Blockade analysis outlines ongoing Cuban suffering

Shortly after Cuba was plunged into darkness this month, as its entire electricity system failed, sections of the country were severely impacted by the rains from Hurricane Oscar. These events marked the continued worsening of conditions for a country gasping for air amid a six-decade-old blockade imposed by the United States (US).

The vast majority of the country’s citizens have suffered through the painful conditions over the years, and have felt a tightening of the economic noose around their country’s throat by the US, according to a 2024 blockade report prepared by the Cuban government and shared with The Gleaner.

The document was shared days before Saturday’s report of a police operation in St James that led to the interception of eight Cuban nationals suspected of entering Jamaica illegally.

Law enforcement personnel reportedly apprehended the group near Tamarind Hill in Anchovy, around 7 a.m. The individuals have been placed in police custody on suspicion of illegal entry and the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency has joined the investigation to determine their status.

Speaking with The Gleaner before Saturday’s police operation, Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica Fermín Quiñones Sánchez said, “Cubans are suffering terribly.”

He said the aged electricity system is suffering from a lack of investment, there is no money to procure the equipment needed and, even if the parts were procured, the country does not have the money to secure fuel on a sustained basis to keep it going.

Cash payments

Quiñones Sánchez said last week that Cuba has to make cash payments to transact business as “punitive actions are taken against individuals and countries doing business with Cuba”.

“Electricity is what keeps the economy going. The blackout recently is because the system is old and it’s to the credit of the engineers that they have been repairing it. But the parts are old, and we don’t have the money to buy new parts. And even we did we would have to pay in cash as the United States finds and punishes businesses that do business with Cuba,” Quiñones Sánchez said.

Prior to the full loss of electricity, Cubans were already losing power for as many as 20 hours per day, forcing the abandonment of cold storage in homes. Businesses were also unable to store goods and to deliver services, causing him to describe the “situation as unbearable”.

The lack of electricity, he said, has impacted all sectors of the country’s life.

However, it is the heavy migration of Cubans that is worrying the country’s leadership.

Quiñones Sánchez said people are also leaving the country in large numbers and among them are thousands of young people unable to cope with the vastly deteriorating conditions caused by the more-than-60-year economic blockade.

“ During the last few years, particularly in recent months, the ageing of the Cuban population and the high rate of migration, particularly among the youngest sectors of the society, have become quite noticeable,” the annual blockade report reads in part.

He said the world knows that Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism, but it is still designated so by the US. Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria are the four countries designated by the US as state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba has maintained that the blockade is a crime against humanity.

“ The blockade is a crime against humanity, an act of genocide and a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of the human rights of more than 11 million Cubans. It is a cruel punishment policy. This report provides objective information and valuable data that further substantiate the denunciation of this grave injustice … That cost is being evidenced today in the shortages suffered by Cuban men and women, which include foodstuffs, medicines, fuels, means of transportation; as well as the deterioration of other basic services,” the report read.

The report states that the maintenance of the blockade is “ intended to fragment the Cuban society; pit the private sector against the Revolution for political purposes and in the interest of achieving their ultimate goal, which is to bring about a change of regime and punish the state sector of the economy”.

Suffering badly is the country’s transportation system, according to Quiñones Sánchez and it was almost at a standstill. He said there was no money to purchase petroleum.

Venezuela, which has the world’s fifth largest oil reserves, has assisted Cuba but that country’s economy is also reeling from destabilisation as the US has been leading attempts in that country to remove Nicholas Maduro as its president. However, Maduro has become a reclusive leader since the drone attempt on his life several years ago.

The last elections in that country were held in July this year to choose a president for another six-year term beginning January 10, 2025.

The results have been disputed.

“ The offensive launched against tourism; the allegations about non-existent sonic attacks against US diplomats to justify Cuba’s designation as an unsafe country; and the persecution of international medical cooperation agreements, among others, are all part of an improved coercive design intended to prevent the country from receiving the incomes necessary to attend to the increasing needs of the population,” the report reads.

It also highlights the impact of the blockade on the country’s efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that the US “ strengthened the ban on Cuban imports of several commodities, including ventilators; applied measures that affected the scaling-up of the Cuban vaccines against the virus and managed to prevent the import of oxygen from third countries. It refused to lift, even temporarily, the measures against Cuba so that the country could cope with the pandemic, as it did to other nations”.

Do right by Cuba, Haiti

Last November, the United Nation’s General Assembly voted overwhelming in support of a resolution to remove the embargo against Cuba. A total of 187 countries supported the resolution put forward each year. The US and Israel have always voted against it. Ukraine abstained.

Regionally, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has spoken against the humanitarian situation in both Cuba and Haiti, saying the time has come for the world to do right by both nations.

Mottley has used her platform to speak against what she called historical injustices.

In quantifying the cost of the blockage for just one year, the report states, “ From March 1st, 2023 to February 29, 2024, the blockade-caused material damages to Cuba are estimated at US$5,056,800,000.”

The report says this represents an increase of US$189,800,000 compared to the previous report.

The cost is estimated at US$421,000,000 monthly; US$13,800,000 per day, and more than US$575,683 an hour.

However, the report acknowledges that, “ All the difficulties faced by the Cuban society are not exclusively due to the blockade, but it would be untrue for anyone not to recognise the blockade as the main obstacle to our development.”

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com