Home / Maite Mola, Vice-Presidency on the Helms-Burton Act against Cuba
The Party of the European Left (EL) denounces that the Helms-Burton Act, in force since 1996, which codified and internationalized the unilateral blockade of the United States against Cuba (Title I of the Act), had and still has as its fundamental objective to impose a government in Cuba that recovers the dominion of the United States on the island and incorporates it into its geopolitical strategy.
The economic, commercial and financial blockade emanating from this law is the main obstacle to the development of the Cuban economy and represents a brake on the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals.
This law constitutes a direct attack on the sovereignty of Cuba and its political and economic system, as it contains a plan for political “transition” in Cuba and intervention by the United States in the destiny of the country (Title II). Added to this is the protection of claimants whose properties were nationalized or expropriated in Cuba (Title III) and the prohibition of entry into the United States of those who “traffic” with the nationalized or expropriated properties (Title IV).
The entry into force of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act allows for the filing of lawsuits in United States courts against companies included in the List of Restricted Cuban Entities, which constitutes an escalation in the aggressive conduct of the current US Administration to the country.
If Title III of the Helms-Burton Act is applied, any Cuban and every community in the country would see appearing before US courts several demands for ownership of the houses they live in, their workplaces, the schools their children attend, the hospitals where they receive medical care and the land on which their neighborhoods are built.
Title III of the Helms-Burton Act seeks to usurp Cuba’s wealth, infrastructure, arable land, industries, mining resources, energy potential and the bases on which science and technology are developed and services to the population are provided.
The objective is to economically suffocate the Cuban Revolution, and eliminating socialism has been a common goal for all US governments.
The content of the Bush Plan and Title I of the Helms-Burton Act openly signal US interest in promoting the so-called dissidence, increasing illegal radio and television broadcasts to Cuba, strangling the national economy, spreading propaganda about a supposed military threat from Cuba and increasing international campaigns to discredit the government.
We see the plans of the US government of promoting a transitional government in Cuba, as included in the Bush Plan or the Helms-Burton Act, reappear suspiciously, in the current context of attacks on Venezuela.
This is why from the EL we demand and require the cessation of the Helms-Burton Act and the disappearance of the Bush Plan, so that the US government does not continue to violate international law by threatening the sovereignty of Cuba in all economic, social and political aspects.
Maite Mola
Vice President of the EL
