Ten former CARICOM Heads yesterday urged global backing for the October 28, 2026, resolution before the UN General Assembly (UNGA) against the US embargo on Cuba.
Every year since 1992, UNGA has been adopting overwhelmingly a Resolution on this subject and all eyes in the region will be on how CARICOM members vote. Guyana, in particular, has wavered from its strong commitment to Cuba under pressure from the United States.
The 10 signatories to the appeal are: Freundel Stuart – Former Prime Minister (PM) of Barbados; Dean Barrow – Former PM of Belize; Saed Musa – former PM of Belize; Keith Mitchell – Former PM of Grenada; Tillman Thomas – Former PM of Grenada; Donald Ramotar – Former President of Guyana; Bruce Golding – Former PM of Jamaica; P.J. Patterson – former PM of Jamaica; Kenny Anthony – Former PM of St. Lucia and Ralph Gonsalves – Former PM of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
A release yesterday from the former CARICOM Heads said that the American embargo “is contrary to international law and every civilised precept of life and living. Every year since 1992,
UNGA has been adopting overwhelmingly a Resolution on this subject. Yet, the USA has been ignoring the clear voice of the international community, the requisites of international
law, and the most elemental of civilising principles”.
The former Heads urged all nations to vote in favour of
the Resolution.
“The vote on this UNGA Resolution this year is more urgent and important than ever before. In recent months, the US government has further ramped up its illegal embargo against Cuba in an attempt to starve the Cuban people into submission through
the imposition of third-party sanctions against any government or entity which grants, sells or transports energy products, including gasoline and diesel, to Cuba. Surely, such US conduct is inhumane, and undoubtedly contrary to international law.
“Accordingly, it is imperative that the blandishments and pressures currently being deployed by the USA to derail and defeat the proposed UNGA Resolution must be resisted. The US embargo continues to be a threat to hemispheric and international
peace and security; the embargo is a brazen violation of Cuba’s right to sovereignty and independence; the embargo derogates from the most elemental human rights of a people established and declared by international law. The unilateral, coercive actions of the USA against Cuba represent the law of the jungle, and can in no way be justified by the Charter of the United Nations or any other source of international law and justice”, the former CARICOM Heads argued.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump, who won 68% of the Cuban American vote in Florida in the 2024 election, said American naval forces from Iran will stop at Cuba on the way home.
“We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast. They’ll raise up their hands, and then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal,” he said.
Secretary of State Rubio, a former US senator from Florida, has been handling much of the Cuba-related policy for Trump.
“To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba – now is the time,” Rubio said on X on Friday, urging those disappointed by Cuba’s government “to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA.” His post did not elaborate.
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