August 29, 2024

Hundreds of lawyers have sent a joint letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, appealing for an end to unilateral economic sanctions, according to a report by Bloomberg. The letter condemned the sanctions as a collective punishment to ordinary civilians, and a violation of international law.

Self-styled as the world gendarme, the United States has been exerting unilateral political, economic and financial sanctions over other sovereign states, businesses, banks and institutions over the past decades and thus has caused serious difficulties and humanitarian crises in various countries around the world.

Ever since 1960, after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Washington has been exerting across-the-board severe sanctions on Cuba. It announced a total economic trade, finance and travel blockade on Cuba, and froze Cuban assets in America. The over 10 million Cuban people have long been suffering severe disasters, unable to get sufficient food, fuel, daily necessities and drugs in the decades leading up the present day. Those with severe, often life-threatening illnesses weren't given access to essential, life-saving medicine. During the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020-2022, stemming from U.S. sanctions, Cuba wasn't afforded access to necessary medical materials and equipment, such as respirators, with the ultimate cost being the lives of its own citizens.

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