UN Condemns US Embargo of Cuba for 30th Straight Year
HAVANA TIMES – The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the United States’ embargo on Cuba. 185 countries on Thursday voted in favor of lifting the decades-old sanctions which have devastated Cuba’s economy since the 1960s. Only the U.S. and Israel voted against the motion, while Brazil and Ukraine abstained.
John McAuliffe, please explain to me what problems in Cuba would be solved by the lifting of the US embargo? I can readily recount the problems solved by free and fair elections, by a market-driven economy and by a justice system that respects the rights of the individual with free expression. I am especially interested in how Cuban agriculture and animal husbandry would improve once the embargo is lifted. In addition to the food shortages, how does the embargo affect the energy situation in Cuba? Thanks in advance for your reply.
John McAulif,
Your letter is very admirable.
If your opinions were taken on board, things would improve for people in Cuba.
In a myriad of different ways.
No Question about it.
Olgasintamales,
My goal is to create the conditions that lead to the release of political prisoners. Maximum pressure with marginal improvement and maintaining a unilateral completely discredited embargo does nothing to help them. The priority of Cuba’s military like every country’s military is preservation of the government against external threat.
After sixty years of failure, isn’t it time to try something new and different?
John
My letter to Secretary of State Blinken on the US embargo vote with recommendations of how we can recover from the embarrassment
Posted to State Department Contact Page, November 4, 2022
HE Antony Blinken
Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Secretary.
To our great embarrassment, the US stood totally isolated for the 30th time yesterday when the UN voted 185 to 2 with 2 abstentions to condemn our unilateral embargo of Cuba. (I write “totally” because Israel may vote with us, but its citizens freely travel, invest and work in Cuba.)
We have continued on the reactionary path of the Trump Administration rather than return to the eloquent applauded words of USAID Administrator Samantha Power when she abstained as ambassador to the United Nations.
Given the natural White House preoccupation with Florida politics days before the mid-term elections, I did not expect anything else. But after Tuesday, the President will have a clear path for at least a couple of months.
At that point an agenda for human decency is obvious that will reverse the baleful Trump legacy and repair our reputation in this hemisphere and the world.
1) Truly open remittances by allowing Western Union to channel some $5 million daily to Cubans.
2) Make people to people group and conference travel real by allowing Americans to stay in hotels again.
3) Restore all other categories of purposeful travel, including independent non officially programmed trips and sports and cultural exchanges.
4) Remove Cuba from unsubstantiated listing as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, with the additional benefit of restoring ESTA visa waivers to countless prospective European visitors to the US.
6) Permit correspondent and UTurn banking to facilitate US business engagement.
Beyond that the US has an opportunity to boldly acknowledge and accelerate Cuba’s real opening to the non-state sector by suspending the embargo for purchases and sales by private farmers, handicrafts, manufacturers and other entities.
You and the President simply need to honestly listen to counterparts in the Hemisphere who share your criticism of Havana’s economic and political system but believe current US policy is woefully counterproductive and not serving the interests of either the Cuban or American people.
Having worked with Vietnam for decades, I wish Cuba would learn from its economic system and the U.S. would learn from our mutually respectful bilateral relations, despite contrary views of human rights and democratic governance.
As I have written before, you should apply your heartfelt and worthy expressions of opposition to Russia’s sphere of influence presumption about Ukraine to two centuries of US history with Cuba. The human cost of the embargo does not equal the horrendous toll of Russian aggression, but it is as real and as illegitimate.
We are lucky that Cuba does not follow our parliamentary strategy on Ukraine and call for US suspension from the Human Rights Council because of our persistent disregard for the virtually unanimous opinion of the General Assembly.
Sincerely,
John McAuliff
Executive Director
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
A special thanks to John McAuliffe for his letter to Secretary of State Blinken. Cancellation of the embargo would not only be wonderful for the Cuban people and harmony and respect within our hemisphere, but it would be an important part in reversing the deterioration of democracy in the USA.
Mr:McAuliff it would be great if you write another letter to they Cuban military asking for the liberation of every Cuban political prisioneros suffering under the most inhuman conditions.
It would be nice. Mr McAuluff
My letter to Secretary of State Blinken on the embargo vote is here https://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2021/07/mcauliff-messages-to-white-house-and.html