{"id":187665,"date":"2021-06-28T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=187665"},"modified":"2021-06-25T08:07:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T07:07:31","slug":"under-pandemic-un-votes-to-condemn-cruel-and-illegal-u-s-blockade-of-cuba-but-there-is-a-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/06\/under-pandemic-un-votes-to-condemn-cruel-and-illegal-u-s-blockade-of-cuba-but-there-is-a-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Pandemic, UN Votes to Condemn Cruel and Illegal U.S. Blockade of Cuba\u2014but There Is a Twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

184 Countries Vote in the United Nations to Condemn U.S. Blockade of Cuba\u2014But As Usual, Only Two Countries Vote Against the Resolution: the U.S. and Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

While Conditions in Cuba Under the Blockade are Worsening\u2014Potentially Worse than the Special Period\u2014Cuba\u2019s Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industry May Help Them Out of the Pandemic.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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24 Jun 2021 – <\/em>On June 23rd<\/sup>, 184 countries at the United Nations voted yet again to condemn the U.S. blockade of Cuba, with 3 countries abstaining and 4 not voting. Every year since 1992\u20142020 being an exception when the vote was not held given COVID restrictions\u2014Cuba has introduced a resolution to end the blockade. And every year, only two countries vote against it: the U.S. and Israel, with Bolsonaro\u2019s Brazil joining them in 2019. Notwithstanding the ongoing nightmare Cubans continue to suffer under the blockade, the focus on health care and their advanced biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry may help them out of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

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Photo taken during the last United Nations General Assembly vote on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. (November 7, 2019) [Source: <\/em>un.org<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For over 60 years, the U.S. blockade of Cuba has not stopped the island-nation from pursuing its goals of living independently from neocolonial and neoliberal control, using its own national resources for the benefit of the Cuban people and instituting social programs like free universal health care and education.<\/p>\n

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Cuban Students. [Source: <\/em>borgenmagazine.com<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet the blockade continues to stifle the Cuban economy and harm the Cuban people. But further, the policy quashes all the productive potential normal relations with Cuba would foster, even for Americans.<\/p>\n

According to some sources, conditions in Cuba are now worse than in the so-called \u201cSpecial Period\u201d in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Food shortages were so dire then that malnutrition led to an epidemic disease of blindness afflicting tens of thousands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Cuba now facing the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting the blockade\u2014not to mention easening it with the stroke of a pen\u2014would clearly be the most rational and humanitarian act.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The dire situation in Cuba is in great part the result of U.S. policy: isolate nations like Cuba who rid themselves of U.S.-backed dictators and foreign control of their assets. This serves not only to punish those who go their own way and reject neoliberal policies but also serves to showcase struggling, blockaded economies while misleading the public on the causes. The policy is aggressively pursued for fear that successful examples will inspire others to rid themselves of the shackles of the U.S. empire and plutocratic interests.<\/p>\n

While Obama\u2019s policy of engagement, among other remedies, renewed diplomatic relations and eased restrictions on travel and remittances to the island, Trump reversed that trend and issued unprecedented aggressive policies against Cuba culminating in its inclusion on the unilateral State Sponsors of Terrorism list.<\/p>\n

On the campaign trail last September, Biden slammed Trump\u2019s policies, calling them an \u201cabject failure<\/a>,\u201d and promised that he would, if elected, \u201c\u2026reverse the failed Trump policies that inflicted harm on Cubans and their families<\/a>.\u201d Indeed, Cuba is no mystery to the Bidens. Biden\u2019s wife, Jill, now First Lady, actually traveled to Cuba on an educational and cultural trip in 2016.<\/p>\n

Will Biden Keep His Promise?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is no surprise to seasoned CAM readers that Biden\u2019s position seems to have evaporated under the pressures of U.S. electoral politics, particularly from the Cuban-American lobby that has kept Cuba locked in isolation for decades. While Biden has rescinded dozens of Trump\u2019s policies, on Cuba he has remained silent. Of the 240-plus measures adopted by Trump to toughen the blockade against Cuba<\/a>, Biden has not rescinded even one.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Biden\u2019s finite political capital and razor-thin margin in the Senate leaves him wary of upsetting even one Democrat, including anti-Castro hawks like Cuban-American Bob Menendez (D-NJ), not to mention Republican hawks like Cuban-American Marco Rubio (R-FL).<\/p>\n

Mounting Pressures<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pressures to get Biden to fulfill his promise are mounting in the U.S. and include Cuban-Americans. Organizations like Bridges of Love and other solidarity groups have staged rallies, protests and caravans nationwide in hopes of pushing the Biden administration to soften its strategy.<\/p>\n

Dozens of nonprofit groups, from Oxfam<\/a> to the DC Metro Coalition, have asked the U.S. to \u201c\u2026act as soon as possible to normalize relations with Cuba\u2026\u201d and lift the blockade on humanitarian grounds. Various leading think tanks, including the Council for Democracy in the Americas (CDA), the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Cuba Study Group (CSG) have asked the new administration<\/a> to restore Obama\u2019s policy of rapprochement and critical engagement. The National Network on Cuba has produced a Hands Off Cuba Map!<\/a> that can be clicked on to see the particular organizations around the U.S. working to end the blockade.<\/p>\n

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To see the organizations, click the Hands Off Cuba Map! [Source: nnoc.info<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\nCubans ride in Havana, Cuba, on the Malec\u00f3n seafront during a bicycle-motorcade protest against the U.S. trade embargo (April 18, 2021). Fifty cities in Cuba, the United States, Canada and other countries have joined in demanding the end of Washington\u2019s economic blockade as part of the Bridges of Love initiative in solidarity with Cuba. [Source: newsinamerica.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To defend the ongoing illegal and cruel blockade, Biden\u2019s Secretary of State Antony Blinken ratcheted up the rhetoric at the 51st Conference of the Council of the Americas stating that Washington \u201c\u2026will defend the human rights of the Cuban people\u2026\u201d to which the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodr\u00edguez responded: \u201cIf Secretary Blinken was interested in the human rights of the Cuban people, he would lift the embargo and the 243 measures adopted by the previous government\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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