Friday, October 31, 2008

17-0

True to form, it wasn’t a cliffhanger. For the 17th year in a row, the UN General Assembly approved the resolution urging the United States to end the embargo. The vote this year was 185-3, with two abstentions.

184 voted “yes” last year, and Cuban media report that Albania voted “yes” this year to bring the total to 185. Cuban media are happily comparing this year’s vote to 1992, when there were only 59 affirmative votes.

The Marshall Islands changed its usual “yes” to an abstention this year.

The Los Angeles Times editorialized on the vote and the “blunt instrument” of the embargo. If this vote prompts a new Administration to take a fresh look at U.S. sanctions, so much the better.

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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 31, 2008 at 4:21 PM

    if obama is elected, he will do the same as Clinton. he will leave the embargo in place and tinker on the margins -- more travel and exchanges, etc. -- so don't get your hopes up apologists...

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  2. AnonymousNovember 1, 2008 at 12:51 PM

    peters, the Miami Herald reports that Cuba owes Sherritt $393 million. They weren't taking your advice were they?

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  3. ConchscooterNovember 1, 2008 at 8:06 PM

    I'm getting my hopes up. hope springs eternal. Hell if North Korea gets normalised...are we all apologists for them?

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  4. AnonymousNovember 2, 2008 at 1:37 PM

    Let me visit my dying mom in havana, pleas miami mafia, let me visit me mom more than 1 per 3 years.

    this is america! wheres freedom?

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  5. theCardinalNovember 3, 2008 at 11:10 AM

    so go visit your mom. if she's really dying go to the Bahamas, Mexico, Jamaica...wherever you want and just go. stop your whining. I know plenty of people that do it. No one told you to leave Cuba so if you miss it THAT much you can even stay.

    Restrictions are stupid but they are bigger than one persons problems.

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  6. AnonymousNovember 4, 2008 at 7:47 AM

    If you watched Maria Elvira Live on Mega TV yesterday (November 3), the former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela (under Clinton) said that the first thing Obama will do on January 20th is lift restrictions on travel to Cuba by Cubans and limits on sending money to Cuba. Hooray for him. Finally a realistic policy!

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