BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS

UNITED NATIONS - For the fifth year in a row the Cuban government used the platform of the United Nations to condemn Washington's escalating economic war against the Cuban people and call for an end of the U.S. embargo of the island.

The Cuban delegation presented a resolution titled "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba." It was approved by the UN General Assembly with 138 votes in favor, 3 against, and 25 abstentions - the largest margin to date. Only the representatives of Israel and Uzbekistan joined Washington in voting no.

The document calls on all governments to refrain from enacting laws that unilaterally apply "economic and trade measures by one State against another which affect the free flow of international traffic." It specifically cites the misnamed Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, or Helms-Burton law, which U.S. president William Clinton signed March 12. The UN resolution says the "extraterritorial effects" of the Helms- Burton act "affect the sovereignty of other States, the legitimate interests of entities or persons under their jurisdiction and the freedom of trade and navigation."

Carlos Lage, a vice president of Cuba's Council of State, headed the Cuban delegation to the UN General Assembly. "The Cuban people are the principal victims of the blockade, and those of us who suffer from it know it well," Lage said in his speech to the assembly. "But this absurd policy is also against the interests of the people of the United States, violating their own human rights."

As in the past, government representatives from Canada, China, Russia, and the great majority of countries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia voted in favor of the UN resolution. This year, they were joined in the 185-member assembly by several delegates of states in Eastern and Central Europe that abstained last year: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the republic of Slovenia.

Votes in favor of previous similar resolutions were 59 to 3 with 71 abstentions in 1992, 88 to 4 with 57 abstentions in 1993, and 101 to 2 with 48 abstentions in 1994. Last year the resolution passed 117 to 3 with 38 abstentions.

The delegates from Germany, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom - which had abstained in previous annual votes - cast their ballots against the embargo this time, along with the rest of the 15 members of the European Union (EU).

John Campbell, UN ambassador of Ireland, which holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU, spoke for the European Union. After criticizing the government of Cuban president Fidel Castro for alleged lack of democracy and "human rights violations," Campbell stated, "We cannot accept that the United States may unilaterally determine or restrict the European Union's economic and commercial relations with any other state. Measures of this type violate the general principles of international law and the sovereignty of independent states."

Campbell was reacting to the intensifying trade offensive by Washington against its imperialist allies, who are also competitors, especially in Canada and Europe. This offensive is registered in the Helms-Burton act as well as subsequent U.S. legislation penalizing companies in third countries doing business in Iran and Libya. Campbell said the EU is asking the World Trade Organization to rule that the U.S. government is violating WTO rules with Helms-Burton. It is unlikely, however, that the World Trade Organization will rule against Washington because the Clinton administration paid special care in wording the law precisely to avoid such legal challenges from its allies.

Campbell noted that the EU members agreed unanimously October 28 to enact countermeasures to try to shield companies based in Europe from sanctions under Helms-Burton. The Canadian government, now Cuba's largest trading partner, has passed similar legislation.

The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act allows Cuban- American and other U.S. businessmen whose property was expropriated on or after Jan. 1, 1959 - when Cuban workers and peasants overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista - to sue anyone who invests in those properties. It also requires U.S. officials to deny entry into the country by any non-U.S. residents who "traffic" in confiscated properties. So far, Washington has barred executives of the Canadian mining and oil concern Sherritt International Corp. and several other firms from Canada, Italy, and Mexico from getting U.S. visas.

U.S. delegate Victor Marrero complained that Cuba was "manipulating the concerns of countries around the world to claim support for its reprehensible policies of intolerance and oppression."

"Not even the Roman empire in its time tried to impose a law to govern the world," said Lage in his speech, referring to the signing by Clinton of the Helms-Burton law.

Lage detailed the history of imperialist domination of Cuba by Washington prior to the 1959 revolution and the policies the White House unleashed aimed at undermining the workers and farmers government that came to power after the overthrow of Batista.

"When president John F. Kennedy decreed the blockade against Cuba on Feb. 3, 1962, he didn't do anything more than legalize a practice already in place for three years," Lage said. Later in his remarks Lage described Kennedy as "the president of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the imposition of the blockade, and the October crisis." In this instance, Lage was referring to the failed invasion of Cuba in April 1961 by 1,500 Cuban counterrevolutionaries armed, trained, and backed by Washington; and what is described in the United States as the "missile crisis" in October 1962, when U.S. forces imposed a naval blockade on Cuba and brought the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe.

Lage said that the breakup of the Soviet Union led many to believe "that the end of socialism in Cuba was inevitable." He outlined the steps Washington took in the last five years to "reinforce the blockade."

After describing the extreme hardships the Cuban people faced following the abrupt end of aid and favorable trade relations with the former Soviet bloc countries, Lage said his country is on the road to economic recovery. "No one with common sense is asking today whether or not the revolution is about to crumble." The Cuban leader said his government expects growth of the Gross Domestic Product to reach 7 percent this year, up from 2.5 percent in 1995.

"Cuba reiterates its desire for normal relations with all countries, including the United States," Lage said in concluding his speech. "But if [Washington] continues to try to starve a people whose only crime is its aspiration to live free, independent, and with the social justice possible in today's world ... history will prove that human dignity is more powerful than the entire force of an empire."  
 
 
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