PV staff
On October 28, for the thirty-fourth year in a row, the world demonstrated its overwhelming support for Cuba against the illegal and barbaric US blockade. At the annual United Nations General Assembly resolution on the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo,” 130 countries voted in favour of ending the blockade, 17 voted against, and 25 abstained.
This overwhelming global opposition to US imperialism’s economic war on the Cuban people came despite intense pressure from the White House, in its effort to get states to change their votes and not support Cuba. It marks the thirty-fourth consecutive year since 1992 that the countries of the world have rejected the US blockade.
Among the countries standing with Cuba was Canada, which voted for the motion and reaffirmed its longstanding opposition to the US blockade. But this outcome was far from certain, for even though Canada had supported Cuba for the thirty-three years prior, the Carney government has shifted its foreign policy on key issues, to align with Washington. Furthermore, the US government brought a lot of pressure to bear on Ottawa, including by reportedly offering a more favourable trade deal in exchange for Canada’s vote against the UN motion. In July, the Carney government abstained from a UN resolution to debate the US blockade, following its intensification by Donald Trump.
In the lead-up to this year’s vote, Cuba solidarity organizations throughout Canada actively campaigned to stop this country’s continuing descent into foreign policy compliance with the US and its escalating aggression in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Canadian Network on Cuba and its member organizations launched a “No War on Cuba” campaign that included lawn signs and a parliamentary petition which was presented to the House of Commons by MP Leah Gazan on October 23, just ahead of the UNGA vote.
In addition to demanding that Ottawa support the UN vote against the blockade, the petition, which was signed by thousands of people, calls on Canada to deepen and defend economic and cultural exchanges between Canada and Cuba in the face of US aggression, enforce the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to protect Canadian corporations who do business in Cuba against United States sanctions, and lift Canada’s advisory against non-essential travel to Cuba and expand opportunities for tourism and trade.
While congratulating the UNGA for its resounding support in calling for an end to the blockade, and celebrating the fact that Ottawa listened to their demands and took steps to restore its integrity at the UN by reaffirming its opposition to the US embargo, the CNC warns that the vote must now be backed up with concrete action. This includes providing aid and oil, as well as restoring regular flights.
“Canada cannot credibly claim to pursue an independent foreign policy while standing aside as the United States intensifies its economic war against Cuba,” said Juilo Fonseca, Co-Chair of the Canadian Network on Cuba and member of the Juan Gualberto Gomez Association of Cuban Residents in Toronto. “The time for statements of concern has passed. Canada must act.”
The CNC calls Canada’s support for Cuba “a triumph of solidarity” that was “secured by a resounding chorus of concern from labour, faith groups and civil society.”
The focus now turns to maintaining pressure on Canada to actively oppose the blockade which, since January, has escalated into a starvation campaign backed by the threat of armed invasion.
The CNC states that the deliberate use of economic coercion to deprive a population of essential resources raises grave humanitarian and international legal concerns, and says that Ottawa has an obligation to act.
“Canadian aid to Cuba remains wholly insufficient and accompanied by extortionate political conditions. As Washington’s campaign of ‘energy warfare’ only intensifies, Canada must act to break the blockade and to explicitly oppose this policy of collective punishment – not only with words of diplomacy, but in urgently needed material aid to the Cuban people and their government.”
As part of breaking the blockade, the network says Canada must also take concrete measures to protect Canadian businesses and institutions from the extraterritorial application of US sanctions.
“The Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, which ought to protect Canadian companies doing business in Cuba from US sanctions and provide crucial leverage in an escalating trade war, is yet to be invoked this year,” notes the network, “even as Canadian companies find themselves on the receiving end of comprehensive secondary sanctions.”
“Canada must not allow its foreign policy to be dictated by Washington,” says Fonseca. “A vote at the United Nations must be accompanied by action. The Canadian government has both the capacity and the responsibility to act.”
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