Vol. 79/No. 40      November 9, 2015

Soon after his speech the General Assembly voted — for the 24th year in a row — to call on Washington to end “the economic, commercial and financial embargo” against Cuba. The 191 votes in favor of the resolution was the widest margin ever. Only the governments of the United States and Israel voted no. Last year Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained; this year they voted to condemn the embargo.

“Historically, Washington has tried to establish its domination and hegemony over our homeland and, since 1959, change the political, economic and social system that our people have freely chosen,” the Cuban foreign minister said. Recognizing that the more than 55-year-long economic war to destroy the revolution has failed, some U.S. spokespeople say the new U.S. policy towards Cuba “is a change in methods, but not in its objectives,” he noted.

Cuba “will never renounce its sovereignty or the path that it has freely chosen to build a more just, efficient, prosperous and sustainable socialism,” Rodríguez said. “Neither will it give up in its quest for a more equitable and democratic international order.”

Rodríguez noted that since the two governments agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations there have been only “very limited” changes by Washington, including the removal of Cuba from the “spurious list of State Sponsors of International Terrorism;” talks on cooperating on air safety, fighting drug dealing, and ending human trafficking; and the relaxation of some restrictions on travel for U.S. citizens to Cuba as well as restrictions on communications.

Just the week before, he pointed out, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed a $330 million fine on the French bank Crédit Agricole for transactions with Cuba and Sudan. The day of the U.N. vote it announced a $43,875 fine on Gil Tours Travel for “providing Cuba travel-related services.”

The purchase of food from the U.S., one of the few exceptions to the embargo, Rodríguez said, “has significantly decreased over the last year because of onerous and discriminatory conditions: each purchase must be authorized by a license; the granting of credits is not allowed; Cuba is forced to pay in cash in advance through banks of third countries and is not allowed to use its own vessels to transport those products.”

Even medicine and medical supplies are often blocked. U.S.-based Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals recently refused to sell Cuba a radioactive isotope needed for cancer treatment. And Small Bone Innovations refused to sell prostheses to the Frank País Orthopedic Complex in Cuba. The U.S. government continues to pressure other nations to follow its dictates toward Cuba and to block Cuba from conducting transactions in dollars.

Representatives of more than 20 governments spoke in the discussion in favor of the anti-embargo resolution.

Algerian Ambassador Sabri Boukadoum was one of several speakers who lauded “the bold action of Cuban doctors” in the fight against Ebola in West Africa, referring to the 256 volunteers who played a key role in overcoming the epidemic, and said their example should be emulated around the world.

The Nicaraguan and Argentinian delegates called for the return of the Guantánamo Naval Base to Cuba.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Ronald Godard complained that the text of the anti-embargo resolution “falls short of reflecting the significant steps that have been taken and the spirit of engagement President Obama has championed.” He said that Washington is “committed to the hard work of pursuing genuine bilateral cooperation.”

At the same time, Godard said, Washington will keep “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all in Cuba,” a euphemism for the U.S. government’s counterintelligence and subversion programs aimed at creating and financing groups opposed to the revolution.

“The blockade against Cuba is a unilateral act that must be lifted unilaterally,” Rodríguez told a press conference after the vote. “Only the government and the Congress of the United States can eliminate it.”
 
 
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Building socialism requires ‘moral factor and consciousness’
 
 
 
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