The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday against the US economic and trade embargo against Cuba, which dates back to 1960. A total of 187 states voted in favor of the resolution, which has been proposed against the embargo every year since 1992.
Resolution A/78/L.5 was submitted by Cuba under the title “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.
The document received two more votes this year than in 2022. Morocco voted in favor of a UN resolution condemning the economic blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, despite Cuba’s support for the Polisario organization.
Ukraine abstained, while the United States and Israel vetoed the UN General Assembly resolution calling for the lifting of US measures that have contributed to the economic asphyxiation of the Cuban people.
At this annual session, Morocco for the first time opposed the policy of its strategic ally, the United States, against Cuba.
The Cuban Foreign Minister described the blockade as a 60-year-old decision that violates the rules of public order and international trade. Baria, said that the blockade has caused difficulties for his country, preventing it from purchasing American products, including medical equipment and medicines, which has resulted in high costs.
The Cuban official referred to the “Covid-19 period”, when “Cuba had to wait for an American permit to obtain an agreement to import medical oxygen for the benefit of patients in advanced cases”, stressing that “this case is part of America’s inhumane policy”.
The US representative justified maintaining the blockade by asserting that the United States supports the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Cuban people. Despite the call from the majority of countries, including Morocco, to end the blockade, the American diplomat insisted that these sanctions are a means of promoting democracy in Cuba.
This UN General Assembly resolution is similar to many others adopted in recent years, but the United States has rejected it every time.
Cuba is considered a staunch supporter of the cause supported by Algeria and the Polisario with regard to the Moroccan Sahara. In 2017, Morocco re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba, ending a 37-year break by announcing the return of diplomatic relations between the two countries at ambassadorial level, after 1980 had been a difficult period between Rabat and Havana.
Last year, the King’s new ambassador to the Republic of Cuba, Hicham Elaloui, presented his credentials as the Kingdom’s new ambassador to Cuba to President Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who affirmed his country’s desire to “strengthen economic relations with Morocco”, indicating that the two parties were entering a new phase.
That said, the Assembly expressed its concern that, despite its resolutions dating back to 1992 (resolution 47/19), “the economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba is still in force”, and by “the harmful effects of these measures on the Cuban people and on Cuban nationals living in other countries”.
She recalled the measures adopted by Barack Obama, then President of the United States, in 2015 and 2016 “to modify several aspects of the embargo’s application”, in contrast to the measures applied since 2017 “to strengthen its implementation”.