(Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly for the 23rd time to condemn the decades-long U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, with many nations praising the island state for its response in fighting the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging West Africa.
In the 193-nation assembly, 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, titled "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."
As in previous years, the only countries that voted against the declaration were the United States and an ally, Israel...
While the General Assembly's vote is nonbinding and symbolic, it serves to highlight U.S. isolation regarding Havana. It is one of very few issues where all of Washington's Western allies part ways with the United States...
Washington broke diplomatic ties and imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on the Communist-run Caribbean island more than half a century ago during the Cold War. Its policy today appears to be influenced by domestic politics in Florida, where Cuban exiles have opposed any conciliation with former President Fidel Castro or current President Raul Castro, who took over for his brother in 2008.
This ludicrous policy has been maintained now for about 50 years. Presumably by now the Kennedy family has smoked all of the 1,200 Cuban cigars JFK imported right before he imposed the ban on commerce.
I'm pretty certain Castro would be more offended by a plethora of McDonald's restaurants and Disney merchandise in Cuba, anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd to see that this proxy soviet dictatorship, 25 years waiting to get out of a political comma and sieged by a criminal embargo, could be less damaging to the population than the alternation of proxy american dictatorships and democracies that tainted other countries in that region!
ReplyDelete