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Vol. 74/No. 42      November 8, 2010

 
UN condemns embargo
of Cuba for 19th time
 
BY SETH GALINSKY  
UNITED NATIONS—The UN General Assembly voted almost unanimously October 26 to condemn the U.S. economic, financial, and trade embargo on Cuba. This is the 19th year in a row the body has called on Washington to end the embargo.

This year only the Israeli representative voted with the U.S. government. Delegates from three countries including Palau, which voted with Washington last year, abstained. There were 187 votes for the resolution.

“It is obvious that the United States has no intention whatsoever to lift the blockade,” noted Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s foreign minister, in his speech to the assembly. “There is not even a sign showing that its government is willing to dismantle the most irrational aspects of what is already the most comprehensive and long-lasting set of sanctions and coercive measures ever applied against any country.”

Rodríguez pointed to a tightening of the embargo on financial transactions since Barack Obama was elected U.S. president. In May 2009 the U.S. Treasury Department blocked a bank transfer of $147,000 belonging to Cuba’s airline.

Recently the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) informed Cuba that it would not be able to access its international banking network after March 31, 2012, because a new computer program contains U.S. technology. SWIFT is the main system for interbank transactions in the world.

Rodríguez documented Washington’s continual blocking of the sale of medical technology and medicines to Cuba.

“Although Washington has very selectively authorized some cultural, academic, and scientific exchanges,” Rodríguez noted, “these are still subject to severe restrictions” and many could not take place because of denials of visas and other licenses.

Ronald Godard, representing the U.S. delegation, said that instead of calling to end the embargo, the UN should “focus its energies on supporting the Cuban people in their quest to freely decide their own future.” He cynically claimed that the “United States holds no restriction on humanitarian aid to Cuba,” pointing to gift parcels sent by Cuban Americans to family on the island.

Rodríguez said that Washington has no right “to meddle in or judge” what takes place in Cuba.
 
 
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