STATEMENT BY THE ORGANISATION OF EASTERN CARIBBEAN STATES (OECS) ON THE RECENT ESCALATION OF UNITED STATES ACTION TOWARD THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA

OECS Media Statement

The Authority of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) meeting virtually at its Sixty-Ninth Session on June 18, 2020:

NOTING the renewed intensification of sanctions by the United States Government through its decision to certify the Republic of Cuba under Section 40A(a) of the Arms Export Control Act as “not cooperating fully” with the United States counterterrorism efforts in 2019.

NOTING ALSO that this decision contravenes the United Nations’ call on the United States to provide sanctions relief to nations reeling from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic; 

CONCERNED that certification of Cuba as “not cooperating fully” will cause United States internal systems and agencies to frustrate and to block Cuba’s access to economic assistance including multilateral aid and loans from external and international bodies, as well as membership of multilateral organisations;

CONCERNED ALSO that this decision by the United States to blacklist Cuba constitutes further strengthening of the economic and financial sanctions against the country; and that the “non-cooperative” designation will serve as a deterrent to commercial banks and international companies doing business with Cuba;

CONCERNED FURTHER that the blacklisting of Cuba by the United States constitutes continued erosion of the progress that had been achieved in recent years in relations between the two countries; and that the action undermines the stability, peace and security of the Caribbean region;

CONVINCED that these measures are unwarranted and will only serve to cause great human suffering in Cuba;

CONDEMNS strongly, the recent certification of Cuba by the United States Government as “not cooperating fully” with the United States counterterrorism efforts; and

CALLS for the lifting of these and other unwarranted sanctions, including the long standing economic, commercial and financial embargo which has brought great suffering to the people of Cuba.

OECS Communications Unit

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

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The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

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