UN General Assembly demands the end of the embargo on Cuba with only the United States and Israel against

The General Assembly of the UN approved this Thursday a new resolution to demand the end of the US embargo against Cubawhich was only opposed USA and Israel.

This call, which has been made annually for three decades and always goes ahead with overwhelming majorities, received on this occasion 185 votes in favor, 2 against and 2 abstentions, from Brazil and Ukraine.

A year ago, the resolution had been approved with 184 votes in favor, 2 against (USA and Israel) and 3 abstentions (Colombia, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates).

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In 2016, during the rapprochement that Cuba and the United States staged during the Administration of Barack Obamathe US came to abstain and allow the document to be adopted without opposition, but returned to “no” with the Donald Trump government and until now has kept it hand in hand with Joe Biden.

The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguezpresenting the text, denounced today that the so-called blockade is a “deliberate act of economic warfare” and which has an effect similar to that of “a permanent pandemic, of a constant hurricane.”

Rodríguez also stressed that since 2019, when the Trump government tightened sanctions, this policy has “an extreme dimension, more cruel and inhuman, to deliberately inflict the greatest possible damage on Cuban families”.

“We do not attribute to the blockade all the difficulties that our country faces today, but whoever denies its very serious effects and does not recognize that it is the main cause of the deprivation, shortages and suffering of Cuban families would be untrue”, insisted.

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Members of the Cuban delegation attend a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the trade and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba, at the United Nations headquarters, in New York City, on November 2 2022. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP) (YUKI IWAMURA /)

Message to Biden

The Cuban foreign minister used the loudspeaker of the UN to send a message to Biden, who until now has not promoted major changes to his predecessor’s policies in this area.

“The current US government does not have its own policy towards Cuba. It acts by inertia and continues the inhumane policy of maximum pressure established during the Presidency of Donald Trump”, critical.

Cuba, he said, is willing to “advance towards a better understanding” with USA and “to develop civilized and cooperative relations, based on mutual respect and without undermining our sovereignty.”

The US delegation, which took the floor to explain its negative vote, assured that its policy seeks to support the “Cuban people in their search for freedom, prosperity and a future with more dignity.”

In this sense, Washington denounced the repression of the opposition by the Government of Cuba, which it urged to “listen” to citizens and to allow them to “determine your own future”.

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sponsorship of terrorism

As usual, Cuba received messages of solidarity from dozens of countries, especially from Latin American and Caribbean, African and Asian nations.

In this year’s debate, in addition to repeated statements about the injustice and illegality of the embargo, many countries placed particular emphasis on the need for Cuba be removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, at a time when Washington is reviewing the issue.

Cuba had been removed from that list in 2015, in the thaw stage that was experienced during the Obama administration, but it returned in 2021 under Trump, who stopped rapprochement with Havana and tightened sanctions.

Rodríguez denounced that “lethal measure” it is totally unfair and inadmissible and that it is exponentially raising the so-called country risk and forcing people to pay much higher prices for any imported merchandise.

For this reason, he asked Biden to correct Trump’s action, since “It would be the morally correct and lawful thing to do.”

Source: Elcomercio