A last-minute amendment proposed by the Australian government to add a paragraph calling on Havana to unconditionally release all so-called political prisoners and respect human rights was soundly defeated with 127 governments voting against, 50 in favor, and 5 abstentions. The Australian representative argued that the U.S. embargo was motivated by “valid concerns” about freedom in Cuba.

"Cuba will never surrender to this illegal and immoral blockade," said Cuban foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque to thunderous applause.

"Nor will Cuba retreat from its commitment to extend aid and solidarity to those suffering exploitation around the world," said Pérez Roque. He was referring to a new restriction under the U.S. embargo that prohibits the sale to Cuba of medical equipment that can be used in large-scale health-care programs in other countries. Tens of thousands of Cuban doctors are providing medical care in some of the most remote parts of Latin America and Africa.

Several African diplomats took sharp exception in their remarks to this new restriction imposed by Washington.

"Such a measure would have a deplorable effect in many African villages where the only doctor is a Cuban doctor," said Kaire M. Mbuende, Namibia's UN representative. He told of being treated himself by Cuban doctors in a refugee camp in Tanzania prior to Namibia's independence in 1990.

Washington’s delegate objected that the U.S. embargo was a “bilateral issue” and should not be discussed by the UN General Assembly.

In preparation for this year's discussion, the Cuban government released its written response to a request from the UN secretary general on the effects of the embargo at a October 24 press conference in Washington. The report, titled “Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba,” is available at the UN web site, www.un.org. Drawing on that report, Pérez Roque detailed Washington's tightening of the embargo and travel restrictions over the last year.

In 2005, Pérez Roque said, the U.S. Treasury Department, which enforces the embargo, fined 38 companies and banks a total of more than $44,000. It also issued fines to 487 U.S. citizens or residents totaling nearly $530,000 for violating the travel ban. Family visits between Cubans in the United States and the island have been reduced from 115,000 in 2003 to 62,000 last year.

Washington has intensified its efforts to block the sale of Cuban nickel—an important source of hard currency for that country. The U.S. government has also stepped up pressure on foreign banks doing business with Cuba. In one example cited in Cuba's report, a Uruguayan bank with central offices in the United States was forced to close the accounts of a bank in Argentina because the Argentine bank's president was registered on a U.S. Treasury Department list due to his long-standing commercial links to Cuba.

At the October 24 press conference, Dagoberto Rodríguez, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, said the U.S. embargo cost the Cuban economy more than $4 billion in 2005 alone.

Pérez Roque said the amendment submitted by the Australian government was drafted by U.S. officials after having failed to convince the European Union to submit it. "The talking points for this amendment were being distributed by the United States before it was submitted by Australia," he noted.

For years the governments of Australia and several European countries have voted for ending the U.S. embargo but entered separate statements of explanation for the record, charging Cuba with violating human rights.

The EU backed the Australian amendment but also voted for the Cuban-backed resolution on lifting the embargo, the Finnish delegate stated, because of “extraterritorial” U.S. regulations that penalize companies in other countries.

In response Pérez Roque said the governments of the United States, Australia, and the European Union had "no moral authority to talk about human rights with the brutal assault and occupation of Iraq, the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and in Guantánamo—including Australian prisoners—the rising racism and xenophobia across Europe faced by people from its former colonies, and the near extermination and apartheid-like conditions imposed on the indigenous people of Australia."
 
 
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