Johana Tablada – dwkcommentaries

Cuban Government’s Reactions to New U.S. Regulations for Cuban Private Enterprise

On May 28, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a formal Statement about the new U.S. regulations and then held a separate press conference on that topic. Later Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel made a statement on that subject.

Cuba Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement[1]

“On May 28, the Government of the United States finally announced a group of measures aimed at implementing the policy announced on May 16, 2022. The purpose of this step, according to the text published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is to support the private sector in Cuba.”
“These measures are limited in scope and do not target the essence of the blockade against Cuba nor the additional sanctions that make up the maximum pressure policy. Once again, this US government decision relies on its own distorted view of the Cuban reality, for it intends to artificially separate the private sector from the public sector, when they are both part of Cuba’s entrepreneurial system and the Cuban society as a whole.”
“With this announcement, the US government intends to address only one sector of our population. The coercive measure that most affect Cuba’s economy and public services and severely harm the wellbeing of our population are neither eradicated nor modified.”
“If these measures are implemented, the United States would seek to give advantage to the Cuban private sector, which was lawfully established and has been able to develop thanks to the measures taken, as a sovereign act, by the Cuban government in consultation with the Cuban people.”
“So has occurred with the access to the Internet, which was established and expanded by Cuba, despite the obstacles resulting from the blockade and the restrictions imposed to prevent free access to hundreds of tools and websites.”
“The Government of the United States has been explicit in its intention to use this sector for political purposes against the Revolution, in the interest of its change of regime policy.”
“Even if these measures were about a whimsical selectivity, both the private and the public sector will continue to suffer from the consequences of the blockade and the absurd inclusion of Cuba in the list of States that allegedly sponsor terrorism.”
“The coercive measures that are part of the economic blockade will remain in force, with their cruel impact on the entire Cuban population.”
“Obviously, the United States is ratifying its willingness to punish Cuba’s state sector, knowing that this is the one that offers essential services such as education, health, culture, sports and others to all Cubans, including the private sector; and that it is the guarantee of social justice and equity among all citizens. That is the reason why the US government recently adopted measures aimed at persecuting Cuba’s international medical cooperation. Several published documents have revealed that the US remains determined to depriving us from our revenues and destabilizing the country with the political purpose of dominating our nation.”
“The Cuban government will analyze these measures, and if they do not infringe upon our national legislation, and they are in fact an openness that would benefit the Cuban people, even if only one sector, it will not impede its implementation.”

Cuban Press Conference About New Regulations[2]

On May 28, Johana Tablada, the deputy director general of the United States at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a press conference regarding the new U.S. regulations about the Cuban private enterprise sector.

She said they “do not touch the body of the [U.S. embargo] blockade nor do they modify the extreme measures and regulations applied by the Trump and Biden governments in recent years. “once again, the United States Government tries to adapt its actions not to the reality of Cuba, but to a fiction that has been built on the reality of Cuba. ”

She stressed that the US Administration tries to separate the Cuban private sector from the public sector through its announcements and strategies and ignores that both sectors make up the fabric of the Cuban business system and society as a whole. This U.S. effort is about privileging a private sector that does not owe anything to the United States.

She also said Cuba will study these measures and, if they mean a real opening and are not just a political announcement, the [Cuban] Government will not put brakes on their implementation. But since Cuba is included in the list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism, it is very difficult for the measures announced this Tuesday to be applied in their full scope.

President Diaz-Canel’s Statement[3]

On May 29, Diaz-Canel said, the US measures are “limited, restrictive and do not touch the fundamental body of the blockade against our country, nor the other sanctions of its maximum pressure policy.”

“The intention to direct them only to a segment of our people shows their historical intention to fracture unity among Cubans.”

“The concern for the development of the non-state sector of our economy is not genuine.”

“They do not eliminate or change the coercive measures that most affect the Cuban economy and public services, thereby severely damaging the well-being of our entire population today.”

