Cuba denounces continuing blockade

GENEVA.— Cuba has condemned before the World Trade Organization (WTO), the fact that the United States is insisting on retaining its blockade, despite reiterated demands from the international community to lift it.

Addressing the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), Nancy Madrigal, Cuban mission advisor to international organizations based in Geneva, recalled that on November 13, 188 countries voted at the UN for an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba.

This was the 21st consecutive National Assembly vote against the blockade; however, the United States is still ignoring the international community’s just demand, Madrigal stated.

She also denounced the fact that, since 2002, Washington has used Section 211 of the 1998 Omnibus Appropriations Act to prevent Cuban owners or their successors from the recognition and enjoyment of their rights in U.S. territory over trademarks or trade names registered and protected in Cuba.

Section 211 remains intact, despite the fact that the WTO ruled it incompatible with the Agreement on Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights related to Trade and the Paris Convention.

This situation affects the effectiveness of the ‘resolution-of-differences’ system, foments distrust and new non-fulfillments and, worse still, undermines the credibility of the Multilateral Trade System, Madrigal noted.