The UN General Assembly approved by an overwhelming majority the resolution demanding an end of the US blockade of Cuba, a vote passed by the assembly for the 20th consecutive year.
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This year 186 UN member states voted in favour of the resolution, while 2 voted against (the United States, Israel) and three abstained (Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau).
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The resolution calling for an end to the blockade has been approved on 20 occasions with backing that has grown steadily from 59 votes in 1992 to the 186 today.
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Before the vote, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla spoke before the General Assembly and noted that it would have seemed impossible two decades ago that the United nations would be still discussing the same issue.
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He described the 50-year long blockade as an act of genocide. “The object of the blockade is to weaken the lives of Cubans and to cause hunger. The US has never hidden the fact that it wants regime change in Cuba.”
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Rodriguez added that the Obama Administration has spiked its chase of Cuban money transactions throughout the world, showing no respect whatsoever to the laws or governments of third countries. He also pointed out that Cuba cannot use US dollars in its transactions, or freely import or export products, including medicines, to and from the United States.
As an example of the criminal policy, Rodriguez recalled the seizure by the US government of some 4 million dollars the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria had allocated for programs to be carried out in Cuba.
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After explaining how the blockade had cost Cuba close to a trillion dollars in losses in the last 50 years, Rodriguez urged the world representatives to back up the resolution, on behalf of his people.
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Read Cuba’s Report on Resolution 65/6
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Download Cuba’s Report on Resolution 65/6Also See
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> CARICOM: U.S. Blockade of Cuba Is Anachronistic
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> Cuba-UN Bonds Continue to Strengthen