” We will continue to promote the increasing integration of all our economic actors, which today are, together, a cornerstone for our development and progrss towards the well-being of all our people.”

Comments

Both the U.S. and Cuba agree that the new Treasury Department regulations leave unchanged the U.S. embargo (blockade) of the island and the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Cuba, of course, wants those measures eliminated while the U.S. merely assumed that they would continue. As a U.S. citizen, this blogger wants to see them eliminated and suggests that the U.S. use this opportunity to engage Cuba in discussions about doing just that while remembering that President Obama had discontinued the terrorism designation.[4]

The U.S. and Cuba also could have discussions about how to encourage the best operations of the latter’s new private enterprise sector. Given the horrendous current status of the Cuban economy, Cuba should welcome such discussions and be open to significant changes on those issues.

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[1] Statement of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, There is only one Cuba (May 29, 2024); Cuban Foreign Minister affirms that measures announced by the US are limited, Granma (May 29, 2024).

[2] Minrex: The new US regulations continue to be limited and do not touch the body of the blockade, CubaDebate (May 28, 2024).

[3] Diaz-Canel, The integration of all economic actors will be increasingly greater, Granma (May 30, 2024); US measures for MSMEs ‘respond to a subversive design’, says Diaz-Canel, Diario de Cuba (Mau 29, 2024).

[4 ]President Obama Rescinds U.S. Designation of Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism,” dwkcommentaries.com (April 15, 2015); U.S. Rescinds Designation of Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism,” dwkcommentaries.com (May 29. 2015),

U.S. and Cuba Dispute Existence of Legitimate Cuban Private Business Sector

At a January 18, congressional hearing, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (Rep., FL), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, said that claims that a private sector exists on the island were likely “a new scheme from the regime which is desperate for millions of dollars to violate the American market.” Later at that hearing, she voiced some scepticism about such a claim.[1]

The next day, Cuba’s vice minister for the economy, Johana Odriozola, disputed that contention. She said, “Nobody in their right mind can talk about something that really exists being a myth. We are not talking about something small; we are talking about more than 10,000 micro, small, and medium-sized companies.”

In addition, Johana Tablada, currently number two at Cuba’s foreign ministry’s department handling U.S. affairs, also questioned the premise of the congressional hearing in a lengthy tirade against U.S. policies toward the island and personal attacks against Salazar. . . . Tablada said the Cuban government would not allow the U.S. government to use the private sector to meddle in Cuba’s internal affairs but said the government is “serious when it says it supports this sector’s development.”

Although the Cuban government has imposed various restrictions on these enterprises, [2]“the private sector, which also comprises self-employed workers and some cooperatives, now employs 35% of all Cuban workers — more than those employed in state-owned companies.”

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[1] Torres, Cuba pushes back against claims in Congress that its private sector is a myth,’ Miami Herald (Jan. 25, 2024); U.S. House Hearing on Cuban Private Enterprise, dwkcommentaries.com (Jan. 20, 2024).

[2] Torres, Resisting reforms, Cuba announces price hikes and new restrictions on the private sector, Miami Herald (Jan. 10, 2024); Torres, As the economy craters, the Cuban government hits private-sector workers with tax hike, Miami Herald (Jan. 18, 2024)

Cuba Response to U.S. Campaign Against Cuba’s Medical Missions

During 2019, the U.S. has engaged in verbal attacks on Cuban medical missions around the world while Cuba withdrew thousands of its medical personnel from Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia, resulting in major financial losses for the Cuban government. [1]

On December 18, Cuba’s “Johana Tablada, deputy director of North American affairs for Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, said Trump administration officials have pressured Latin American governments to end the medical support programs, hurting health care in those countries.”[2]

Such U.S. actions, said Tablada, have “crossed the red line of decency by taking the foreign relations of the United States to levels of hypocrisy and double standards that none of his predecessors have done.” He also accused the U.S. of trying to destabilize Cuba in order to distract attention from the impeachment process against Trump.

