Unilateral sanctions are illegal, inconvenient and immoral

As a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the international practice of some countries or groups of using the imposition of unilateral sanctions as a weapon of retaliation or constraint against individuals, States and countries has become more visible and widespread in the world.

This aggressive way of responding to supposed or real international threats can take different forms, such as economic restrictions on trade and investment, sanctions on public officials with the cancellation or suspension of their visas,

(disapproval) of governments for "deficient" public policies in sensitive matters such as human rights, environmental protection, the fight against terrorism or the fight against drugs.

This list of arbitrary retaliation also contemplates the reckless stigmatization of economies by investment risk rating agencies.

These measures and actions violate international principles such as non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, the peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for the law.

Its unilateral nature violates regulations worldwide, as the General Assembly of the United Nations has stated on several occasions, stating that they violate "the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and non-interference in internal affairs and freedom of trade and international navigation”, enshrined in current international instruments.

They also contradict regional norms such as articles 19 and 20 of the OAS Charter.

The imposition of unilateral sanctions seriously and permanently affects spaces of relationship between countries by restricting their rights to the mobility of goods, services, capital and people.

Because of these punitive obstacles to economic freedom, such as those imposed by the United States and the European Union, the world today is experiencing a phenomenon of deglobalization that is returning it to times past of protectionist nationalisms, such as those experienced in the recent case of vaccines, medicines and medical procedures to overcome the covid-19 pandemic.

In Latin America, the painful impact of this type of coercive measures has been felt in Cuba and Venezuela.

The economic blockade of more than half a century against Cuba has turned the island into the George Floyd of punitive unilateralism, suffocating the possibility of dignified survival of its citizens.

The blockade of more than half a century of the Cuban economy has been aggravated by the recent and arbitrary anti-terrorist provisions against a country that has been, contrary to unfounded accusations, a partner in the most important peace and reconciliation processes in the region.

The Cuban people are living today a true human tragedy due to the impact of more than 270 executive orders issued by the President of the United States that limit their access to food, medicine and public services.

Between 2019 and 2020,

In one of the most critical moments of this health situation, the State Department prevented the aviation companies Skywar Entreprises and IBC from operating flights to Cuba carrying medical supplies.

As a consequence, the North American suppliers could not deliver lung ventilators to MEDICuba that had already been contracted because the company that developed them was acquired by another United States company.

The blockade also had a negative impact on Cuban efforts to develop vaccines.

According to a report by the NGO Oxfam, the impossibility of importing calf serum or bovine albumin (for the manufacture of vaccines with cultures for the growth of pathogenic microorganisms), which could be purchased from the Boca Raton Biotech Company in the United States and whose shipment It only requires 17 hours, forcing Havana to import it from New Zealand and Germany, in journeys that range between 18 and 24 days.

The Trump government even prevented the sending of remittances from Cubans to their relatives on the island and introduced more limits for the purchase of Cuban products by American tourists, which has had effects in a drastic reduction of the currencies that are key for the purchase of food or its production using imported inputs.

A similar situation exists in Venezuela, where the embargo on oil sales reduced foreign exchange earnings to 1% with the foreseeable consequences in terms of deteriorating the quality of life of citizens and their decision to migrate en masse to other countries.

In March 2015, the Barack Obama administration declared Venezuela a threat to the national security of the United States and imposed individual and collective sanctions against the country.

The most aggressive were adopted, without going through Congress, through executive order 13808, of 2017, which prevented PDVSA, the state oil company, from exporting oil and the Venezuelan State from issuing public debt bonds, the acquisition of which was prohibited. by the US Government.

In 2019, the sanctions were reinforced with executive order 13857 through which a large part of the assets of the Venezuelan State were arbitrarily awarded to the so-called interim government of Juan Guaidó, who, in an unprecedented decision in the diplomatic history of the world, He was recognized by the US and the countries of the European Union as the "legitimate president" of Venezuela without having a government in command or a country over which to exercise.

The latest sanctions reduced public revenue by 99% in the midst of the pandemic, putting Venezuela in the most precarious and difficult survival situation of all the countries in the region.

The human crisis became, because of the sanctions, a true tragedy, not to say a genocide.

The electricity generators were working during 2019 and 2021 at less than 20% of their total capacity.

The distribution of water was interrupted as a result of the sanctions, which reduced access to chemical agents to make it drinkable by 30%.

There was also a shortage of vaccines against covid, measles, yellow fever and malaria, as well as a significant reduction in HIV tests, which led to an increase in the mortality rate, especially infant mortality.

The CITGO freezing of Venezuelan assets and the sanctions on PDVSA prevented liver and bone marrow transplants from being performed on Venezuelan children.

Public support for school and university education declined, including the availability of daily school meals.

Programs such as Canaima, which consisted of handing out free laptops to primary and secondary school children, were suspended.

As a result of the unilateral sanctions, in 2018 there was a brutal contraction of GDP close to 16%.

In 2019, just before the pandemic, this figure reached 37.4%.

At the same time, there was a drop in imports close to 40%, especially in basic products.

Venezuela faced covid with one of the worst recessions in its history caused by sanctions.

In March 2019, the month with the greatest impact of the sanctions, oil production fell to record levels: 289,000 barrels per day.

It is not surprising then that the United Nations special rapporteur, Alena Duhan, confirmed that the unilateral measures imposed against Venezuela had "exacerbated the pre-existing calamities" and warned about their effect on rights such as life, health, food and development. , urging the United States and the European Union to immediately lift it.

The human impact of the sanctions has created true medieval fences in the blocked countries that seek to break the will of governments, affecting the life and physical integrity of their citizens, especially the most needy and vulnerable.

For this reason, unilateral sanctions that play with the lives or development conditions of millions of people in exchange for political or economic dividends are immoral: the life of a human being is not negotiable.

Coercion, intimidation and blackmail to achieve political changes in Cuba or Venezuela through the use of unilateral punishments that hit the population are counterproductive and misleading, because they harden the position of the governments and reduce the legitimacy of dialogue or registered exits. in the mechanisms of democratic participation, to the extent that they condition or limit the free vote of the voters.

There will be no free elections in the countries affected by unilateral international measures as long as there is a threat against the voters —like a gun to the temple— of sanctions on which their lives, their health and their work depend.

Ernesto Samper Pizano

was President of Colombia and former Secretary General of Unasur.

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