Application of unilateral coercive measures in exceptional contexts

Abstract

The economic siege imposed by the U.S. government on the Cuban State has placed circumstances of permanent exceptionality in front of the international community. The cold war policy supported by the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, estarted in 2019 a new stage of actions began with the activation of Title III of that law, to prevent foreign investment in Cuba and to favor a regime change. This article aims to argue the impact of the blockade as a unilateral coercive measure in an irregular socio-political context that has extended for more than six decades in the Cuban case. It analyzes the nationalization of 1959 as an act of state sovereignty, the illegitimate and extraterritorial nature of the blockade insofar as it violates International Public Law and constitutes an irrational act of economic war, as well as an arbitrary political sanction that harms the most elementary human rights. Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1341

Keywords

• blockade
• helms-burton act
• Title III
• unilateral coercive measure
• international law