The US government is attempting to sabotage
the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote on the blockade of Cuba, due to
take place this Wednesday 31 October 2018.
For the last 26 years, Cuba has presented a
resolution calling for an end to the US blockade against the island to the
UNGA. In recent years the vote has been practically unanimous in its support
for Cuba, with only the US and Israel voting against.
However, just days before this year’s vote,
the United States’ permanent mission at the UN began circulating eight
amendments in an attempt to pressure countries to vote against the original
Cuban resolution calling for an end the US blockade.
Speaking at a press conference in Havana last
week, Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez said that the amendments attempt
to discredit Cuba and influence the votes of member states. What is most
interesting, he noted, is not the content of the proposed amendments, but
rather the fact that the document was circulated surreptitiously by the US
State Department.
The United Nations has traditionally voted
overwhelmingly to condemn the blockade. Last year, the resolution was adopted
by the 193-member General Assembly with 191 votes in favour.
“We regret the US government is advancing on
a course of confrontation with Cuba,” Rodriguez told the press conference and
accused the Trump administration of using human rights as a pretext to justify
the blockade that “causes significant human damage to our people, deprivations,
shortage, difficulties” and itself “violates the human rights of the Cuban
people.”
The US blockade has cost the Cuban economy
more than $933 billion dollars since it was imposed almost 60 years ago. Under
President Donald Trump it has been tightened, and his pro-blockade appointments
to the US State Department have stated their intention to ramp up economic
pressure against the island.
In advance of the vote, the Cuba Solidarity
Campaign also sent a letter to Alan Duncan MP, Foreign Office Minister for
Europe and the Americas, pointing out the many ways the extraterritorial
aspects of the blockade impacted on British trade and relations with Cuba.
Following the action of the US State Department at the United Nations, a
further letter has been sent calling on the British government to maintain its
vote against the blockade at the UN, and not support US amendments which will
further damage fragile Cuba-US relations.
- Read the full statement by the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez
- Find out more about the US blockade and Cuba’s resolution to the United Nations
Text UK Cuba Solidarity Campaign
