Many countries demand US end its embargo against Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Many countries demand US end its embargo against Cuba
10/28/2004 -- 20:23(GMT+7)

Havana (VNA) - The international community has shown its support for Cuba's draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly demanding that the US end its embargo against the country.

On Wednesday, the Russia-Cuba Friendship Association sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, calling on the international community to voice its support for Cuba. The letter condemned the US embargo as having cost Cuba 80 billion USD over the last 40 years.

Earlier on Tuesday, at a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, 150 delegations showed their support for the Cuban people by issuing a statement saying that the US has violated the international principle of free trade and called on the European Union not to back the US in undermining the path of development Cuba has chosen for itself.
A report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan published on Wednesday said 57 countries have called for an end to the US embargo against Cuba.
(snip/...)

http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=34&NEWS_ID=124265

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American sources haven't taken the opportunity to publish this information today.

There will be a formal vote in the General Assembly at the U.N. later today to condemn the embargo.

[Larkspur]

1. Looks like the world will hold the USA to the standards we preach

and hope they keep up the pressure on us regardless of who is president.

[denverbill]

2. I'm sure Bush will honor any demand from the UN.

He's a great believer in international law and respect for the rights of nations.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Hey, I had an idea!

The UN could issue a stern statement demanding that Bush continues breathing!

[Minstrel Boy]

3. self deleted

wrong thread

[prayin4rain]

4. I think this is good, if you like Castro or not, it is the people who

are suffering. Cuba isn't a threat and it just seems like immaturity at this point.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Another One of Gee Dubya's Actions Where

The continuance of the Cuban embargo is another one of Generalissimo George's actions that goes against the general consensus of the international community.

As much as it may upset Castro enthusiasts, I don't see the Cuban embargo as being a large enough issue to cause a serious political and economic backlash against the United States--Cuba really isn't that important in the global scheme of things and not enough of the big powers care enough to take strong issue with the United States about it. But I do see the embargo's continuance as being yet another one of those unilateral actions by the US government that is slowly rotting out the diplomatic underpinnings of a lot of US trade relations and diplomatic understandings that the US has built up for itself since 1900.

I would like to believe that the long-overdue end of the embargo would start a new period of prosperity for Cuba. Unfortunately, with Fidel's continuing efforts to undermine the small business sector in Cuba, I rather doubt that the end of the embargo will be as beneficial as we would like to hope.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Maybe you would provide some examples of Cuba's President's

undermining the small business sector in Cuba. Americans really don't know much about how that economy operates, and a lot of us only know what the propaganda tells us.

[Vogon_Glory]

12. Here's Two I Can Think Of

One example where Fidel undermined the small business sector was after the farmer's markets were established back in the early 1980s. Apparently someone in the Cuban Communist Party didn't like the idea that someone was making money. Instead of perhaps levying taxes, these markets were suppressed.

Ben Corbett's This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives is also chock-full of examples where ideology triumphs over small entrepreneurs--the tale of the poor schmuck who started a business of repairing old cars, only to have his asserts confiscated AFTER he had restored a particularly nice old automobile sticks in mind.

The Dallas Morning News has also been running articles on Cuba. Unlike the Miami Herald, the DMN doesn't have to kiss the backsides of either the CANF or the more lunatic fringes of the exile community. (Being in Dallas helps a lot).

I don't see the Cuban government's actions towards its private sector as being wise in the short run or beneficial for Cuba in the long run. Unlike China, post-Castro Cuba looks to be in much the same position as Yeltsin's Russia, only worse--with the state owned businesses being snapped up by insiders (unless they're sold on the cheap to someone in the EU), where Cubans with job skills and know-how lack the capital to start their own businesses, and the only opportunities to raise capital quickly being through raising marijuana or drug smuggling.

The blind suppression of the small business sector threatens the economic autonomy of Cuba in the long run.

I don't see why I should do a Democrat's version of a right-wing Republican's side-stepping when right-wingers talk about a kleptocratic Latin American economy--where good little GOPsters remain silent about human rights violations and keep quiet when honest competition is shoved aside for crony capitalist dealing.

[robcon]

9. This is not just Bush's problem

"The continuance of the Cuban embargo is another one of Generalissimo George's actions that goes against the general consensus of the international community."

The Helms-Burton Act is the worst outrage. It was signed by Clinton in 1996. This is an act which requires, in effect, people/companies in other countries to follow U.S. law with regard to trade with Cuba.

[Sara Beverley]

8. Hooray!!!

We should be ashamed of ourselves.

[Az_lefty]

10. I'm with Kofi on this one. This embargo needs to go!

[IChing]

11. State Department Responce must read.

Echos of Orwell

"The Cuban government is not a victim as it contends. Rather it is a tyrant, aggressively punishing anyone who dares to have a differing opinion," said Oliver Garza, a State Department adviser.