UNGA urges US to lift embargo from Cuba

New York, 4 November 2022 (TDI): The United States (US) embargo on Cuba has received strong denunciation from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Havana has demanded the US lift the embargo to control the economic crisis on the Caribbean Island. A non-binding resolution criticizing the embargo was strongly supported by 185 nations on 3 November 2022.

Only the US and Israel voted against it while Brazil, and Ukraine abstained. It was the 30th time the UN had voted to criticize the long-standing US policy.

Dialogue between the Parties

The US administration “has increased the siege surrounding our nation, taking it to an even crueler and more compassionate dimension, with the intention to inflicting the most suffering on Cuban families,” according to Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, before the vote.

The US Political Coordinator, John Kelley, said before the UNGA on Thursday that although the US opposes the resolution, “we stand with the Cuban people and will continue to seek ways to provide genuine support to them.”

States administration was interested in the welfare, human rights, and self-determination of Cubans, it could withdraw the blockade.”

Bruno Rodriguez, the Foreign Minister of Cuba, charged the Biden administration with continuing to apply “greater pressure” ahead of Thursday’s UN vote.

According to Rodriguez, the embargo has damaged the Cuban economy around by $6.35 billion over Biden’s 14 months in office.

Also Read : UNGA approves Japan’s draft resolution

Representatives of the US countered that economic sanctions were a response to human rights violations committed by the Cuban regime, which put down demonstrations calling for political freedom & improved economic conditions in July 2021.

In response, Rodriguez stated that the US was waging “a vicious disinformation and condemnation campaign against Cuba” utilising its powerful media and digital technology platforms.

Using our children, youth, and artists as the targets of this political and media assault, the US is turning to “the most diverse techniques of non-conventional combat.”

Background

After Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba and the nationalisation of the US companies and people’s property, the US enforced the embargo on Cuba in 1960.