Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Score at United Nations: Cuba 188 – U.S. 3
14 Nov 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The United States stands virtually alone in its crusade against Cuba, at the United Nations General Assembly and in western hemispheric forums. “Rather than isolating Cuba, the 52 year-long embargo has resulted in the isolation of the United States.”

 

Score at United Nations: Cuba 188 – U.S. 3

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“On Cuba, as with foreign policy in general, Barack Obama represents the continuity of U.S. imperial policy.”

For the 21st year in a row, the United Nationals General Assembly has nearly unanimously condemned the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, now in its 52nd year. The vote was 188 to 3, with only Israel and the tiny Pacific island of Palau siding with the United States. Two other mini-states in the Pacific, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, abstained from the vote. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez noted that President Obama came into office talking about a new beginning in relations Havana, but “the reality of the last four years has been characterized by a persistent tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade.” On Cuba, as with foreign policy in general, Barack Obama represents the continuity of U.S. imperial policy, from Eisenhower through George W. Bush. The First Black President is no different than his predecessors when it comes to Cuba, the island nation that refuses to buckle under to Washington.

The Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul, have not only born witness to U.S. decline in the hemisphere and the world, they have contributed mightily to the humbling of the Yankees. Not content simply to survive America’s unremitting hostility over the course of two and a half generations, Cuba has been an icon of resistance to U.S. imperialism around the world. The people’s of southern Africa owe Cuba a huge debt for helping defeat Washington’s allies, the racist South African military, in Angola, in 1988 – a watershed event that hastened the demise of the white regime.

“Washington earned the hatred of vast sectors of Latin American society, while Cuba’s prestige continued to grow.”

The Cuban revolution’s impact on Latin America cannot be overstated. After the 1959 revolution, the United States pushed one country after another into military dictatorships, under which hundreds of thousands were massacred and disappeared. The U.S. and its fascist friends declared war, not just on the Left, but on Latin American civil society itself, in a crusade to prevent another Cuba from happening in the Americas. As a result, Washington earned the hatred of vast sectors of Latin American society, while Cuba’s prestige continued to grow. One by one, the U.S.-backed dictatorships collapsed, allowing Latin American politics to come alive, again. The people of South and Central America had shared the collective nightmare of rule by Washington’s fascist proxies. They also shared a determination to never again be dominated by the superpower to the North. Majorities in every Latin American country knew exactly what the Cubans meant when they spoke of the dangers of U.S. imperialism.

Earlier this year, at a summit meeting of hemispheric leaders, the United States found itself totally isolated on the question of Cuba. Even the president of Colombia, Washington’s closest ally in the region, declared there could not be another summit without Cuba’s presence. Rather than isolating Cuba, the 52 year-long embargo has resulted in the isolation of the United States, in the western hemisphere and at the United Nations General Assembly. Maybe that’s what the future will look like: the U.S., despite all its weapons, one day all alone except for pariah states like Israel, while the rest of the world gets on with the business of living.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20121114_gf_CubaEmbargo.mp3

More Stories


  • Pentagon Orders All Installations to Stop Reporting COVID-19 Infections and Deaths 
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Pentagon Orders All Installations to Stop Reporting COVID-19 Infections and Deaths 
    01 Apr 2020
    This is going to become a problem for the Pentagon, whether it's on Navy destroyers, submarines, and aircraft carriers or the 800+ bases.
  • Flattening the curve on Capitalism?
    BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
    Flattening the curve on Capitalism?
    01 Apr 2020
    CEO from Boeing to CEO from Wells Fargo,  heard by the flies on walls at Mar-a-Lago: “It’s their health or our economy— we get to choose…”
  • COVID-19: The Capitalist Emperor Has no Clothes
    Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor
    COVID-19: The Capitalist Emperor Has no Clothes
    01 Apr 2020
    The systemic failure of the capitalist order triggered by the coronavirus has reinforced the growing awareness that extreme wealth inequality is a fundamental characteristic of the system.
  • Racial Profiling Disorder: the All-American Pandemic 
    John G. Russell
    Racial Profiling Disorder: the All-American Pandemic 
    01 Apr 2020
    RAPROD carriers are convinced that blacks disproportionately carry guns and other contraband.
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    01 Apr 2020
    This week readers discussed the coronavirus’s relationship to NATO, sanctions, and the duopoly.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us