• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 10 / 23 / 2010

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Friday, 22 October 2010 19:33. KUALA LUMPUR: Cuba is confident of getting overwhelming support from United Nations (UN) members, including Malaysia, to a resolution against the United States' imposed 49-year-old embargo.

Cuban Ambassador to Malaysia Carlos A Amores said for the 19th year running, on Oct 26, Havana would table a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly, with the title "Necessity to put an end to the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo", imposed by Washington against the Caribbean island nation.

He said that like many other countries, Malaysia too, had voted in favour of the resolution, beginning 1992.

While only 59 countries voted in favour of the resolution in 1992, the support rose to 187 countries out of the 192 UN member-countries last year.

"Once again, Cuba is counting on the support of the international community in its legitimate claim to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the Government of the United States," he told a press conference at his residence here on Friday, Oct 22.

He noted the embargo remained the paramount obstacle to Cuba's economic development, with repercussions among others to the health, education, food, culture, sports, trade and investment, banking, informatic and communication sector.

According to him, the economic damages due to the embargo reached some  US$751 billion between 1961 and last year.

In the field of health, Amores cited the situation where Cuban hospitals could not use radioactive iodine plates in patients with congenital tumor of retina because they could only be purchased from the US.

"This technology is mostly used in children, since it makes possible to treat the tumor preserving the vision in the eye and the aesthetics of the face. Without this, the alternative is to take the eye out of the patient.

"The embargo violates international law, the principles and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and the rules for international trade... it is a unilateral act of aggression and a permanent threat against the stability of another country," said Amores.

He stressed that based on opinion polls (between April last year and April this year) by several media groups, there was unprecedented opposition to the embargo inside the US, where the polls showed that a majority of Americans were in favour of travelling to Cuba, lifting the embargo and favoring bilateral relations with Cuba.

"The President (US President Barack Obama) is falling short to the expectations he created during his campaign regarding Cuba, and also to the increasing call inside and outside the USA and his own authority, to change the policy towards Cuba," said Amores. — Bernama

Source: www.theedgemalaysia.com/political-news/175878-cuba-confident-of-majority...