UN General Assembly condemns the US economic embargo of Cuba for a 32nd year

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn the UN US economic embargo against Cuba for a 32nd year after the secretary of state strongly criticized the Biden administration and expressed hope that a new president would put an end to it.

The vote in the 193-member world body was 187-2, with only the United States and Israel opposing the resolution, and one abstention. It equaled the record for aid to the Caribbean country first achieved in 2019 and again last year.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez blamed the US government’s “maximum pressure” policy, which aimed to deprive Cuba of the imported fuel it depends on. a widespread blackout this month, including when Hurricane Oscar raged the island.

“President Joseph Biden’s administration typically claims that its policies are intended to ‘help and support the Cuban people,’” he said. “Who would believe such a claim?”

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but reflect world opinion, and the vote has given Cuba an annual stage to demonstrate US distinction in its decades-long effort to isolate the Caribbean country.

Cuba has struggled with one of the worst economic and energy crises in its history. In addition to waves of blackouts, citizens are also frustrated about them food shortages and inflation. Hundreds of thousands have migrated, many leaving for the United States.

The embargo was imposed in 1960 after the revolution led by Fidel Castro and the nationalization of property owned by American citizens and companies. Two years later it was strengthened.

In July 2016, then-Cuban President Raul Castro and then-President Barack Obama arrived officially restored relationsand that year the US abstained from voting on the resolution that first called for an end to the embargo. But Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, sharply criticized Cuba’s human rights record in 2017, the US voted against the resolution againand it has been that way ever since.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Paul Folmsbee told the meeting that the United States strongly supports the Cuban people in their quest for a future in which human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected.

“Sanctions are part of our broader efforts to promote democracy and promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba,” he said.

He noted that approximately 1,000 political prisoners have been wrongfully detained in Cuba, more than at any time in Cuba’s recent history.

Folmsbee said the U.S. sanctions exempt food, medicine and other basic goods and that the U.S. exported nearly $336 million in agricultural products last year and allowed additional humanitarian exports.

The US in May has lifted some financial restrictions against Cuba in an effort to boost private businesses on the island. That included allowing independent entrepreneurs to open and access U.S. bank accounts online to support their businesses, as well as steps to open more Internet-based services and limit the ability of private companies to conduct certain financial transactions to be implemented and expanded.

Rodriguez said Cuba has lost more than $16 billion under Biden’s presidency and that measures announced last year “as so-called palliatives” for the embargo are ineffective.

Keep an eye out for next week’s US presidential electionThe Cuban minister said the winner will have the opportunity to decide whether to continue “the inhumane siege measures of the past sixty years” or to heed an increasing number of Americans and an overwhelming majority of countries “and our country in will enable it to develop its true potential. and possibilities.”

Rodriguez said Cuba will defend its “right to build an independent, socialist future.”

But he also said Cuba is ready to “engage in a serious and responsible dialogue and make progress toward a constructive and civil relationship” with the new U.S. administration.