As has been explained several times in this blog, one of the most outrageous and invalid U.S. allegations against the program is the assertion that the Cuban doctors and other medical personnel serving in various countries around the world are engaged in illegal forced labor or “modern day slavery.” The U.S. immediately should cease such accusations. Mere repetition does not make them valid.

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[1] Cuba Ministry Foreign Affairs, U.S. Crusade Against Cuban international medical cooperation, Granma (Dec. 6, 2019).

[2] Assoc. Press, Cuba Blasts US Over End of Medical Missions in Some Nations, (Dec. 18, 2019).

Cuba Foreign Minister Denounces U.S. Policies

On April 25, Cuba Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held a press conference in Havana to issue his usual lengthy statement, this time primarily to denounce U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton’s recent announcement of additional changes in U.S. policies regarding the island nation.[1]

Whereas Bolton honored the survivors of the 1961 U.S. attack on the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girōn), Rodriguez reminded everyone that Cuba defeated that invasion.

Although Bolton said the Monroe Doctrine was “alive and well,” Rodriguez retorted, “No one should forget that the Monroe Doctrine has historically been associated with the use of force by US imperialism in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Rodríguez also said Bolton was a “pathological liar” for having unashamedly stated on April 17 that Rodriguez recently had acknowledged the presence of 20,000 Cuban thugs in Venezuela.

This lie, Rodriguez said, was repeated in a recent communique from the U.S. State Department to all of its embassies around the world asserting that the new U.S. measures of economic, political and communications blockade against Cuba were based upon the alleged presence of Cuban military and intelligence officers in Venezuela. According to Rodriguez, this U.S. document also instructed its ambassadors to urge other governments to publicly condemn Cuba’s behavior and to use all economic and diplomatic instruments against Cuba.

The Cuba Foreign Minister challenged Bolton and the U.S. to prove their statements that Rodriguez said were lies. Implicitly he was saying the U.S. could not do so and, therefore, should rescind such claims and apologize.

Rodriguez attacked the new U.S. restrictions on remittances as not only hurting the interests and incomes of Cuban people, of every family that has those ties; they also harms the freedom and the right of people in the U.S.to send remittances to relatives or others in Cuba. These restrictions also will greatly damage the self-employed sector of the Cuban economy.

The U.S. activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, the Foreign Minister continued, “will damage Cuban entities and will generate greater difficulties and shortcomings for our people. Its declared goal is to suffocate the economy and punish the Cuban people.”

The Cuban diplomat stressed that despite the adverse economic impact that these measures will have, they will not alter Cuban resistance to this latest U.S. attempt to overthrow the Cuban Revolution.

He claimed the U.S. foreign policy was a real threat to our hemisphere, to turn it into a zone of conflict from a region declared a zone of peace. Such a threat threatens international peace and security. Therefore, the international community needs to stop this folly and irresponsibility, to act before it is too late and to stop this dangerous escalation for the good of the peoples of Cuba, the U.S.,the region and all those of the planet. “The world cannot afford to remain impassive while it is summoned by threats to destroy countries with impunity as has happened in other regions of the planet..”

“Cubans trust in the force of truth, of law and of justice. We appeal to governments, parliaments, political forces, social, popular, protests, indigenous movements, representatives of civil society, writers and artists, academics, scientists, journalists, intellectuals. We await the action of the General Assembly of the United Nations, of the World Trade Organization and of other multilateral entities.

Rodriguez emphasized the vast difference in the sizes of the two countries. U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is more than 200 times that of Cuba, its territory is 89 times larger that of the Island, its population is 30 times greater,. Moreover, the U.S. has a quarter of a million soldiers in 800 military bases in 80 countries and today acts as superpower on the planet.

Rodriguez said Cuba will continue to seek stronger relations with a wide array of U.S. interests, including businesses, in spite of what it regards as a “hostile” Trump administration and the tightening of American sanctions against the island.

