Joe Biden has demonstrated that when it comes to Cuba, he is continuing a cruel and outdated Cold war policy of blockading Cuba despite overwhelming opposition from the rest of the world. The increasing isolation is seen by 184 nations in the UN calling for an end, with only the US and Israel voting to continue it.
The UN vote re US blockade on Cuba was a chance for President Biden to show global leadership. He failed miserably. The US & Israel vs 184 nations—and 11 million Cubans who suffer from this wretched policy—DURING A PANDEMIC. Shame on Biden. #EndtheBlockade #EliminaElBloqueo
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) June 23, 2021
Cuba may not be able to widely administer Abdala, Cuba's highly successful COVID-19 vaccine, to the Cuban people because the US blockade has caused a shortage of 20 million syringes. 💉
This is the devastating reality of the US embargo on Cuba. #ElMundoDiceNo
— CODEPINK (@codepink) June 23, 2021
Condemnation of the blockade came from all sides.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Padilla slammed the blockade as a “massive, flagrant, and unacceptable violation of the human rights of the Cuban people” and “an economic war of extraterritorial scope against a small country already affected in the recent period by the economic crisis derived from the pandemic.”
“Like the virus, the blockade suffocates and kills and must end,” Rodríguez told the General Assembly.
Spain’s U.N. delegation said that the U.S. embargo against Cuba “has a detrimental impact on the country’s economic situation and negatively affects the standard of living of the Cuban people.”
Indonesia’s U.N. mission asserted that the blockade “violates norms and principles of international law and sovereign equality of states” and hinders Cuba’s “recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Sofiane Mimouni, Algeria’s ambassador to the U.N., reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering solidarity with the government and brotherly people of Cuba as well as its support for the lifting of the longstanding and unnecessary embargo imposed on Cuba.”
Mexico’s U.N. mission said it “reiterates its condemnation of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba, and calls for its end.”
The end of the blockade is long overdue. There is absolutely no justification for it.
Israel has zero moral authority, so we in the US are in poor company indeed.
I don’t think Israel cares one way or another about Cuba. They’re just voting with the US to keep the foreign aid coming in.
I thought Obama was at least on the road to ending the embargo and normalizing relations until TFG got in and canceled everything? Why is Biden back to square one on this?
The explanation is simple: 1) there are far more issues to deal with and as bad as the situation may be the Cubans are maintaining. There have also been some not well advertised changes under Obama that opened up back channels for trade and importation of vital materials. The blockade has lots of holes a whole lot of trade is taking place quietly.
2) One likely consequence of ending the blockade under present conditions is that Biden would lose Florida and any chance of reelection. A large population of voters in Florida have no desire for change.
3) The Castro era is sun-setting. How this is going to play out with the Cuban affiliated population in Florida is anyone’s guess. Those supporting a continued blockade are very visible and very vocal in Florida politics. But there is some number within that population which would like to see normalization. There is some chance the situation might resolve itself if the Castro regime reforms and the Cuban ex-pat community consolidates and agrees. At which time there may be far fewer down sides to ending the blockade and Biden would do well to very publicly end the blockade.
4) There is also the likelihood that any call by the UN is entirely self defeating. Anything even vaguely resembling going along will be seen as complete capitulation by Republicans. Their hatred of the UN and everything it does and stands for knows no bounds. They will use this issue to both gain power and move forward on destroying the UN as a system.
Unfortunately the UN holding the vote has, at the very least, barring political changed within Cuba, eliminated any chances of progress in the desired direction.