Havana, 13 th December, 1996
Agreement No. 14/96
DECLARATION ON THE HELMS-BURTON ACT
The Ministerial Council:
Considering Article III of the Convention establishing the ACS and pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Declaration of Principles on Tourism, Trade and Transportation adopted at the First Summit of Heads of State or Government and Representatives of the Association of Caribbean States, held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in August 1995;
Likewise considering the declarations of the 10th Summit of Presidents of the Río Group held in Bolivia in September 1996, and of the VI Summit of the Ibero-American Heads of State and Government held in Chile last November, the unanimous ruling by the Inter-American Legal Committee of the O.A.S on the Helms-Burton Act, and the legislative measures adopted by some countries to counteract that law;
1. Reaffirms the Declaration of the Association of Caribbean States on the Helms-Burton Act, adopted in Tlatelolco on May 29, 1996, attached hereto;
2. Expresses that in the defense of free exchange and transparency in international trade, it rejects the implementation of coercive unilateral measures affecting the welfare of the Caribbean peoples, hampering the integration processes and violating the principles that govern international coexistence and the sovereignty of States;
3. States, in this connection, its most energetic rejection to the passing of the Helms-Burton Act by the United States of America, which violates principles and standards of international law and of the United Nations Charter, is contrary to the spirit of the World Trade Organization and to the co-operation and friendship that should characterize relations among the members of the international community;
4. Therefore, concerned about the scope of the Helms-Burton Act, which ignores the paramount principle of respect for the sovereignty of States and whose enforcement entails an extraterritorial enforcement of domestic legislation, calls on the Government of the United States of America to reconsider the enforcement of said Act which goes against the principles that govern international coexistence;
5. Requests the Secretary General to apprise the relevant international and regional fora of this Agreement and its Appendix.