On October 30, the UN General Assembly once again convened to debate and vote on a non-binding resolution to end the US blockade against Cuba. This year, 187 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States and Israel were the only countries to vote against it, and only one country, Moldova, abstained.
Cuba has presented the resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” every year since 1992 (except 2020), to the UNGA. Every year it passes in an almost unanimous vote, showcasing the international consensus against the US policy.
This year’s resolution comes as Cuba experiences a historic energy crisis and is recovering from the devastating Tropical Storm Oscar. Despite these challenges, Biden refuses to lift the blockade, take Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, or lift Trump’s additional 243 sanctions against Cuba. US-based Cuba solidarity activists have organized a fundraiser to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Cuba as it faces these crises.
“US imperialism continues violence & genocide, but the peoples of the world have had enough and call for an end to the blockade,” writes the International Peoples’ Assembly.
Many were pleasantly surprised to see that the far-right government of Argentina supported Cuba’s resolution, abandoning its proclaimed allies Israel and the US. However, hours after the vote, Argentine President Javier Milei announced that he was firing Foreign Minister Diana Mondino because of the vote. Her replacement is Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s current ambassador to the US who is a businessman and an ideologically committed Zionist.
Why does the embargo remain? What does the US gain from this? (I’m rather out of the loop)
Badempanada’s video on the embargo
Tl;dw is that the embargo makes it so no company/ships trading with Cuba are allowed to trade with the US. And given the US’s control over the global financial systems and geographic proximity to Cuba, that essentially means almost any company sacrificing trade with the US to trade with Cuba would be committing financial suicide.
The US ruling class’s motives are that a thriving socialist country so close to the US might force them to make concessions to the working class (free healthcare, transport, etc.) to match Cuba, similar to what the Scandinavian countries had to do because of their proximity to the USSR.
Cuba’s biggest current shortages right now are energy and building materials like cement. Both of which are directly caused by the embargo, and worsened by the recent storm.
Keep Cuba down and destitute to prevent the threat of a good example.
We have moved far past the point being to “prevent the threat of a good example”. That might have been the case 25-30 or more years ago, but now the only point is to appease the large number of wealthy ex-Cubans and their descendants. And yes, ex-Cubans, not Cuban Refugees. You don’t get to call yourself a refugee for 50+ years, at a certain point you have to accept that you have abandoned your country and embraced another. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you aren’t a refugee.
Old habits die hard, especially for glowies who’s job depend on it The gov is still infected with russia obsessed cold warriors who milk the military-industrial cash cow with anti-us-hegemony boogeyman, the same kind of monster you will find in the FSB and stasi or whatever statist stupidity apparatus of your choice, they are servants of Moloch and their continues existence is the force summoning continuous wars without them even realizing
Honestly there isn’t a legitimate reason.
Tldr “tradition” and insecurity, probably.
There was once a issue with Cuba a long time ago, but that got resolved and the US just decided to keep punishing Cuba as, in my opinion, a warning to other neighbors who would dare oppose it. “help out our opponents and get smothered”
The only reason it’s continuing is because of weak administrations thinking that admitting people who ran the country in the past were wrong somehow makes them or the country look weak.
Honestly the only thing that seems weak to me is continuing to kick someone who’s been down for decades but still manages to find areas to flourish and be better than the “superpower” that’s kicking it.
It’s an anti socialist agenda, now.
Cuban exile votes in a critical state
There are enough Cuban refugees that make it a big enough issue that the embargo stays.
It’s it a blockade or an embargo? They use both
For the 32nd consecutive year the UN shows itself to be useless by not doing anything in the material world to prevent American economic warfare and terrorism against Cuba.
The UN is just America’s war condom.
Lol amazing metaphor. I’m remembering that one.
The thumbnail image for instances that don’t show it
Oh look it’s that little US lapdog
Fucking Moldova is at it again
Too drunk to vote that day
to be honest if I was the representative of moldova WHICH I’M NOT and it was the 32nd consecutive year in a row that the same shit had happened and nothing had changed then I might also take a day off
1·3 days agoThat would be counted as “non-voting” (see Ukr, Afg, Ven). Abstain means the rep was there and voted “abstain”
Only Israel has the US back at the UN. Running diplomatic cover for their genocide finally pays off.
Guess we know who the rogue states are
If you stop objecting to a bully’s behaviour you enable it.
‘Just a few more times guys. I am sure we just need to get past 35 times then the US can’t ignore us any more’
It’s still worth voting to show the basically unanimous agreement. 187–2–1 (with one of the ‘Against’ being the US itself) is a clear expression of overwhelming disapproval – to an extent that even I, a US citizen who supports lifting the restrictions, didn’t know how pervasive and long-lasting it’s been until seeing this. It forecloses on any sort of bullshit argument that “that was then, this is now” or that it wasn’t like that for some period of time or whatever. And it showcases the complete abdsurdity that no country on Earth except the US itself and what’s effectively a US protectorate actually thinks there’s any merit to this policy.
For what it’s worth, it’s actively strengthened my already strong resolve that this policy is insane.
I am more results oriented. Intentions, expressions and thoughts apparently have not had much actual effect on cuba so far and by 32 times, id have expected the UN to maybe try something else
You fail to realize that this is the most meaningful action that the UN General Assembly can take against the US on this matter. The UNGA can be very effective in facilitating international cooperation and settling minor disputes but really has no tools in its arsenal to meaningfully effect action to stop something like this.
I can hopefully demonstrate this by asking you what lever(s) the UN can pull to actually directly address this. Before you say “send aid!”, they are. And before you point to something like its past military intervention in Korea, be fully aware that that’s not at all applicable here: the US has a permanent seat on the Security Council and therefore absolute veto power; the only reason the UN was able to intervene in Korea was because the USSR didn’t use their Security Council veto; and the US is not capable of being directly matched militarily by any nation on Earth, let alone in their home waters. And before you say “sanctions”, well I’ll give you one guess what organ of the UN controls sanctions.
People seem to think that the UN is a military force that is supposed to go in and secure democracy around the planet…
It’s basically a chat room for all the countries to talk for everyone to hear. That’s 99% of its job. And it does it quite well.
The problems occur when individual members decide “nah we don’t give a shit about the UN right now” and usually it’s the big ones that ignore it. Russia, US, UK, etc
Am I allowed to steal the chatroom analogy?
I encourage people to steal non-physical things all day every day.
Sail those high seas!
My point is not that what they are doing is wrong. My point is, that after 32 times, it seems to be useless.
Okay cool but it still does absolutely nothing
Yeah like with how the US sanctions on Zimbabwe were forced to be removed (for the most part, anyway), this will only end by direct action and protests in the US itself.
That is, if the civil unrest in the US due to the sanctions harms profits for the capitalists more than lifting the sanctions on Cuba does, they will choose the latter.
fuck the USA
How does this voting work? Does this mean the embargo is lifted?
no it does not. it’s basically just a poll to see what other countries think. at least, that’s my understanding based on what i’ve read.
sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly
- https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bnissh/eli5_what_happens_if_a_country_doesnt_abide_by_un/
- https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/9/19/unga-resolution-against-palestine-occupation-will-it-change-anything
edit: formmatting. also i should clarify that reddit isn’t a particularly reliable source, but i included it because the top comments on that post agree with the other sources linked, and give provide simple answers to the question
It’s a non-binding resolution. And even if it wasn’t, the UN can’t exactly do anything militarily nor by sanctions against the US that controls both those fronts right now.
