section 620(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act.
- Cuban Assets Control Regulations of the Department of the Treasury (1963): they stipulated the freezing of all Cuban assets in the U.S.; the prohibition of all financial and commercial transactions unless approved by a permit; the prohibition of Cuban exports to the U.S.; the prohibition, for any natural or juridical person from the United States or third countries, to carry out transactions in U.S. dollars in Cuba; among others.
- Export Administration Act (1979)
- Export Administration Regulations (EAR, 1979)
- Cuban Democracy Act or the Torricelli Act (1992): it prohibits subsidiaries of U.S. companies in third countries from trading goods with Cuba or with Cuban nationals. It also prohibits third country ships that call at ports in Cuba, from entering U.S. territory within a term of 180 days, except those having a Secretary of the Treasury permit.
- Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act or Helms-Burton Act (1996): it codified blockade provisions, broadening its extraterritorial scope by the imposition of sanctions on executives of foreign companies who make transactions with nationalized American properties in Cuba and the threat of lawsuits in U.S. courts.
- Section 211 of the Supplementary and Emergency Allocations Act for the 1999 Fiscal Year: it prohibits recognition by U.S. courts of the rights of Cuban companies on trademarks associated with nationalized properties.
- Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (2000): This authorized the export of agricultural products to Cuba, conditioned by payment in cash and in advance and without U.S. funding. It prohibited U.S. tourist from traveling to Cuba, defining "tourist activity" as any activity related to traveling to, from or inside Cuba that had not been expressly authorized in Section 515.560 of Title 31 of the Federal Regulations Code. In other words, it limited travel to the 12 categories authorized at the time the aforementioned legislation was passed.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations