Cuba slams US coercive measures in meeting with EU delegation in Havana
Cuba has denounced US coercive measures against Havana during a closed-door meeting between a delegation from the country and the European Union (EU).
The two sides met in the Cuban capital, Havana on Friday for the Second Dialogue on Unilateral Coercive Measures.
"It is an issue of the greatest importance for Cuba,” said Rodolfo Reyes, General Director of Multilateral Affairs and International Law at Cuba's Foreign Ministry.
He said that for more than half a century “there has been a significant resurgence of the blockade and of similar hostile measures against our country.”
He also touched upon a recent decision by the US administration to put into effect Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which could threaten many European companies operating in Cuba.
It allows US lawsuits against foreign companies operating in Cuba with assets nationalized, or expropriated, following the 1959 Revolution.
According to Katja Afheldt, head of Division for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean at the European External Action Service, the move “affects economic relations between the EU and Cuba.”
The EU dropped all sanctions on Cuba in 2016 and inked a historic agreement to normalize ties with the Latin American country. The two had frozen ties back in 2003.
Earlier in September, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the bloc was committed to helping Cuba develop its economy, even as Washington intensifies sanctions on the island country.
She said that the “EU is Cuba’s top commercial partner and investor, and we have tripled cooperation in the last two years.”
Cuban ambassador to Brussels, Norma Goicochea, said this month Havana hoped to continue the path of progress in bilateral relations with the European Union.
“We hope to continue to maintain a constructive dialogue based on the political dialogue and cooperation agreement,” he added.
He also criticized the US for having “closed avenues for dialogue.”
The US and Cuba severed relations in 1961 during the Cold War. Cuba has been under a US economic blockade for over 60 years.
In 2015, the US, under former President Barack Obama, restored diplomatic relations with Cuba. However, his successor Donald Trump began to partially roll back the historic rapprochement as soon as he took office in early 2017.
The Trump administration has tightened its decades-old embargo on Cuba in recent years.
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