Guyana shockingly abstained in today’s vote at the United Nations condemning the United States embargo against Cuba. The vote was carried by 130 in favour, 17 against and 25 abstentions.
Guyana has traditionally voted in support of the resoluton.
Observers say it is further evidence of the enormous pressure from Washington on Georgetown to toe its line on Cuba and other issues. It also underlines Guyana’s growing alignment with the Trump administration’s agenda to the detriment of longstanding relations with Cuba.
Trinidad and Tobago which has also developed strong ties with the Trump administration voted with the United States against the resolution condemning the US embargo.
The Bahamas, Barbados, St Kitts-Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname voted in favour of the resolution. Jamaica abstained and several other CARICOM countries including Antigua, Dominica and St Lucia were not present for the vote.
Among those who voted with the United States were Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay and Israel.
The Associated Press (AP) today reported that U.N. General Assembly decided overwhelmingly today to condemn the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for the 34th year even as Washington’s campaign to influence the outcome led to a number of countries voting against the resolution or sitting out the vote for the first time.
The vote was 130-17, with 25 abstentions. The vote last year was 165-7, with 12 abstentions. Western countries like Germany, Italy, Latvia are among those that abstained for the first time in 34 years.
While such resolutions are not legally binding, they reflect world opinion.
The AP report said that tensions between Washington and Havana have spilled over into public forums at the United Nations.
It said that on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez found themselves in a shouting match on the floor of the General Assembly while debating the embargo resolution.
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. He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America,” Waltz said as U.N. security and personnel tried to intervene. “You understand who you’re dealing with? This is America. Back up.”
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