Crushing defeat for Bush administration
08 November 2006
From the Washington Post
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. General Assembly told the United States on Wednesday to lift its four-decade old trade embargo against Cuba in a resolution adopted for the 15th consecutive year with near unanimous support.
The vote was a record 183 to 4 with one abstention on a resolution submitted by South Africa. It called on Washington to lift its "economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba," particularly provisions affecting foreign nationals
Voting "no" with the United States were Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau. Micronesia abstained. Nicaragua and Iraq did not vote.
Australia attempted to amend the document by adding a paragraph saying that the U.S. measures were motivated by "valid concerns" about the lack of freedom in Cuba and called on Havana to release political prisoners.
This fared a bit better but still was defeated by 126 to 51 and five abstentions. The European Union supported the Australian human rights amendment but voted for the resolution on lifting the embargo because of U.S. regulations that punish foreign firms, said Ambassador Kirsti Lintonen of Finland.
The measure is nonbinding and has had no impact on the United States. The Bush administration has tightened the embargo, including restrictions on visits to Cuba, travel and remittances to families.
Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly the U.S. embargo prevented Havana from getting even modest credits from the World Bank and other institutions, prevented Cuba's trade with subsidiaries of U.S. corporations abroad and barred foreign businessmen from the United States if they invested in Cuba.
"The economic war unleashed by the U.S. against Cuba, the longest and most ruthless ever know, qualifies as an act of genocide and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law," Perez Roque said.
And he said President George W. Bush approved a new measure that would deny exports of medical equipment used in health care programs for foreign patients.
All Latin American countries supported the resolution. Mexico's U.N. Ambassador Enrique Berruga said U.N. agencies, such as UNICEF, reported that the embargo was harmful to Cuban children because of difficulties in acquiring equipment for victims of cancer and to purify water.