| The U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly | | | | Assembly was Ambassador Ronald Godard, a |
| urged the United States to end its 44-year | | | | senior adviser at the U.S. mission to the |
| trade embargo against Cuba. | | | | United Nations. In his address, he rejected |
| | | | Cuba's characterization of the embargo as a |
| This is the 14th consecutive year the General | | | | blockade. |
| Assembly has passed a resolution criticizing | | | | |
| Washington's embargo against Cuban leader | | | | "Castro claims that the embargo is a |
| Fidel Castro's government. | | | | blockade," he said. "He knows this is a lie. |
| | | | Cuba is free to trade with any other country |
| The margin of approval - 182 in favor, four | | | | in the world without interference from the |
| against, with one abstention - was the widest | | | | United States. Castro knows that the real |
| since Cuba began introducing the measure in | | | | reason behind Cuba's trade problems is the |
| 1992. Those voting with the United States | | | | failure of his country to pay its bills, and |
| were Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands. | | | | billions of dollars in loans in arrears." |
| Micronesia abstained, and five other | | | | |
| countries did not vote. | | | | Ambassador Godard argued that the trade |
| | | | embargo is a bilateral issue, and should not |
| The list of 20 nations addressing the | | | | be brought before the General Assembly. He |
| Assembly in support of the resolution | | | | charged that the root of Cuba's problem is |
| included many vocal critics of U.S. policy. | | | | not the embargo, but Fidel Castro. |
| Among them were Sudan, Venezuela, Iran, | | | | |
| China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, South Africa, | | | | "If the people of Cuba are jobless, hungry or |
| Belarus, Syria and India. After the vote, | | | | lack medical care, as Castro admits, it is |
| representatives of North Korea and Zimbabwe | | | | because of his economic mismanagement, not |
| also rose to condemn U.S. policy. | | | | the embargo," he said. |
| | | | |
| Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque | | | | Washington's U.N. Ambassador John Bolton did |
| spoke for the Havana government. Addressing | | | | not attend the gathering. Speaking to |
| the assembly through an interpreter, he | | | | reporters, he ridiculed the proceedings. |
| referred to the embargo as a blockade, and | | | | |
| charged that it had been tightened during | | | | "This is a complete exercise in irrelevancy," |
| President Bush's administration. | | | | he said. "A General Assembly that has not yet |
| | | | seriously attempted to reform the U.N. Human |
| "Never before as in the last 18 months has | | | | Rights Commission or engage in the revolution |
| the blockade been enforced with so much | | | | of management reform that Secretary Rice |
| viciousness and brutality, never before have | | | | talked about, to adopt this exercise in Cuban |
| we seen such cruel and relentless persecution | | | | propaganda really tells you something. |
| by a U.S. administration against the economy | | | | |
| and the right of Cubans to a decent life," he | | | | The resolution passed Tuesday has no legal |
| said. | | | | effect, and has not been observed in the |
| | | | past. But the votes are considered a |
| Representing the United States in the | | | | barometer of international opinion. |