Cuba’s tourism industry has been picking up after the COVID-19 pandemic brought it to a halt, but the United States' latest aggressive action seriously threatens its viability, reports Ian Ellis-Jones.
The intensification of the United States economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba, combined with the downturn in tourism as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused big shortages of food, medicine, fuel and electricity, reports Ian Ellis-Jones.
Biden says these actions are “just the beginning” and the US “will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people”.
The sanctions have been imposed by an executive order under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (the Global Magnitsky Act).
Since enacted in 2016, the Global Magnitsky Act authorises the US government to sanction any person or body it regards as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the US.
Essentially, the legislation enables the US government to punish any person or body and thus their country which the US finds distasteful.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has labelled the sanctions as “baseless and slanderous”. He said the US should apply its sanctions legislation to itself for the “systematic repression and police brutality that took the lives of 1021 persons in 2020”.
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