José R. Oro*, Associate of Prensa Latina
Nor do we want to, Cuba’s geographic location is one of our country’s most important resources. On the other hand, pretending to ignore the existence of the United States is neither a responsible nor a reasonable alternative.
For this reason it is necessary to fight for our rights and to state clearly why US actions such as the economic, trade and financial blockade (as a whole or in their numerous and complicated components) represent an aberration of international politics and Common sense, they are indeed an act of shameless economic warfare and annihilation against the Cuban people (whom they claim to be defending!).
About the anti-Cuban “National Emergency” recently extended by a year by Joe Biden.
For the United States government, a national emergency is any extraordinary situation which, in the opinion of the President of the United States, threatens the safety or well-being of the citizens and which cannot be adequately addressed by other law enforcement or executive action, or the urgency and immediacy of which so requires .
Some key definitions
• A national emergency is any exceptional situation declared by the President to pose a threat to US citizens that cannot be resolved by other laws.
• Under the National Emergencies Act 1976, a national declaration of emergency gives the President 136 temporary special powers.
• The reasons for declaring a national emergency and the rules to be followed are the sole and exclusive responsibility of the President.
The National Emergencies Act (NEA) gives the President special powers in the event of a declared national emergency. When and why a national emergency is declared is entirely at the discretion of the President.
background and jurisprudence
The first such declaration of emergency was issued by President Woodrow Wilson on February 5, 1917 in response to the shortage of American cargo ships needed to transport goods exported to Allied nations during World War I. The provisions of the proclamation were found to fall within the framework of the earlier act creating the United States Shipping Board.
Prior to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, presidents declared numerous emergencies to deal with situations such as the pot of gold, a postal workers’ strike, and runaway economic inflation.
In 1933, in response to the Great Depression, FD Roosevelt started the current trend of presidents declaring national emergencies of unlimited scope and duration and without congressional oversight or precedent in established law.
Finally, in 1976, Congress passed the National Emergency Act, the purpose of which was to limit the scope and number of emergency executive powers a president could invoke when declaring a “state of emergency.”
During a declared national emergency, the President can, to cite just a few examples, freeze American bank accounts, shut down most types of electronic communications within the United States, and ground all non-military aircraft. Enormous powers that could conflict with the US Constitution!
Procedure for reporting emergencies
Under the national emergency law, presidents activate their emergency powers by issuing a public declaration of emergency. The declaration must specifically list and communicate to Congress the powers to be applied for the duration of the emergency.
Presidents can end declared emergencies at any time or renew them annually with the approval of Congress.
Notable national emergencies that are still ongoing
To date (February 2023), a total of 32 national emergencies from 1979 are in effect. Some of the most notable are:
• Combating the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border (February 2019).
• Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (November 1994)
• Ban on financial dealings with terrorists who threaten the Middle East peace process (January 1995)
• Provisions from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (September 2001)
• Freeze of funds and assets of persons who commit, threaten to commit or support terrorism (September 2001)
• Continued restrictions on North Korea and North Korean citizens (June 2008)
• Freeze of assets of multinational organized crime organizations (July 2011)
• Freeze of the property of certain individuals involved in cybercrime (April 2015) The most recent, directly linked to Donald Trump and the rise of neo-fascism in the US are:
• Blocking access to property for those involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption (December 2017)
• Imposition of sanctions in case of foreign interference in a US election (September 2018)
• Blocking access to property for those contributing to the situation in Nicaragua (November 2018)
In addition, all 50 states have laws empowering governors to declare emergencies in their states and to ask the President of the United States for federal assistance.
I’ve gone to great lengths to explain all the legal paraphernalia and history of national emergencies over the last century in the United States to show that the one-year extension of Proclamation 6867: Declaration of a National Emergency and Invocation of the Emergency Authority relates to regulation of anchorage and movement of ships (in Cuban waters) of March 1, 1996, is a contradictory act and violates the letter and spirit of the national emergency laws of the United States itself… and a bodrio from the point of view of international jurisprudence.
The Intercourse with the Enemy Act (1917). Is Cuba an “enemy” of the United States? Does a friend mean a “footman” to the “Caesars of the Potomac”?
The Traffic with the Enemy Act of 1917 (TWEA) is a United States federal law enacted on October 6, 1917, which gives the President of the United States the authority to time or limit all commerce between the United States and its enemies of the war. It was amended by the Emergency Banking Act in 1933 to extend the President’s powers even in peacetime. It was amended again in 1977 by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to limit the use of the TWEA to wartime only, while the IEEPA was to be used in peacetime.
The law laid the groundwork for US sanctions against many countries. In 2023, Cuba is the only country sanctioned by the TWEA. Please note this is not an author’s slip or a typo, today Cuba is the only country sanctioned by TWEA!
some historical notes
The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. The TWEA was enacted October 6, 1917, and on October 22, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson by Executive Order 2729-A created the Office of the Trustee of Foreign Assets (APC, now the infamous OFAC) under the TWEA with authority to confiscate property from anyone whose actions could be considered a potential threat to the war effort.