“We will continue to expand our ties with all United States sectors … we will use all the tools on hand to intensify communication and cultural relations between our people. So, while the government of the United States attempts to shut off and tighten, Cuba will continue to be even more open to healthy relations,” he said.

Conclusion

On May 1 essentially the same message was delivered by the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director for the United States, Johana Tablada.[2]

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[1] Cubans trust in the force of truth, of law and of justice..(Live Broadcast), Granma (April 25, 2019); Assoc. Press, Cuba Challenges US to Provide Proof of Venezuela charges, N.Y. Times (April 25, 2019); Reuters, Cuba Dubs Bolton ‘Pathological Liar’ Over Venezuela Troops Charges, N.Y. Times (April 25, 2019).

[2] Mojena, U.S. lies to justify further attacks on Cuba, Granma (May 2, 2019).

New Yorker Report on Medical Problems of U.S. Diplomats in Cuba

The November 19, 2018, issue of The New Yorker has a lengthy article about the medical problems experienced by some U.S. diplomats in Cuba starting in late 2016 (and after the U.S. presidential election). [1]

The conclusion, however, is the same as previously reported: some U.S. personnel did suffer injury and the U.S. Government has publicly stated it does not know the cause or perpetrator of these injuries.[2]

But the article does provide greater details about many of the victims having been CIA agents and about the U.S.-Cuba interactions over these incidents.

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[1] Entous & Anderson, Havana Syndrome, New Yorker at 34 (Nov. 19, 2018).

[2] See posts listed in the “U.S. Diplomats Medical Problems in Cuba, 2017-18” section of List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: CUBA.

U.S. and Cuba Meet About Medical Problems of U.S. Diplomats in Cuba

On September 13, a Cuban delegation met with U.S. representatives in Washington, D.C. to discuss the medical problems experienced by some U.S. diplomats on the island. The Cuban multidisciplinary group, made up of nine scientists and physicians, members of a panel of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, was headed by Johana Tablada, United States Deputy Director General of the Cuba Foreign Ministry, and the Cuban Ambassador to the U.S., José R. Cabañas . The US team was chaired by Kenneth Merten, Assistant Principal Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, and made up of medical personnel from the U.S. Department of State.[1]

The following accounts strongly suggest that not much was accomplished at this meeting.

U.S. Comments[2]

The only official U.S. comments about this meeting were provided after the meeting at the State Department’s general press briefing by the Department’s spokesperson, Heather Nauert. She said, “[Some] officials from the Cuban Government are here at the State Department today. . . .to discuss some of the medical issues that our people have experienced [in Cuba].” This included some information “about what our people have been experiencing.”

An anonymous U.S. official said this “meeting was organized after Cuba complained that Washington has withheld important details about the affected Americans’ medical conditions.”

Other U..S. officials “have frankly admitted in background conversations that they still have no idea who or what may be responsible.”

Cuban Comments[3]

The more extensive Cuba Foreign Ministry statement said the following.

“On September 13, 2018 a meeting took place in Washington D.C. between U.S. and Cuban expert scientists to exchange on the health symptoms reported by U.S. diplomats accredited in Havana.”

Before this meeting, “the Cuban team had reviewed the scarce information about the alleged incidents submitted by the [U.S.] Embassy, the publications by a medical team from the University of Pennsylvania, (especially an article published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)), and the works by other scientists, as well as the conclusions of police investigations conducted separately by the authorities of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).”

“In the meeting, the Cuban team received a summary of the information previously reported in JAMA describing the results of medical examination of some of the diplomats. The Cuban team presented their analysis of the shortcomings of this study, challenged its main conclusions and the scientific interpretation of the symptoms presented to them.”

“At the end of the . . . [meeting], the Cuban experts verified that the information provided is unable to support the hypothesis of health attacks and brain damage suggested so far by the Department of State, as well as the explanations of the symptoms which according to the Department of State, were reported by their diplomats.”

