UN General Assembly Issues Call for an End
to U.S. Embargo Against Cuba
On November 8, for the fourteenth year in a
row, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling
for an end to the more than 40 year old commercial, economic and financial
embargo by the United States against Cuba and objecting to laws and regulations
compelling third countries to adhere to it. The resolution passed with a vote
of 182 in favour to four against (Israel, Marshall
Islands, Palau and United States) with one abstention (Federated States of
Micronesia). Last year's resolution garnered 179 votes in favour.
In the resolution the General Assembly
reiterated that, since its first resolution on the matter in 1992, the United
States had taken further measures to strengthen and extend the restrictions,
adversely affecting the Cuban people at home and abroad. It also expressed
concern about the implementation of laws and regulations, such as the U.S.'s
Helms-Burton Act of March 1996, "the extraterritorial effects of which
affect the sovereignty of other States, the legitimate interest of entities or
persons under their jurisdiction and the freedom of trade and navigation."
It noted that the declarations and resolutions of different governments,
intergovernmental forums and bodies had rejected those laws and regulations and
it called on all states to repeal or invalidate them as soon as possible.
Among those countries speaking on lifting the
United States embargo against Cuba were the representatives of Jamaica, on
behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries, China, Saint Lucia,
on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and Uruguay, on behalf of the
Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).