Cuba’s Ambassador: 6 Decade-Long US Embargo is a Genocidal Policy! (Cuba Protests)

We speak to the Cuban Ambassador to the UK Bárbara Montalvo Álvarez. She discusses the anti-government protests in Cuba and the biased Western media coverage, the role of US companies in fomenting the unrest with hashtags such as SOSCuba, the effects of the US embargo on the Cuban economy which she calls a genocidal policy, the Cuban medical industry and its production of homemade vaccines, the US’ listing of Cuba as a state sponsor of terror, Cuba’s warmth to the prospect of Lula Da Silva returning to power in Brazil amid what some call the Second Pink Tide and much more!

STATEMENT FROM THE EU: · In relation to the broad waiver proposed by a number of WTO members, the European Commission, while ready to discuss any option that helps end the pandemic as soon as possible, is not convinced that this would provide the best immediate response to reach the objective of the widest and timely distribution of COVID-19 vaccines that the world urgently needs. The EU’s proposals to the WTO (4 June) aim at achieving that objective in a swift and effective manner.
· We would need to have more information to assess the US position and how it compares to the proposal already made by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization.

· The priority for the EU is to ramp up production of COVID vaccines to achieve global vaccination. The EU is at the forefront of deliveries of effective vaccines to the rest of the world: so far, more than 500 million doses have been exported outside the EU. As many as have been delivered to Europeans (by mid-July).

· In the short term, we maintain that it is key for all vaccine producing countries to allow export immediately and to avoid measures that disrupt the supply chains.

· Vaccine production requires complicated biological processes, involving know-how, technology, skilled personnel and infrastructure. It is not by simply waving intellectual property rights that safe and effective vaccines can be produced, but rather by collaboration between those that have the knowledge and those that have the capacity.

· If voluntary solutions fail and intellectual property becomes a barrier to treatments or vaccines against COVID-19, the necessary mechanisms are already available under the TRIPS Agreement. This is why the EU presented specific proposals on how to facilitate the use of compulsory licencing in the context of a pandemic. This is a practical response to the specific concerns related to potential difficulties for making use of this existing TRIPs flexibilities.

· The EU is engaged in a text-based process in the TRIPS Council to ensure that the IPR regime supports efforts to enhance access to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
· This is also why Europe committed EUR 1 billion to create with our African partners and our industrial partners manufacturing hubs in different regions in Africa.