U.N. votes 189-2 against U.S. embargo
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a resolution condemning the American economic embargo of Cuba after rejecting proposed U.S. amendments strongly criticizing the lack of human rights in the country.
Resolutions adopted by the 193-member world body are unenforceable, but they reflect world opinion and the vote has given Cuba an annual stage for the past 27 years to demonstrate the isolation of the U.S. on the embargo.
It was imposed in 1960 following the revolution led by Fidel Castro and the nationalization of properties belonging to U.S. citizens and corporations. Two years later, the embargo was strengthened.
The General Assembly’s vote on the Cubansponsored resolution on the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” was 189-2 with no abstentions. The U.S. and Israel voted “no” and Moldova and Ukraine did not vote.
The proposed amendments expressed serious concern at the lack of freedom of expression and access to information in Cuba and the prohibition on workers’ right to strike. They called on Cuba to fully grant its citizens “internationally recognized civil, political and economic rights and freedoms,” to establish an independent civil society and to release people detained for exercising their human rights.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the U.S. embargo “a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of the human rights of Cuban men and women” and denounced what he called the politicized U.S. amendments.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley stressed before the votes that “our reason for the embargo is and has always been Cuba’s denial of freedom and the denial of the most basic human rights for the Cuban people.”
The European Union said the U.S. amendments did not belong in a resolution dealing with a trade embargo, and its members supported the resolution calling for the United States “to repeal or invalidate” the embargo. Canada also spoke out against the amendments.
Thursday’s vote came shortly before President Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton announced in Florida that the administration is imposing new sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela and soon on Nicaragua, calling the three countries a “troika of tyranny.”