| On May 9, as part of an international campaign calling for the lifting of sanctions and blockades everywhere, a webinar sponsored by the U.S.-based Sanctions Kill coalition provided a platform for representatives of six countries subjected to U.S. economic sanctions to speak about how this form of warfare is affecting their countries, in particular their ability to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar was viewed by over 1,000 people from around the world, with another 4,000 watching it livestreamed on Facebook. There are 39 of the 193 member states of the United Nations currently subjected to economic warfare in the form of unilateral coercive measures, also referred to as economic sanctions. The only sanctions considered legal under international law are those endorsed by the UN Security Council. All others, such as those the U.S. has put in place unilaterally against more than 30 countries and a host of individuals and organizations under various pretexts, are in violation of the UN Charter and the norms of international law and diplomacy. They are illegal and amount to acts of war aimed at the people of targeted countries, despite being presented cynically by those who impose and support this type of coercion as "non-violent" and "peaceful." The U.S. maintains unilateral coercive measures of different types, including those that are called comprehensive in that they broadly target the people in countries or whole regions with whom almost any kind of U.S.-linked dealings are prohibited. Such measures currently apply to Iran, Syria, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Crimea. The U.S. and some of its allies, that include Britain and other governments in Europe, also apply what they call targeted sanctions against individuals and entities with whom their citizens, residents and others inside the country are prohibited from having financial or other dealings of all sorts. Targeted sanctions also involve such things as prohibitions on travel to, or the targeted persons' "inadmissibility" to the country applying the sanctions, the freezing or seizure of property or assets such individuals or entities might have in the country, and more. What Representatives of Sanctioned Countries Had to Say Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the UN Ana Silvia Rodríguez opened the program. She stated that the economic, financial and commercial blockade the U.S. has imposed on Cuba since 1962 has been strengthened by an array of restrictions and laws signed over the years. Over the past year in particular the U.S. has stepped up its aggression, targeting the tourism industry and preventing shipments of fuel, medical equipment and other supplies necessary to combat the pandemic from reaching Cuba, she said. Rodríguez said multilateralism and anti-imperialist solidarity are needed to counter the blockade. A statement read on behalf of Dr. Frank Guni, a representative of ZANU-PF in North America, said Zimbabwe had been subjected to unilateral coercive measures aimed at forcing regime change since 2001. Dr. Guni said the U.S. set out to destroy the country's economy because Zimbabwe's struggle for independence and for the return of the land to the people represents a bad example for Namibia and other countries in the region, to the U.S. and others intent on recolonizing Africa. He said that due to prior experience in dealing with natural disasters and epidemics, Zimbabwe has been able to limit the impact of COVID-19. He called the sanctions against Zimbabwe a declaration of war, adding that it is "a war we must win." Nicaraguan Ambassador to the U.S. Francisco Campbell said the U.S. was using its international influence to restrict Nicaragua's access to loans in violation of international law. He said that in spite of U.S. sanctions impacting Nicaragua's health care system and ability to deal with COVID-19, the work of its public health care brigades in communities, implementation of policies related to social distancing and contact tracing, border control agreements with neighbouring countries and the assistance provided by China, Cuba and others had greatly limited the virus's spread. Syria's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, pointed out that two billion people -- almost 20 per cent of humanity -- are affected by unilateral coercive measures right at a time when combatting the coronavirus pandemic requires all governments to work cooperatively. Instead, the U.S. and others following its lead, in applying unilateral coercive measures are wreaking havoc with people's basic rights to such things as health care and education, he said. Ja'afari said all Syria's basic economic sectors are affected by unlawful and illegitimate sanctions. "The central bank of Syria is unable to access our own funds, frozen by sanctions and U.S. pressure on international banks. The sanctions amount to health terrorism, on top of political, economic, financial, media and military terrorism by the U.S.," he stated. Ja'afari said the so-called humanitarian exemptions granted by the U.S. Treasury Department were and still are subject to politicized considerations so that this aid, which he said includes weapons, is delivered exclusively to areas under the control of armed terrorist groups. Ja'afari expressed appreciation for recent statements made at the UN Security Council against unilateral coercive measures and by UN Secretary General António Guterres who called for the lifting of sanctions, but noted that several draft resolutions and declarations put foward by "dozens" of UN member states lacked any reference to Guterres' call because of infiltration by those he called phony Western humanitarians. The Deputy Foreign Minister for North America of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Carlos Ron, said his country has been subjected to unilateral coercive measures since 2006 but that these spiked in 2014 just before Obama issued his spurious Executive Order of 2015 declaring Venezuela "an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security." He also made it clear that all Venezuela's attempts to import food and medical products, which the U.S. says are exempt from its sanctions, are in fact blocked, typically by banks that refuse to receive payments from Venezuela, given U.S. domination of the international financial system. As in the case of Syria, Iran and Cuba, he said the illegal U.S. punitive measures targeted all sectors of Venezuela's economy. Suppliers either will not sell to Venezuela fearing penalties from the U.S. or they charge two or three times the price for their goods. The same applies to insurers of shipments and shippers. Ron said Venezuela has a case before the International Criminal Court against the U.S. for its acts of collective punishment and extermination against the Venezuelan people. He also denounced the fact that, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. was holding its biggest military exercises in 30 years in the Caribbean not far from Venezuela's shores. In the face of all this, he reported that with the solidarity of Cuba, China and Russia, assistance from the World Health Organization, and relying on its personalized public health measures and the efforts of the people's organizations, Venezuela was successfully managing the pandemic, administering the most tests per capita in the region. Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the unilateral coercive measures applied against Iran were the most drastic ever imposed on a country, inhibiting its ability to treat those afflicted with COVID-19 despite the high professional level of Iran's medical personnel. He also emphasized it was untrue that U.S. sanctions do not apply to medical supplies. He said the Swiss channel Iran has been using for international transactions is subject to fierce pressure from the U.S. and that several medical suppliers recently stopped shipping to Iran because the U.S. had made it virtually impossible. Everyone fears accidentally getting caught in the web of the U.S. sanctions because of the breadth of their reach, he pointed out. Sanctions Kill has announced that it will sponsor webinars and other efforts and actions on sanctions during the COVID-19 crisis and build toward an International Week of Actions Against U.S.-Imposed Sanctions and Economic War from May 25-31. Further information, as well as links to view the webinar, can be found at sanctionskill.org. |