For those keeping score at home, the United Nations has – for the 17th consecutive year – voted in the same overwhelming fashion to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
Last year the vote on the non-binding (“Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”) resolution was 184-4 in favor. This year it was 185-3. Voting with the U.S. was Israel and Palau – with two abstentions: the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
What else hasn’t changed is that this Cold War relic helps no one – save a handful of Cuban-American politicians in South Florida and New Jersey. But in a perverse way – over the years – it has provided Fidel Castro with a perfect foil — Uncle Scapegoat — for his failed Communist experiment.
For the state of Florida and the port of Tampa it’s been economically counterproductive. As a humanitarian matter, it’s a loser by any definition – especially after Cuban-American travel restrictions and remittance rules were tightened. And as a geopolitical issue, it has further underscored America’s already undermined reputation – at the worst possible time – as an arrogant hegemon.
Even our closest ally in the Southern Hemisphere, Colombia, officially noted that “this kind of action should stop.”
Ten U.S. presidents have maintained the unsuccessful embargo, much to the detriment of America and ill-fated Cubans. Would that the 11th will shortly send the message around the world that in so many ways, with Cuba among them, it will no longer be business as usual.
Israel will just have to understand. Presumably, Palau will too.