Urgent Action: Stop US attempts to sabotage the UN blockade vote
Campaign News | Monday, 29 October 2018
Please ensure that the British government maintains it vote against the US blockade of Cuba at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Write to the Foreign Office now
The US government is attempting to sabotage the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote on the blockade of Cuba, due to take place this Wednesday 31 October 2018.
For the last 26 years, Cuba has presented a resolution calling for an end to the US blockade against the island to the UNGA. In recent years the vote has been practically unanimous in its support for Cuba, with only the US and Israel voting against.
However, just days before this year’s vote, the United States’ permanent mission at the UN began circulating eight amendments in an attempt to pressure countries to vote against the original Cuban resolution calling for an end the US blockade.
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Speaking at a press conference in Havana last week, Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez said that the amendments attempt to discredit Cuba and influence the votes of member states.
What is most interesting, he noted, is not the content of the proposed amendments, but rather the fact that the document was circulated surreptitiously by the US State Department.
The United Nations has traditionally voted overwhelmingly to condemn the blockade. Last year, the resolution was adopted by the 193-member General Assembly with 191 votes in favour.
“We regret the US government is advancing on a course of confrontation with Cuba,” Rodriguez told the press conference and accused the Trump administration of using human rights as a pretext to justify the blockade that “causes significant human damage to our people, deprivations, shortage, difficulties” and itself “violates the human rights of the Cuban people.”
The US blockade has cost the Cuban economy more than $933 billion dollars since it was imposed almost 60 years ago. Under President Donald Trump it has been tightened, and his pro-blockade appointments to the US State Department have stated their intention to ramp up economic pressure against the island.
Please write to the Foreign Office today
Thank you The Cuba Solidarity Campaign Team
Read the full statement by the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez
Find out more about the US blockade and Cuba’s resolution to the United Nations
