Georgetown: Guyana should denounce the aberrant blockade policy imposed by the U.S. on Cuba in front of the UN since the island has been severely affected for the past 55 years, according to President of the Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM), HalIm Khan.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge is representing Guyana at the 73rd UN General Assembly in New York.
Khan said that the problem with the use of trade sanctions is that the innocent get hurt particularly so when one economically powerful nation acts against another and regulations are written to hurt its citizens, this is the reality of Cuba’s Embargo.
He explained that the blockade imposed by the United States government on Cuba is unfair and Guyana’s stance and vote against such suffering should always be noted.
The GCSM President said the unjust U.S. financial and trade embargo on Cuba had cost the country’s economy $130 billion over nearly six decades.
The UN has adopted a non-binding resolution calling for an end to the embargo with overwhelming support every year since 1992.
Khan explained that US President Donald Trump signed a decree to extend the 1962 trade embargo against Cuba for one more year.
According to the decree, Khan said the embargo remains in the national interest of the United States. The United States first imposed an arms embargo on Cuba in 1958. The embargo was followed by the introduction of restrictions in various other sectors, such as sanctions on financial transactions, trade, travel and others.
Reacting to these measures, Khan said Cuba has repeatedly submitted resolutions to the United Nations, urging a lifting of the embargo.
However, Khan said in 2015 Washington and Havana took steps to a rapprochement: the two nations restored diplomatic ties under the administration of then US President Barack Obama; but in 2017, the administration of President Donald Trump announced a U-turn in the US policy toward Cuba, opting to retain the embargo on the Caribbean nation.
In 1972, the GCSM President said Guyana led efforts by Caribbean States to break the diplomatic isolation of Cuba in this hemisphere; establishing diplomatic relations with that country. Guyana still held firmly to that position, which it took 45 years ago.
“Guyana’s stands in solidarity with the Government and people of Cuba in its resistance to economic aggression. We stand in support of the right of Cuba to determine its own destiny free from provocation and intimidation,” he said.
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