Cuba: UN votes again to end blockade

On October 29, the UN General Assembly approved by an overwhelming majority the resolution demanding an end of the US blockade of Cuba — the 17th consecutive year running such a vote as been passed by the assembly.

Of the 192 UN member states, 185 voted in favor of the resolution, while three voted against (the United States, Israel and Palau) and two abstained (Marshall Islands and Micronesia).

Cuba gained an extra vote in its favour this year in relation to 2007, when 184 voted in favour and four voted against (including Marshall Islands) and only Micronesia abstained.

The backing for this resolution has grown from 59 votes in 1992.

Before the vote, Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque spoke to the assembly and noted the special situation in which this resolution is taking place — an economic crisis that is being internationally felt and above all, the imminent US elections that, he observed, will produce a new president who "will have to decide whether the blockade is a failed policy".

"You are alone, isolated", said the foreign minister, addressing US President George Bush. Perez's speech was loudly applauded by the assembly.

From GLW issue 773