An affront to our sovereignty
Jun Wednesday 8 2016
IN November 2015 the Co-operative Bank closed the bank accounts of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC), citing changing “risk appetite” and “global regulations” among the reasons.
Now, following a huge campaign by CSC members and affiliates, the bank’s chief executive Niall Booker has finally confirmed in writing that the closure was directly due to “risk” arising from the sanctions imposed by the US government.
This is one of the first times a major corporation has admitted acting as a result of US extraterritorial anti-Cuban blockade legislation.
This means that a British-based bank with a strong “ethical” tradition has closed the accounts of a British-based NGO purely due to an illegal blockade against a small Caribbean island implemented and enforced by the United States.
By adhering to US sanctions, the Co-operative Bank is complying with US extraterritorial legislation — something that is supposedly illegal under British and EU legislation.
CSC has written to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry to ask that they make urgent representations to the US government and to the Co-operative Bank to ensure British individuals and companies are free to work with Cuba without being sanctioned by US blockade policies.
The British government should enforce the existing “Protection of Trading Interests” legislation that is designed to ensure that British companies and banks do not carry out US blockade policies and enable them to carry out normal trade and relations between Britain and Cuba.
The all-party parliamentary group on Cuba (APPG) has also taken action on the issue and written directly to the British government.
APPG chair Cat Smith MP said: “It cannot be right that this UK-based organisation (CSC) should be penalised due to United States’ blockade policies when the organisation is doing nothing more than promoting better UK-Cuba relations in accord with UK government policies.”
More:
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-6d81-An-affront-to-our-sovereignty#.V_HKHEkVAq0
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