CSC's Co-op Bank account closure featured in Cuba's blockade report to the UN
Campaign News | Sunday, 23 October 2016
The closure of Cuba Solidarity Campaign's Co-operative Bank account in November 2015, due to US blockade legislation, has been included in Cuba's Report to the United Nations on the blockade Resolution.
The Report from Cuba on Resolution 70/5 of the United Nations General Assembly is entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.
The report (see page 28) features the CSC Co-operative Bank account closure as an example of the extraterritorial impact of the blockade. It states:
"The bank accounts of the Campaign of Solidarity with Cuba (CSC) in the UK were closed by the Co-op Bank in November of 2015. In March of 2016, it was confirmed that said closure was due to the risks derived from sanctions applied by OFAC, after the aforementioned bank was acquired by speculative funds based in the United States.
"The CSC wrote to the bank on several occasions, asking for an explanation about the matter; the bank referred to changes in its perception of risks relating to Cuba. Currently Cuba is classified as “high risk” by that bank."
The United Nations will vote on the US blockade of Cuba for the 25th consecutive year on Wednesday 26 October. The 2015 vote was 191-2 in favour of ending the blockade, with only the United States and Israel supporting the policy.
In Cuba's report to the UN, it says:
"To be able to move forward in the process towards the normalisation of bilateral relations with the United States, about which the government of Cuba has reiterated its willingness on the basis of sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and absolute respect for its independence, undoubtedly this would require the unilateral and unconditional lifting by the government of the United States of the economic, commercial and financial blockade applied against Cuba."
"It is essential that the 24 resolutions adopted by the international community in the United Nations General Assembly be respected; its Member States ask for that absurd policy to end. The blockade against Cuba should never have existed and it must cease once and for all."
You can download the full report here.