First, the trustee confiscated assets from native German boarding schools and from companies such as the chemical company Bayer. On December 7, 1917, the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary, the other intermediate power. In 1933, newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2039, which declared a national emergency and a bank holiday. The proclamation cited the TWEA (referred to obliquely as the “Act of October 6, 1917”) as the basis of its authority. Aware that such an action was legally dubious since the United States was not at war, Roosevelt asked Congress to ratify his actions by passing the Emergency Bank Relief Act, which amended the TWEA to include its application during any “time of declared national emergency”. from the President.”
Using these new powers, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 to limit gold ownership. These restrictions were in effect until January 1, 1975. The TWEA has been amended several times.
Countries sanctioned under the Trading with the Enemy Act
Albania (1941 – 1946), Andorra (1941 – 1946), Austria (1941 – 1946), Austro-Hungarian Empire (1917 – 1921, when this state did not exist for three years (!)), Belgium (1917 – 1918 and 1940 – 1946), Bulgaria (1941-1945 and 1963), Cambodia (1975-1992), China (1941-1946 and 1950-1975),
Cuba (since 1963). In 1962, following the October Crisis, the invasion of Playa Girón, and the Revolutionary Government’s nationalization of American property, the United States imposed sanctions on Cuba. TWEA sanctions continued throughout the war. Sanctions on Cuba were tightened after the Cuban Air Force shot down from in the United States registered aircraft that were specifically known at the time to be violating Cuban airspace and had previously violated it. Cuba is currently the only country still under TWEA sanctions.
Czechoslovakia (1941-1946 and 1949-1967), Danzig 1941- disappeared as a “free city”), Denmark (1940-1946), German Democratic Republic (1949-1967), Estonia (1940-1946), Finland (1941-1946 ), France (1917–1918 and 1940–1946), German Reich and III. Empire (1917–1918 and 1940–1946), Greece (1941–1946), Hong Kong (1941–1946), Hungary (1941–1946), Italy (1941–1943), Japan (1940–1946), Latvia (1940– 1946), Liechtenstein (1941-1946), Lithuania (1940-1946), Luxembourg (1940-1946), Monaco (1940-1946), Montenegro (1917-1918), DPRK (1950-2008). The DPRK was sanctioned in 1950 during the Korean War. The sanctions of trading with the enemy were lifted in 2008. Since there is no state of war between the US and the DPRK, the TWEA sanctions could not be re-imposed but were replaced by UN Security Council resolutions, North Vietnam (1964-1975, after the country’s reunification, North Vietnam ceased to exist), Norway (1940-1946), Ottoman Empire (1917-1921), Poland (1941-1946), Portugal (1941-1948), Romania (1940-1945). ), Russian Empire (German and Austro-Hungarian occupation areas) (1917-1918), San Marino (1941-1946), Serbia (1917-1918), Spain (1941-1946), Sweden (1941-1946), Switzerland ( 1941 -1946), Thailand (1941-1946), Netherlands (1941-1946), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1941-1946 Nazi occupied territories and 1972-1976), Vietnam (1975-1994), Yugoslavia (1941-1946)
As can be seen, the Trade with the Enemy Act was applied to 47 states, particularly in connection with the First and Second World Wars and, to a lesser extent, various other episodes of the First Cold War. With the exception of Cuba, a country that not only is not in a “state of war” with the US, but maintains diplomatic relations with a US embassy in Havana and a Cuban one in Washington DC
brief conclusions
There are no reasons justifying the blockade against the Cuban people, the ultimate reasons for applying such sanctions against Cuba are three:
1. As they say in Colombia: “The snake is killed on the head.” Cuba is the country of origin of socialism and the progressive movement in Latin America, and its ideological and any influence is an inseparable part of the “Progressive Wave” that the great Álvaro García Linera foresaw and which today includes more than 550 million people in large The homeland .
2. Sheer revenge and torture of our people, 82 percent of whom were not yet born, even as the events that serve to justify and pretend the TWEA took place.
3. Chemically pure policy. A handful of voices in South Florida on the counter-revolution’s close alliance with neo-fascism and urging other countries in the region to “don’t dare or see what happens.” Currently, it is very difficult to keep Cuba on the notorious list of state sponsors of terrorism, which it should never have been included. It is very possible that very soon the Biden administration will be forced to delist Cuba, and the bandits photographed are demanding that Biden, as “compensation,” declare the “national emergency” that has already exceeded 18 years, and that that is, to permanently extend the TWEA 106 and that it be directed against its own writing to a country with which it is not in a “state of war” and which is considered an “enemy” for not submitting to its “dictak”.
They do not want Cuba without a blockade because the Cuban economy would soar rapidly and it would show that socialism is viable for many countries around the world.
rmh/jro
*Cuban engineer living in the United States.
(1) This well-known phrase may have been expressed by the Mexican intellectual Nemesio García before Porfirio Díaz, but he was the one who popularized it.
(Taken from selected companies)