Stewart Stogel
Wednesday Nov. 5, 2003

Voting with the U.S. against the non-binding/non-enforceable resolution was Israel and the Marshall Islands. Micronesia and Morocco abstained.

While Washington considers the vote as an annual propaganda forum for the government of Fidel Castro, it nonetheless shows declining support for the embargo initiated during the Kennedy administration.

Addressing the U.N. body, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque claimed the White House blockade has cost Havana over $72 b in lost revenue (he declined to reveal the source of his figure).

Roque was at no loss of words to describe the U.S. action, at various times the Cuban called U.S. policy, "cruel, absurd, ruthless, relentless and a legal aberration."

He went on to say that support for the embargo inside the U.S. was limited a "corrupt and greedy minority," (a reference to the Cuban communities in Florida and New Jersey, whom Castro has often called the Miami Mafia).

Roque repeatedly insisted that the U.S. embargo "is a failure, that causes its own isolation." The foreign minister seemed to ignore his opening comments blaming the "failed embargo" entirely for Cuba's current economic collapse.

While trumpeting the lopsided vote, Roque could not explain how Cuba with the support of 179 nations (up from 173 in 2002) still remains in economic ruin.

Washington, in a clear slap to the U.N., responded to the vote through a mid-level diplomat, Sichan Siv. U.S./U.N. ambassador John Negroponte avoided the U.N. propaganda forum.

Siv told the General Assembly delegates, that the Cuban embargo was a "bilateral issue" which was really none of the U.N.'s business.

Siv insisted that Cuba's economic malaise is a result of: "the communist regime's failed economic policies-not the embargo."

The U.S. diplomat went on to add: "The truth is that Cuba's trade with other countries is not affected by the embargo, but instead by its poor credit rating stemming from the fact that it does not pay its bills and has billions of dollars in loans in arrears."

In his address, Siv mentioned how President George W. Bush challenged Cuban President Fidel Castro to open up his economy and allow such reforms as the creation independent trade unions.

The response says Siv was: "Instead of a political opening, the Cuban government carried out a brutal crack-down last March, sentencing 75 members of the opposition, including independent journalists, economists, trade unionists and human rights activists, to up to 28 years in prison. It was the worst act of political repression against advocates of peaceful change in the history of Cuba."

The U.S. delegate ended his speech with a quote used by California's newly elected governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ... "Cuba's best is when the Cuban people have terminated Castro's evil, communist, dictatorial regime and say to him "Hasta la vista, baby!"

The U.N. forum was silent.

Ironically, the governor-elect told reporters at the White House last week that he had "no time" to entertain "feelers" from Castro about exploring trade opportunities with Havana.

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