Australia’s vote on the US blockade on Cuba

The article Australia condemns brazen US blockade of Cuba in UNGA vote is misleading … its author Paul Heywood Smith says:

“The writer’s attention has been drawn to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly in November 2022. It is a matter of concern that it was not known to me, but more of that later. On 3 November 2022 the U.N. General Assembly voted an overwhelming 185 votes in favour to two against to condemn Washington’s six decades blockade of Cuba. There were two abstentions – Brazil and Ukraine. The two against were – wait for it – the US and Israel. Proudly, for all of us, Australian voted in favour. Of course, at the time of the vote, Brazil was still ruled by the far-right Bolsonaro. Who knows why the NATO client regime in Ukraine abstained.”

On his last point Ukraine didn’t wish to alienate US support for its defence against Russian invasion and US support for Ukraine to enter NATO.

As the author points out ‘only the US can end its blockade against Cuba’. Biden claims Cuba’s government is authoritarian.

Three points about the various claims made in the article:

Australian governments have opposed the US blockade of Cuba for 21 years and has joined with nearly all other nations in the UN General Assembly since 1996 to vote against the US blockade. Even neoliberal governments led by Hawke and Keating, supine to US demands, have seen the market opportunities that lifting the blockade to Cuba represents.
Recent events suggest US democratic institutions are seriously under threat. The US has an authoritarian government.
Cuba has social institutions which are democratic. For example Cuba has a very strong union movement which has a real impact on its government decisions. Also at a local community level there is a lot of cooperation between people making life bearable under the blockade. Cuba has health and education systems second to none.

Can the United States say the same especially sense Republican states are basically pushing for a right-wing revolution against central government. Take Trumps orders for people to attack Bidens election by invading the Congress.

Ian Curr
22 Feb 2023