[ad_1]
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba said Friday that the new sanctions planned by the United States were a futile attempt to change its policy and would only further isolate Washington.
Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, director of American affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaks at a press conference in Havana (Cuba) on November 2, 2018. REUTERS / Alexandre Meneghini
US President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, John Bolton, announced on Thursday that more than two dozen Cuban companies associated with the army or communist island intelligence would be added to the more than a hundred that the Americans are already banned from doing business with or protecting. .
This announcement came just an hour after 189 member nations of the United Nations called for the lifting of the US economic embargo on Cuba. Washington has tried unsuccessfully to amend the text to push Cuba to improve its record on human rights.
The US vote may have political weight, but only the US Congress can lift the embargo for more than 50 years, which Cuba calls a blockade. The United States and Israel voted against the resolution.
Bolton outlined the Trump government's plans to strengthen the position of Cuba and its allies, Venezuela and Nicaragua, in Miami, the heart of the communities of the three countries in exile, a few days before the mid-term congressional legislative elections. American.
"We strongly reject these measures, which will have an impact on the country's economy and development, in addition to the impact of the economic blockade," Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, director of American affairs at the Foreign Ministry, told AFP. a press conference in Havana.
"They will fail. They will not break the will of Cubans, "he said.
Trump took a hard line in Cuba after former President Barack Obama sought to set aside decades of hostility between Washington and Havana. He canceled part of Obama's relaxation in 2014 by tightening the rules for Americans going to the island and banning American companies from doing business in that city.
Bolton also said that the administration would consider the possibility of allowing US citizens whose property was seized by the Cuban government to sue foreign companies that have invested in the island's properties. , a long-time exile from the hard line.
The measure is part of the Helms-Burton Act, which codified all US sanctions against Cuba in 1996. It has been overturned by various presidents since because of opposition from the international community.
Fernandez de Cossio said such a step would be unprecedented and would violate international law, further isolating the United States.
"There is no possibility for people who have abandoned Cuba and abandoned properties in Cuba to come back and claim them," he said.
Reportage of Marc Frank; Edited by Tom Brown
