The UN General Assembly approved this Wednesday, one more year and by an overwhelming majority, a resolution without binding effects against the United States sanctions on the United States Cubawhich have lasted for 62 years and have been a severe blow to the island’s economy. The resolution received 187 votes in favor, 2 against (USA and Israel) and 1 abstention (Moldova).
The resolution titled Need to end the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cubaand which is presented annuallyreaffirms “the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and non-interference in internal affairs, and freedom of international trade and navigation.”
“President (of the United States) Joseph Biden, with surprising mimicry, has left intact the coercive regime of his predecessor (Donald Trump) and has applied it aware of its devastating consequences,” said the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrillafrom the United Nations podium just before the vote. “Let Cuba live in peace” said the Cuban Foreign Minister, combining English and Spanish under the undaunted gaze of the only representative of the American delegation in the room.
The margin of support experienced by Cuba on this occasion is identical to that obtained last year, but with the abstention then of Ukraine.
The resolution has been accompanied this year by a very critical and detailed report from the UN General Secretariat. This document, which has been prepared throughout this year, includes forceful responses against the US blockade of Cuba by more than 180 countries and 35 international institutions, including Unicef, the UN World Food Program, the the United Nations Development Program or the World Health Organization.
Washington decreed the first sanctions against Cuba in 1959shortly after the triumph of the revolution on the island, but the first major block of measures came in 1962, during the presidency of John F. Kennedy (1961-1963). Since then they have been expanded and intensified on several occasions, such as with the Helms-Burton law (1996) or the 240 measures of the Trump administration (2017-2021), which the Biden government practically kept intact.
Cuba suffers shortages of food, medicine and fuel; prolonged daily blackouts; rampant inflation; increasing dollarization and deterioration of state services such as education and health.
In its annual report on what is called a blockade in Cuba (and in the United States, an embargo), Havana estimates that the cost of the sanctions between March 2023 and February 2024 amounted to $5,056.8 million, although it does not detail how. make your calculations.
The vote at the UN has cost the Foreign Minister her job. ArgentinaDiana Mondino, who has been dismissed by the president of the country, Javier Milei. “The new chancellor of the Argentine Republic is Mr. Gerardo Werthein,” announced the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, through the social network X.
Minutes before the announcement, Milei himself reposted a message from opposition representative Sabrina Ajmechet in which she was “proud of a Government that does not bank nor is an accomplice of dictators” and proclaimed “Long live Cuba Libre.”
Argentina, true to its historical position on this issuevoted in favor of the resolution at the UN General Assembly. This decision surprised the South American country due to the strong alignment of the Milei Government with Israel and the United States in matters of foreign policy and the far-right president’s emphatic rejection of left-wing governments.
As soon as Argentina’s vote at the UN was known, a wave of rumors began in the local press about a possible removal of Mondino from the Government, who at the moment has not expressed himself about the reasons for his departure.
The designated chancellor is an important local businessmanclose to Milei and since last April he served as Argentine ambassador to the United States. A veterinarian by profession, Werthein also served as president of the Argentine Olympic Committee (COA) between 2009 and 2021 and was also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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