Amnesty International Criticizes Extension of U.S. Sanctions on Cuba

[naaman fletcher]

Amnesty International Criticizes Extension of U.S. Sanctions on Cuba

LONDON – Amnesty International criticized in a communique President Barack Obama’s extension for one year of the U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba.

The human rights defense organization lamented the fact that Obama had not decided to put an end to a policy that it called “ineffective and detrimental.”

AI said it had repeatedly asked Obama not to extend the embargo against the island in accord with the U.S. Trading With the Enemy Act, or TWEA.

In an Aug. 12 letter to the White House, the organization urged the president to abandon a policy initiated nearly five decades ago that it said has negatively affected the human rights situation in Cuba.

The Cuban government, AI explained, has repeatedly used the embargo as “justification for maintaining restrictions on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

In a report published in June entitled “Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in Cuba,” AI discussed how the Cuban government continued using the embargo and the political antagonism with the United States as a pretext for repressing public criticism.

One of the consequences is that independent journalists and human rights defenders find themselves constantly harassed, intimidated and subjected to judicial proceedings.

A report published by AI last year about the impact of the embargo on economic and social rights on the communist island said that the sanctions upheld by Washington since 1962 negatively affect the access of the Cuban public to medicines and medical technology, which in turn puts the health of millions of people at risk.

The different U.N. agencies that operate in Cuba agree that the embargo has hurt the ability to carry out a series of programs designed to improve Cubans’ living conditions.

The U.S. Congress, AI says, is the authority that can revoke the ill-advised embargo that has such a devastating impact on the lives of Cubans and limits the freedom of U.S. citizens to travel to the island and do business there.

Washington lawmakers have the opportunity to limit the negative impact of the embargo by approving bills nullifying the travel prohibition to Cuba, which would be a step in the right direction and could encourage legislators to do away with the embargo completely, AI said.

And even without congressional support, Obama has “the power to reverse his recent decision at any time with a new presidential determination putting an end to the application of the TWEA in relation to Cuba,” the group said.

“Amnesty International will continue to call for the reversal of an antiquated stance, adopted during the Cold War, which proves detrimental to the enjoyment of human rights both for Cubans and U.S. citizens,” the statement concludes. EFE