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For the 19th straight year in a
row, and with the greatest majority ever, 187 of the member states in the UN
General Assembly voted for the United States government to end its blockade of
Cuba.
Compared to 187 countries that
stood with Cuba, only two states voted to maintain the blockade that is meant
to strangle the island’s people: the United States and Israel.
Three countries abstained, the
Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, Pacific islands
whose total population is 193,000. As virtual colonies entirely dependent
economically on the U.S. government, their abstention is effectively a
challenge to Washington’s dictates.
The biggest U.S. client state—and
most dependable U.S. vote—is Israel, which has always voted for the U.S.
blockade of Cuba since the UN resolution was first presented in 1992.
Yesterday’s most resounding
news is that 97.39 percent of the member states voted openly for Cuba, a
monumental rejection of Washington’s brutal policy, whose goal is to make a
whole people suffer for defending their revolution.
At the UN assembly, speaker
after speaker backed Cuba, many from oppressed countries who applauded the
island nation for its humanitarian solidarity with the peoples of the world.
That admiration was reflected in one such speech by
the UN representative from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Camillo M. Gonsalves:
“Cuba has remained a staunch and
abiding partner in the development of our country. Cuban universities have
graduated over 250 Vincentian students and are currently playing host to 150
more. Her surgeons have performed operations on over 3,000 Vincentian patients.
Her doctors have brought quality medical care and expertise to the most remote
areas of our country. Even as we speak, Cuban engineers, architects and workers
are laboring alongside Vincentians in the construction of a modern hospital and
an international airport.
“As far wealthier nations and
institutions have looked askance at our developmental struggles, and offered
only dubious prescriptions, platitudes and trite clichés, the Cuban people have
rolled up their sleeves and given freely of themselves in a manner that has
touched the hearts and souls of the Vincentian people. No dollar amount can
adequately reflect the value of this support, solidarity and partnership, for
which the Cuban people have asked nothing in return. Our appreciation cannot be
overstated.”
Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno
Rodríguez detailed the suffering that the U.S. blockade has imposed on the
children, who, despite Cuba’s excellent health care system, still cannot
entirely escape the effects because of the blockade’s far-reaching nature.
Rodríguez said: “In
the year 2010, the economic blockade has been tightened and its daily impact
continues being visible in all aspects of life in Cuba. It has particularly
severe consequences in the most basic spheres for the population, like health
and food.
“The Cuban ophthalmology services
cannot employ the ‘Transpupil Thermal Therapy,’ by means of a surgical
microscope for the treatment of children who suffer from the retinoblastoma
tumor, meaning cancer of the retina, because it is impossible to acquire the
equipment for this treatment. It can only be purchased from the U.S. company
Iris Medical Instuments. Without that technology, it is not possible to treat
the tumor of the retina and save the affected eye.
“Cuban children cannot have
access to the ‘Sevofluorane’ medication, the most advanced inhaled general
anesthesia, that is, anesthesia to operate on children, because its
manufacturer, the U.S. company ABBOTT, prohibits its sale to Cuba.”
The world stands with Cuba
The UN
resolution, first presented in 1992, is titled “Necessity of ending the
economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of
America against Cuba.” The vote that year was 59 to end the blockade, 3 for the
blockade and 71 abstentions.
There has
clearly been a monumental shift in favor of a complete lifting of the U.S.
policy. Never has the anti-Cuba vote reached even the figure of five countries.
Cuba justly
calls the U.S. policy a blockade, not embargo, for it is far more extensive and
damaging than just a trade ban. Like murderous heat-seeking missiles, the U.S. government
searches out all financial and economic transactions between other countries
and Cuba, to apply sanctions or threaten those companies and countries with
economic ruin.
According to
extensive documentation by Cuba since U.S. imperialism first formalized the
blockade in 1962, economic damage to the island has reached $751 billion. In
2008, three hurricanes of categories 4 and 5 devastated Cuba within a period of
a few months, causing over $10 billion in damage. Havana asked Washington to
temporarily lift the blockade for six months and allow Cuba to purchase
badly-needed construction materials. More than 65,000 homes had been completely
destroyed and hundreds of thousands were damaged. The U.S government refused.
The essentially
unanimous UN vote is extremely important, but it also reveals the lack of
enforcement power by the General Assembly on the United States, and the
imperialist weight of the United States and Britain within the UN Security
Council. The General Assembly includes representatives from every member
country, but its resolutions are non-binding. Only the 15-member UN Security Council,
where the U.S. holds a permanent seat with veto power, can make binding
decisions.
Solidarity with Cuba
from people around the world and in the United States is more important than
ever to make the General Assembly vote a reality.
