Nigeria, other countries demand end to US blockade of Cuba

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Nigeria and the majority of other UN members have voted for an end to the US embargo on Cuba, which is crippling the country. 

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The resolution passed on Wednesday with 130 countries in favour. This included a majority of African countries. Morocco was the only African country that voted in support of the blockade. PREMIUM TIMES previously reported the strong historical and bilateral ties between Cuba and African states. 

A total of 17 countries opposed the resolution, including the US and Israel. Also, 25 countries abstained, including Germany and Italy, which had previously voted in favour. 

This resolution has been put forward and approved annually since 1992. Last year, more than 160 countries backed the proposal. Although not legally binding, the resolution reflects international opinion of the illegal US blockade of Cuba.

The resolution calls for lifting the economic, trade, and financial embargo against the island nation.

Earlier in the year, the Donald Trump administration introduced additional sanctions that cut off oil shipments to Cuba. It also imposed tariffs on countries that sold oil to the country.  The move escalated Cuba’s humanitarian and economic crisis. 

In his response to Wednesday’s vote, the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that through the vote, the US was “once again isolated in its attempt to continue strangling the Cuban people.”

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“Neither its most insane pretexts nor its pressures nor media circus will prevail over the force of facts and truth,” he said.

In a post on X, it wrote, “Victory for Cuba at the UN. Washington was isolated once again. #CubaIsNotAThreat; the blockade is.”

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz celebrated the votes of states that opposed the resolution or abstained. 

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He told reporters after the vote that he was pleased to see a shift in some countries’ stance on US actions against Cuba.

He said, “I’m satisfied that so many countries now, including major economies like Korea, Germany and others, have shifted their position.

“Diplomacy takes time, but now that we’ve had a tripling of countries that have shifted, we expect that only to continue to grow.”