US President George Bush on October 23 signed into law the Torricelli Bill, tightening Washington's blockade against Cuba. The law forbids US subsidiaries abroad to trade with the island, sanctions countries trading with Cuba or giving it preferential trade terms and penalises foreign ships that dock in Cuban ports.
The legislation has attracted widespread criticism for infringing the sovereign rights of Cuba and of third countries to determine their own trade regulations.
Britain's trade minister, Richard Needham, expressed "extreme disappointment" when Congress passed the bill, "despite Britain, our fellow member European Community states and other countries making clear our fundamental objections to its fundamental scope".
Needham said he was taking action to ensure that "the British government and not the United States customs" determine Britain's policy on trade with Cuba. He announced that the government had invoked the Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980 to stop British companies from complying with the United States measures.
"We believe that the law is abominable, and exactly the opposite should be done: increase free trade", said representatives of the Ibero-American association, which unites some 500 German commercial, industrial and transport companies.
"Germany is ruled according to the European judicial system", said Arno Schwedt, assistant director of the Latin American department of the German Finance Ministry, "which depends on Roman law, which establishes that each country may only use force within its national territory.
"The US government, on the other hand, thinks that it can control the subsidiaries of its national companies abroad, which has led to occasional protests by European countries. The Cuban case is not the first."
The president of the Spanish autonomous region of Galicia, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, also condemned the bill. Fraga stressed that the Bush administration should respect the sovereignty of nations.
Meanwhile, more than 40 Spanish union leaders visiting Cuba expressed their support for the Cuban revolution and said the legislation was a gross interference in Cuban domestic affairs.
A commission of senators from all the political parties represented in the government of the Dominican Republic had asked Bush not to sign the bill.
Uruguay's foreign minister, Hector Gross Espiel, came out against the bill, telling a local radio station that it is a clear violation of international law, since it affects Uruguay's freedom to choose its trading partners. Gross Espiel also said that the bill is the continuation of a dangerous practice aimed at forcing other countries to abide by US laws, which is unacceptable for Uruguay.
Chile warned that the US legislation violates the general principles of international law. The bill, noted a Foreign Ministry communiqué, also tramples on free trade among sovereign nations. Therefore, it stressed, Chile supports similar stands against the anti-Cuban legislation taken by Canada, Mexico, the European Community and other countries.
[From reports on Pegasus.]