HAVANA (AP) — President Barack Obama’s easing of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba has had virtually no positive effect on the island’s economy, Cuba’s top diplomat asserted Friday.
Presenting Cuba’s annual report ahead of a U.N. vote on condemning the embargo, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the sanctions cost his country $4.6 billion last year. The total cost of the 55-year-old embargo now stands at $125.9 billion, he added.
The presentation of Cuba’s update on the embargo is an annual ritual driving home to a mostly domestic audience Havana’s message that U.S. sanctions are to blame for most of the country’s problems. The report contains a detailed accounting of both specific damage from the embargo, such as U.S. government fines on Cuba’s business partners, and scenarios in which Cuba faults the U.S. for the loss of hypothetical business.
For example the report estimates that Cuba could sell 2.5 million cases of Havana Club rum in the United States each year and factors in that theoretical lost revenue, $105 million, to the total damages in the report.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuba-says-obamas-easing-embargo-222857708.html
