UN General Assembly rebukes US embargo on Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Resolution condemning embargo on Cuba passes 185-2, marking 30th time the UN has rebuked the decades-old US policy.

3 Nov 2022

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has delivered a strong rebuke of the United States embargo on Cuba, which Havana has demanded be lifted amid an economic crisis on the Caribbean island.

Overwhelmingly, 185 countries on Thursday voted in favour of a non-binding resolution condemning the embargo, with the US and Israel voting against and Brazil and Ukraine abstaining.

It was the 30th time the UN has voted to condemn the US policy, which has been in place for decades.

“The United States opposes this resolution, but we stand with the Cuban people and will continue to seek ways to provide meaningful support to them,” US Political Coordinator, John Kelley, told the UNGA on Thursday.

More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/3/un-general-assembly-rebukes-us-embargo-on-cuba

Also posted in LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142990056

[Judi Lynn]

1. UN again demands end to US embargo on Cuba

Online News Editor
November 3, 2022 1 minute read

United Nations, Nov 3 (EFE).- The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday to demand that the United States end its economic embargo against Cuba.

The island’s Communist government has proposed the resolution every year since 1992 and on each occasion, it has been approved by a large majority of the 193 UN member-states.

The latest resolution passed Thursday by a vote of 185-2 with two abstentions. Only Israel joined the US in voting “no,” while Brazil and Ukraine declined to take a position.

In 2016, during the thaw between the US and Cuba under then-President Barack Obama, Washington’s representative to the UN abstained on the anti-embargo resolution.

But the US returned to its traditional position under Donald Trump, who not only reversed most of the steps taken by Obama to improve ties, but extended and intensified the embargo.

More:
https://www.laprensalatina.com/un-again-demands-end-to-us-embargo-on-cuba/

[Judi Lynn]

2. Cuba's COVID-19 vaccine success could serve as global model: report

November 3, 2022 – Cuba’s ability to develop homegrown COVID-19 vaccines and immunize most of its citizens should serve as a model for developing countries around the world dealing with public health emergencies, according to a new report.

The report was issued October 31 by the first U.S.-led scientific delegation to visit Cuba in five years. The delegation was organized by MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba), a U.S.-based non-profit promoting health-related dialogue and collaboration.

David Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was among the co-authors.

The report called for greater engagement with Cuba’s biotech sector, in spite of political challenges, to bolster the global fight against existing and emerging threats and to support equitable access to medical innovations. The authors also noted that Cuba’s COVID-19 vaccination rate in children and adolescents was much greater and was achieved much earlier than any other country in the world, and that the emphasis on vaccinating kids—who often serve as significant vectors for spreading infectious diseases to populations more at risk, such as the elderly—should be considered by other countries to blunt transmission rates in the general population. The possibility of using Cuba’s SOBERANA Plus vaccine as a universal booster globally should also be explored, the report said.

More:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/cubas-covid-19-vaccine-success-could-serve-as-global-model-report/

[roody]

3. Duh

[Judi Lynn]

4. Yup

[Judi Lynn]

5. Global community condemns US blockade of Cuba for 30th time

What the world has to say is clear: the blockade is cruel, regressive, and pointless, and it should be lifted immediately
Owen Schalk / November 4, 2022 / 3 min read

On November 3, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted overwhelmingly to condemn the US government’s economic, commercial, and financial blockade of Cuba. Of the 189 member states present at the vote, 185 called for the blockade’s immediate lifting, equal to 98 percent of the General Assembly. Two countries abstained: Brazil and Ukraine. Two voted against the resolution: the United States and Israel.

Following the vote, Medea Benjamin of CodePink said: “The Biden administration talks about the need for a rules-based international order. Today’s UN vote clearly shows that the global community is calling on the US to lift its brutal embargo on Cuba.”

Indeed, the world has spoken, as it did at the previous 29 UNGA votes to condemn the US blockade of Cuba. What the world has to say is clear: the blockade is cruel, regressive, and pointless, and it should be lifted immediately.

With this most recent vote, only four countries—two percent of the states represented in the “rules-based international order”—openly support the blockade or refuse to condemn it. This means that the US blockade of Cuba is more widely denounced than the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s eastern provinces, which 78 percent of present member states voted to condemn at a UNGA vote this October.

Nevertheless, the blockade remains in place, impacting every aspect of life in Cuba, from medical care to education to caloric intake.

More:
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/global-community-condemns-us-blockade-of-cuba-for-30th-time