PRESS RELEASE
THE EMBARGO VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW
– EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICATION-
New York, 12 October 2016. Prohibition on ships reaching Cuban ports, to have access to ports in the United States, for a 6-month period, has a negative impact on the transport of goods to Cuba by sea. The renowned maritime consulting company Drewry Ltd. acknowledged that the main shipping companies which transport O/D containers (Origin/Destination) to Cuba, do so via trans-shipments using third harbors in the Caribbean. Consequently, Drewry estimated that Cuban importers pay extra freight costs amounting to $400 USD per 40-foot average container and in the case of trade with South America, the price goes up to $700 per 40-foot container.
Crews and technicians of Cuban aircrafts have to undergo specialized training sessions twice a year on flight simulators, to ensure the safety of flights. ATR simulator installations exist in a country in the Western Hemisphere but Cuban pilots are not admitted as the company operating the simulators is a U.S. company affiliate. This has forced Cuba to resort to more distant locations in Europe, under the logical increase of costs for transportation and personnel living expenses.
On 16 July 2015, the Fransabank of Lebanon was forced to cancel a bank account opened by Prensa Latina news agency on 25 June, in Beirut, due to Embargo regulations. According to the communication of Fransabank to Prensa Latina, the bank’s Claims and Complaints Department was notified by OFAC to cancel their services, due to Cuba’s inclusion in the List of Specially Designated Nations.
On 12 September 2015, the ASDA supermarket chain based in the United Kingdom and part of the US Walmart Group since July 1999, received instructions to remove the sale of all Cuban products or their byproducts due to Embargo regulations. As a result, Hunters & Frankau, the exclusive distributor of Habanos S.A in the United Kingdom was seriously affected on the removal of five products being sold in such supermarkets. Three of them were produced in Cuba by Habanos S.A and two were of German origin (Villiger), with a high percentage of Cuban tobacco. The affected products were: Villiger Export Pressed, H Upmann Juniors, Punch Petit Coronations and Montecristo Minis.
On December 2015, Honda refused to carry out new contracts or to renew existing ones for the sale of cars to the Cuban Consulate in Montreal. According to the Honda branch, this situation is due to its headquarters being located in the United States.
On 12 February 2016, Commerzbank of Germany notified the Cuban Embassy in Berlin that the latter would shortly be communicated about the closure of its bank account, offering to that end a timeframe of 8 weeks.
On 23 March 2016, ABN AMRO bank of Holland informed companies still having links with Cuba that it would keep its policy of not processing any payment related to Cuba in U.S. dollars, as the new United States regulations were “unclear”.
On 18 April 2016, it was known the Banca Popolare of Italy refused to carry out three payments ordered by the Cubamar tourist agency, specialized in incentive tourism, conventions, fairs and exhibitions, for being the beneficiary bank the Cuban “Banco Financiero Internacional”.
The Dutch postal services and shipping company, TNT B.V., notified the Cuban Embassies in Austria and Turkey of the definitive cancelling of the international courier services they regularly provided these diplomatic offices with, due to the fact that the company had been acquired by the USA FedEx Corporation. (Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations).
