A US vote in favor of a resolution condemning the Cuban embargo

As every year since 1992, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday for a resolution calling for the lifting of the US embargo against Cuba – despite the US's desire to focus on balance sheet human rights in Cuba.

The vote was 189-2 in favor of the resolution. Only the United States and Israel voted against.

Before the vote, eight amendments proposed by the United States criticized the human rights situation in Cuba and the lack of civil liberties on the island. The amendments were all rejected by wide margins and only three delegations – the United States, Israel and Ukraine – systematically voted for. The Marshall Islands also voted in favor of an amendment.

Some delegations stated that they were not opposed to the content of the amendments but voted against it, as the embargo resolution was not the appropriate place for their presentation.

US officials said they were not expecting to overturn the embargo vote process, but they wanted to show why, in their view, the US embargo was needed.

"There are no winners here today. There are only losers. The United Nations has lost, "said Nikki Haley, United States Ambassador to the United Nations. "Most Cubans have lost and are once again left to the brutal whims of the Castro dictatorship."

In his presentation, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the embargo was "the main obstacle to the multi-generational aspirations of the Cuban people."

Since the resolution supported by Cuba was first tabled, the United Kingdom's member states have approved it by an overwhelming majority. The largest number of votes ever cast is four, including those from the United States and Israel, which have always voted at the same rate as the United States.

The only time the United States did not vote no was in 2016, when the Obama administration opened in Cuba, when the United States and Israel abstained. In the course of their interventions, several delegations expressed the hope that the United States and Cuba could work together to repair a rapprochement begun under the Obama administration, but which has run out of steam since the entry into force. according to President Donald Trump.

As relations between Washington and Havana become more and more cautious, the United States has tried the new tactics to draw attention to their position and deflect Cuban arguments that the continuation of the old embargo Half a century is the cause of Cuba's economic problems and a flagrant violation of the human rights of all Cubans.

"We can not rely on other countries and the United States to do anything about Cuban human rights," said a US official. "Only the United States will do it. Today's votes prove it. "

In a tweet posted on Wednesday night, the US mission to the United Nations positioned the vote as a choice to determine who was of high moral standing. "Every year, Cuba presents a resolution blaming its poverty, its repression and its lack of freedom in the United States. Tomorrow, the United States will hear what we have to say about it and countries will have to vote between Cuba and the United States. Who will vote with us? "

In another tweet, the mission asked: "Which countries will refuse to denounce their [Cuba’s] practice of detention and torture of political prisoners? "

Rodríguez said before the vote that Cuba was not worried about the result. "We are sure that the amendments will be rejected and that the resolution will receive overwhelming support, as in the past," he said. "We do not think anyone in the room will buy this attempt to deceive."

The vote took place on the same day that National Security Advisor John Bolton was in Miami. Bolton, who will make an appearance at the Freedom Tower just days before the midterm elections, is expected to expose the Trump government's plans to increase pressure on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The vote also came shortly after the UN clash between the United States and Cuba two weeks ago when the United States tried to launch its campaign to highlight the fate of political prisoners in Cuba. The presentation of the United States was interrupted by the incessant beats of the Cuban and Bolivian delegations on the desks and shouts. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the disruption a "child anger crisis".

The United States first submitted the amendments as a single addition to the non-binding embargo resolution and then decided to separate them into eight separate amendments to allow for full debate and vote. .

The first amendment calls on Cuba to "fully grant its citizens the internationally recognized civil, political and economic freedoms and rights, including freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and free access to information".

Other amendments address these issues in more detail and express their concern about the Cuban government's "trade union monopoly", explaining why women are not more represented in Cuban decision-making bodies and urging Cuba to release detainees "for the legitimate exercise ". their human rights. "

Rodríguez has called the US movement a "pretext to reinforce the blockage" [the Cuban term for the embargo] and take more time, create confusion and make it more difficult to adopt the resolution.

He added that the United States was trying to turn the debate into a debate that is attacking human rights in Cuba, while the embargo constitutes in itself a massive violation of human rights that Cubans suffer "precisely because of the application of the blockade".

Vassily A. Nebenzia, Russia's representative to the UN, Wednesday called the debate on the embargo resolution, calling the embargo "an awful relic of the cold war" and declaring that it "hinders" Cuba's ability to engage in global financial markets and participate in international credit institutions.

Juan José Gómez Camacho, representative of Mexico, said the lifting of the embargo will generate "greater investment flows that will benefit the entire region, allowing for a greater flow of people, goods and resources. technology."

Follow Mimi Whitefield on Twitter: @HeraldMimi