- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
Cuba marks six decades under US sanctions
Cuba on Monday marks 60 years under a US economic blockade that has deeply affected the communist nation's fortunes and shows no signs of being lifted.
Decreed by US president John F. Kennedy on February 3, 1962, the embargo on all bilateral trade came into effect four days later.
Its purpose, said Kennedy's executive order, was to reduce the threat posed by the island nation's "alignment with the communist powers."
Despite failing to force a change in tack from Havana since then, the sanctions remain in place six decades later, and are blamed by Cuban authorities for damage to the country's economy amounting to some $150 billion.
Cuba is experiencing its worst economic crisis in 30 years, with inflation at 70 percent and a severe shortage of food and medicines as the Covid-19 pandemic dealt a hefty blow to a key source of income: tourism.
Long lines for essential goods are common, as food imports have been slashed due to dwindling government reserves.
Havana blames the sanctions for all the island's woes.
The message that "the embargo is a virus too" has been hammered home by authorities for months, as they organize caravans of cars, bikes and motorcycles to criss-cross the country and denounce the sanctions.
But detractors say inefficiencies and structural problems in the economy controlled by the one-party state are also to blame.
- 'Counterproductive' -
"The real blockade was imposed by the Cuban state," said activist Rosa Maria Paya of lobby group Cubadecide, which she directs from exile.
The embargo would only be lifted, she believes, through "a transition to representative democracy."
Cuba has little productive capacity and relies on imports for about 80 percent of its food needs.
A monetary reform launched a year ago to try and alleviate pressures on Cubans brought about a significant wage increase in a country where most workers are employed by the government, but further fueled price inflation.
Since 2000, food has been excluded from the US blockade, and between 2015 and 2000, Cuba imported some $1.5 billion worth of food from its neighbor.
But the purchases have to be paid in cash and upfront, onerous conditions for a country with limited reserves.
According to Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-American and former US Secretary of Commerce, the embargo has proven to be "counterproductive."
"Absolutely nothing has been obtained from Havana" in response, he said.
- Geopolitical interests -
Instead, Cuba has looked to US rivals such as China and Russia for support.
Two weeks ago, Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed "strategic partnership" in a phone call.
And Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov recently said Moscow would not rule out a military deployment to Cuba -- just a few hundred kilometers (miles) from Miami in the US state of Florida -- if tensions with Washington over ex-Soviet state Ukraine escalated.
For some, such posturing recalls the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis between the United States and the former Soviet Union, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear warfare and was a major motivation for the blockade against Cuba.
Conflict was averted when Moscow agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuban soil.
The US blockade started out as a "strategic and military instrument" in the context of war, said political scientist Rafael Hernandez.
And although the Cold War is over, it is still the United States' "geopolitical interests" that determine its stance towards Cuba, he said.
US domestic politics also play a role, with the vote of a large and vocal anti-Havana Cuban expat community holding the potential to swing battleground states such as Florida.
Somewhat relaxed under a brief period of detente under Barack Obama, sanctions were strengthened by his successor Donald Trump, who added 243 new measures.
And despite campaign promises, current President Joe Biden has done nothing to relieve the blockade, instead announcing new measures against Cuban leaders in response to a clampdown on historic anti-government protests last July.
For the US administration, said James Buckwalter–Arias of the Cuban-American Association for Engagement, "electoral considerations weigh heavier than humanitarian duty."
E.Paulino--PC