Overwhelming International Rejection of US Blockade of Cuba at UN

CUBA, October 29, 2008. The United Nations General Assembly today adopted, for the seventeenth consecutive occasion, a Cuban resolution against the US economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba with 185 votes in favor, 3 against and two abstentions.

Only the United States, its faithful ally Israel and Palau voted against the Cuban resolution, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained from voting. Absent from the vote were Iraq, a country occupied by US troops and the pro-Washington government of El Salvador. 

Speakers who supported the Cuban resolution during the debate included the representatives of Antigua and Barbuda, in the name of the Group of 77; China; Egypt, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement; Guyana in the name of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); as well as Venezuela, Mexico, Viet Nam and South Africa.

Other countries that backed the Cuban resolution were Sudan, Algeria, Iran, India, Russia, Angola, Zambia, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tanzania.

In his statement at the General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said that seven in every 10 Cubans have been born under the US economic war, which has inflicted damage on the Caribbean nation calculated at 93 billion dollars.

He said that the government of George W. Bush has been the tenth US administration that has not been able to topple the Cuban Revolution despite their nearly-50-year hostile Cuba policy. 

UN General Assembly Adoption of Cuban Resolutions between 1992 and 2007

Year In Favor Against Abstentions 1992 59 3 71 1993 88 4 57 1994 101 2 48 1995 117 3 38 1996 137 3 25 1997 143 3 17 1998 157 2 12 1999 155 2 8 2000 167 3 4 2001 167 3 3 2002 173 3 4 2003 179 3 2 2004 179 4 7 2005 182 4 1 2006 183 4 1 2007 184 4 1 2008 185 3 2 2009 187 3 2