General Assembly condemned the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for the 34th year on Wednesday, even as Washington’s campaign to influence the outcome led to a number of countries voting against the resolution or sitting out the decision for the first time. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N.
It marks a stunning shift in international support at a time when the small island country weathers outages, shortages and other deepening financial troubles as the Trump administration looks to force changes to Cuba’s political system by increasing an already punishing economic campaign. President Donald Trump last week once again raised the specter of U.S. military intervention , saying American warships could stop over in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war. As a result, the Caribbean country has spent decades facing the dire impact of longtime economic and financial troubles and is now being pushed to a breaking point after Trump announced in late January that he would impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
Shortly after Waltz had begun his criticism of the socialist government, Rodríguez walked down to the podium where the U.S. envoy was addressing the hall and called him a liar while trying to get a point of order from the official presiding over the session. “This individual needs to back away from this podium. “You understand who you’re dealing with? This is America. Back up.
He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America,” Waltz said as U.N. security and personnel tried to intervene. “With his crude lies at the UN General Assembly, the U.S. government has launched another desperate attempt to justify its economic aggression against Cuba and its criminal energy blockade,” he continued.
A week earlier, a similar interaction between Waltz and his Cuban counterpart, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, took place outside a U.S.-hosted panel with Cuban dissidents and former prisoners that sought to highlight allegations of the oppressive behavior of the island’s government.
“Cuba is not a threat. The blockade is a threat.”
“A great power is attacking through economic war a member state of this organization,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said ahead of the vote.
