CUBA: Clinton’s Postponement Makes no Change, says Government

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jul 17 1996 (IPS) - The Cuban government was singularly unimpressed by US President Bill Clinton’s decision to suspend the imposition of the toughest sections of the Helms-Burton bill for a further six months this week.

“Nothing will change the illegal and interfering nature of this legislation,” said Cuba’s Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, “Clinton wanted to keep in with God and the devil at the same time,” he added.

Robaina said the US President’s gesture did nothing to change the extraterritorial nature of the bill, impinging further into the business of other nations than ever before.

The third clause establishes the right for US citizens, including those of Cuban origin, to sue foreign firms who invest in their former possessions on the island.

This measure is complemented by the clause IV which attempts to stop foreign investment in the island by withholding US entry visas from heads of companies, and their families, dealing with Cuba from third countries.

“No one can feel happy, nor has the world got anything to thank the United States, for as it has merely offered the principle of sovereignty, which has already had a good battering, a period of grace,” said Robaina.

Clinton approved clause III Tuesday, despite strong pressure from Canada and Mexico, the US’s partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the European Union (EU), but prevented cases from being heard until after the US elections in November.

The owners of confiscated goods in Cuba have until February 1 to prepare their cases while the US government will put pressure on its allies and foreign businesses to withdraw investment from the nation.

In 1964, the US Reclamations Comission registered a total of 5,911 claims related to the nationalisation of property by the Cuban regime from companies.

Robaina said the postponement of clause III was a smoke screen to hide US aims to create a “holy alliance” against Cuba, despite constant rejections of Washingtons policies against the country in the United Nations General Assembly.

US Congressman Jesse Helms – one of the creators of the bill – described Clinton’s action as “a capitulation,” and in Havana it was widely seen as a mere delaying mechanism to avoid possible trade confrontations with the EU and NAFTA.

However, the presidential gesture did little to reduce the objections of Canada, Mexico and the 15 EU member nations, who are still considering couter measures to confront the extra- territorial nature of the Helms-Burton bill.

While Canada and Mexico decided to formulate their reactions together, the EU presented a list of possible sanctions on Jul. 15, ready for when the planned sanctions against companies working with Cuba are imposed.

These included the denunciation of the Helms-Burton bill to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), imposing visa requirements on US company representatives travelling to Europe, and the adoption of common measures to block its extraterritorial effects.

A spokesman for the European Commission (the EU executive body) declared in Brussels Wednesday that the measures to defend the EU nation’s trade interests and investments in Cuba were still in place.

Fernando Solana, president of the Mexican Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggested the next six months be used to draw up an antidote bill to block the effects of the Helms-Burton legislation.

The new US legislation toughens all the existing regulations of the US blockade on Cuba and plans to suspend US aid to any international concern which cooperates with the island.

Carlos de Cossio, of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, told a local radio station that the “small suspension” of clause III for six months “will not change the economic effects of the legislation nor its future repercussions on the country.”

However, he said the Helms-Burton bill would not be able to reverse the economic recovery currently underway in Cuba, and nor would it force President Fidel Castro to change his development strategy.

A steep fall in all the economic indicators between 1990 and 1993, was followed by signs of recovery with increases of Gross National Product of 0.7 and 2.5 percent in 1994 and 1995, and a seven percent rise in the first quarter of this year.

There are 200 Cuban companies which currently operate in association with foreign capital – the sector which would be hit by the US bill – currently the most dynamic force behind the economic recovery.

The Helms-Burton law “will not split the Cuban people from their choice of socialism,” said Robaina, adding that once the government had assessed the damage done by the US action it would be lodging the appropriate complaints.