Felipe Ramón Pérez Roque

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ExportLawBlog opposes, as most readers know, unilateral sanctions, including the Cuba sanctions. But the speech given yesterday by Felipe Ramón Pérez Roque, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, before the UN prior to the UN’s annual vote on a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo, didn’t do Cuba or other who oppose the embargo any favors.

The Minister’s speech, larded throughout with purple prose and hyperbole typical of the Castro regime, claims that the blockade is an “attempt to subdue the Cuban people through starvation and disease.” And, in what is probably this year’s most unwanted compliment, the Cuban Foreign Minister expressed his “solidarity” with Michael Moore and his on-going fight with OFAC over his trip to Cuba to film “Sicko.”

The Minister’s speech recounted a number of alleged effects of the embargo, but this one struck me in particular:

Cuban children cannot receive Sevorane, an inhalation anesthetic manufactured by the American company Abbott, which is the best product for children’s general anesthesia. We have to use lower-quality substitutes.

This, of course, sounds like bunch of hooey, since an inhalation anesthetic would certainly qualify as a medicine that could be exported under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (“TSRA”). But there is more to the story, it would seem, even if the story still remains a bunch of hooey.

Sevorane is the Canadian brand name for sevoflurane sold by Abbott Canada. That suggests that Abbott Canada, a foreign subsidiary of U.S.-based Abbott probably ran up against section 746.2(b)(3)(iii) of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), which restricts exports by foreign subsidiaries owned or controlled by a U.S. parent. In the case of medicines, these exports are only allowed if the

transaction involves the export of foreign-produced medicines or medical devices incorporating U.S. origin parts, components or materials … .

If Sevorane was produced in the United States, which seems likely, then Abbott Canada couldn’t ship it to Cuba.

So why is the Foreign Minister’s anecdote still a bunch of hooey? Simple. Sevoflurane, which is sold as Sevorane in Canada, is sold as Ultane in the United States. This means that the very same inhalation anesthetic, albeit under a different name, could be shipped to Cuba under the provisions of TSRA.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, after the Foreign Minister’s speech, the U.N. passed — for the sixteenth year in a row — a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo of Cuba. Only Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau voted with the U.S. to oppose the resolution. The resolution is unlikely to have any effect.

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