The Guardian 15 November, 2006
Cuba wins UN vote
Once again the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a resolution rejecting the wide-ranging US ban on trade, travel and even family visits between the US and Cuba.
The ban has been maintained by the US for 40 years and has been condemned by a majority of UN member states for many years. The US takes no notice of such votes.
This year the voting was 183 to 4 (the US, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands).
However on this occasion the Australian Government submitted an amendment to the Cuban resolution which would have negated it by justifying the US ban under the cloak of Cuban human rights.
At the UN General Assembly meeting Cuba’s Foreign Minister Perez Roque denounced the US manoeuvres and Australia’s part in them.
The US at first attempted to railroad some European states to put the amendment but they refused. The US then turned to Australia which, following a "top level" call to Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, agreed to do the bidding of the US.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister said that Australia had "no moral authority" to refer to the human rights record in Cuba and called Australia a "puppet" used by the US to propose its amendment. Perez Roque said that Australia submits its own Indigenous population to a "truly apartheid regime" and supports the torture centre of the US in the illegally occupied territory of Guantánamo.
The Australian Government is an accomplice of American imperialism, a sort of "pocket imperialism" that is always willing to follow its mentors in Washington, he said.
The Australian amendment was also soundly defeated. The vote was 126 against to 51 for.
At its weekend meeting the CPA Central Committee adopted a protest resolution to be sent to Alexander Downer.
The resolution pointed out that the Cuban Government respects the basic human rights of its people by guaranteeing access to a liveable wage, free health, free education, affordable housing, access to child care free of charge, and the freedom to join independent trade unions and to collectively bargain. None of these rights are guaranteed to the Australian people by the Howard Government.
It also pointed out that the Cuban electoral system is far more democratic than the Australian system. Every Cuban regardless of party membership can be nominated to be a representative on the National Assembly of People’s Power. Grass roots organisations involving masses of people decide who their candidates will be and have the right to recall them should they fail to represent their electorate as promised by the candidate.
The statement noted the hypocrisy of the Australian Government whose new IR legislation policy, WorkChoices, has seen workers’ struggles criminalised and workers’ wages and conditions slashed.