U.N. urges U.S. to lift embargo against Cuba

It was the 17th straight year that the General Assembly called for the U.S. economic and commercial embargo against Cuba to be repealed “as soon as possible.” Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said he hopes the next U.S. president will respond to the strong international appeal and lift the embargo.

The vote Wednesday in the 192-member world body was 185 to 3, with 2 abstentions — which Perez Roque called “historic” because it was the biggest Cuba has ever received. The United States, Israel and Palau voted “no” while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.

The United States has no diplomatic relations with Cuba, lists the country as a state sponsor of terror and has long sought to isolate it through travel restrictions and a trade embargo. The embargo, imposed in 1962, has been tightened during President George W. Bush’s two terms.

Before the vote, Perez Roque called the embargo “a genocidal and illegal policy.”

U.S. diplomat Ronald Godard said every country has the right to restrict trade.

“U.S. trade policy toward Cuba is carefully designed to permit the Cuban people access to food and humanitarian goods, but to limit the ability of Cuba’s repressive government to benefit and consolidate power through its authoritarian control over the Cuban economy,” he said.

Perez Roque blamed the sanctions for more than $93 billion in total economic damage over the decades.

Godard told the General Assembly “the real reason the Cuban economy is in terrible condition and that so many Cubans remain mired in poverty is that Cuba’s regime continues to deny its people their basic human and economic rights.”

The American people, he said, remain the largest providers of humanitarian aid to the Cuban people, providing US$240.5 million in private aid in 2007. The U.S. has increased assistance to non-governmental organizations to help address basic needs but Cuba rejected offers of U.S. aid following two devastating hurricanes, he said.

“We cannot accept alleged assistance from those who have

intensified the blockade, sanctions and hostility against our people,” Perez Roque told the General Assembly.

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