“The Cuban experts particularly reaffirmed that with the information exchanged it is not possible to demonstrate the existence of a new neurological medical syndrome of brain lesion type, nor it is possible to assert that a brain damage like those caused by a blow to the head was produced without cranial trauma. This idea is impossible.”

The Cuba team “observed that the medical evidence presented has serious limitations. The majority of the cases described . . . symptoms such as: headaches, nausea, dizziness, subjective balance and sleep disorders, which are caused by functional disorders and conditions such as: hypertension, stress and many others with high prevalence in the U.S. and worldwide. The accuracy of the reports could have also been affected by the average of 203 days that lapsed from the time the alleged incidents took place to the date when medical research was conducted.”

“The neuro-psychological tests, considered to be more objective, were assessed with unusual criteria which, applied to a group of healthy individuals, would qualify all of them as ill. If the internationally established criteria would have been applied only two subjects could be considered afflicted, the cause of which, could be attributed to different pre-existing conditions.”

“According to those studies, only three individuals were found to have mild or moderate hearing loss, with each audiogram showing correspondence with three different diseases that were probably preexisting.”

“The neuro-images showed no evidence of brain damage. Two individuals showed mild signs and a third one showed moderate signs that, according to the JAMA report, are not specific, are present in many diseases and could be attributed to processes that occurred before those persons travelled to Cuba. It has been impossible for the Cuban experts to access these images.”

“he scientific studies, the Cuban police and FBI investigations, as well as the information shared by the Department of State show a lack of evidence of any kind of attack or deliberate act. The Cuban delegation rejected categorically the use of the term ‘attack’ when there is no evidence whatsoever that support the term. The US officials underscored that they did not have an explanation for the incidents.”

“Cuba expressed its willingness to cooperate and reiterated that it is its highest interest to find an explanation to the reports described. As of February 2017, when the U.S. Embassy in Havana informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the alleged ‘acoustic attacks’ against some officials of said diplomatic mission, Cuba has requested and provided the highest cooperation to clarify what happened, and early on suggested to hold a meeting between medical experts from both countries.”

“The Cuban delegation regretted the lack of access to clinical data and to the doctors who assessed the diplomatic personnel who reported health symptoms. Nevertheless, the Cuban team considers that today’s meeting was a positive step, and yet insufficient. To date, the scientific and medical exchange has only taken place indirectly through the publication of scientific articles, political statements and regrettable press leaks.”

“The Cuban medical team extended an invitation to the U.S. investigation team to hold another scientific exchange in Havana in the near future that can be also attended by those professionals who treated the U.S. diplomats”

Essentially the same points were made at a press conference in Washington immediately after the meeting.

Conclusion

This blogger continues to be amazed at the number of theories that have been advanced to explain these health problems and by the U.S. Government’s public inability to assign blame for these problems. [4]

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[1] Lee (Assoc. Press), US, Cuba meet on mysterious ‘health attacks’ in Cuba, Wash. Post (Sept. 13, 2018); Reuters, U.S., Cuba Officials Discuss Mysterious Embassy Health Incidents, N.Y. Times (Sept. 13, 2018); Lee (Assoc. Press), No progress as US, Cuba meet on mysterious ‘health attacks,’ Wash. Post (Sept. 13, 2018).

[2] U.S. State Dep’t, Department Press Briefing—September 13, 2018.

[3] Cuba Foreign Ministry, Specialists from Cuba reject notion of health attacks and brain damage in U.S. diplomats, CubaMinRex (Sept. 14, 2018); Cuban specialists reject the theory of “health attacks” and “brain damage” to US diplomats, Granma (Sept. 13, 2018); Cuban specialists reject in Washington theory of “health attacks” and “brain damage” to US diplomats, Cubadebate (Sept. 13, 2018); Harris, Cuban Experts Insist No Proof exists of Attack on diplomats, N.Y. Times (Sept. 13, 2018).

[4] See posts listed in the “U.S. Diplomats Medical Problems in Cuba” section of List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: CUBA.