BY a tally of 188 votes in favour, two against, and three abstentions out of a total of 193 countries, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly yesterday approved a draft resolution demanding the end of the United States blockade on Cuba.

According to a press statement from the Cuban Embassy in Guyana, the individual votes list indicates that the US and Israel voted against the resolution, while Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands abstained.
“The maximum forum of the United Nations urged to lift the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington for more than half a century, and strengthened by 11 US administrations,” the release stated.
The Cuban Government has, for the 22nd time in a row, submitted a resolution to the UN General Assembly calling for an end to the economic embargo imposed upon Cuba by the United States Government. The 2013 resolution is entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”
That resolution calls for strict compliance with the principles of the UN Charter of sovereignty and equality of the states, freedom of trade and navigation, and non-interference in internal affairs.
The release stressed that countries denouncing the blockade stress its violations of international law, due to the unilateral and extraterritorial reach of its application, besides its negative impact on civil society.
Meanwhile, during a media briefing last Thursday, Cuban Ambassador to Guyana, Mr. Julio Cesar Gonzalez Marchante, had pointed out that 188 UN member states voted in favour of the resolution submitted by the Cuban Government in 2012, which he said is “unquestionable evidence that almost the entire international community recognises and supports the struggle of the Cuban people to lift the blockade.”
He said that, from inception, the blockade has been a “flagrant violation” of international law, and is contrary to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, besides constituting a violation of the right to peace, development and security of a sovereign state.
The United States has maintained an economic embargo against Cuba since 1960.
Ambassador Marchante reminded that a memorandum had been submitted by United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory, dated April 6, 1960, which stated, “The majority of Cubans support Castro…there is no effective political opposition…the only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship.”
That memorandum had imposed that every means be taken to weaken the economic life of Cuba by denying money and supplies to that country, in order to decrease monetary and real wages and bring about hunger and desperation, with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the Cuban Government.
(By Nadine Sanchara)