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STORY: UN / CUBA EMBARGO
TRT: 4.10
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 26 OCTOBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
26 OCTOBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly
3. Wide shot, delegates
4. Cutaway, Ambassador Paulette Bethel walks to podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Paulette Bethel, Permanent Representative of The Bahamas, United Nations:
“The Embargo has now outlived the Cold War by 19 years. It has outlasted the terms of 8 US presidents and that of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Over 70 percent of Cubans alive today were born under the Embargo. CARICOM considers the Embargo an anachronism that has succeeded only in contributing the suffering of generations of ordinary Cubans, and in unnecessarily increasing tensions between the United States and Cuba. It serves no justifiable legal, political or moral purpose in the 21st Century.”
6. Cutaway, Cuban delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, United Nations:
“We believe that the maintenance of commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba by the United States is counterproductive, anachronistic and not in keeping with current realities.”
8. Cutaway, Zambian delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Lazarous Kapambwe Permanent Representative of Zambia, United Nations:
“President Obama, please do the right thing: lift the US embargo against Cuba! It is time to be on the right side of history.”
10. Cutaway, Ambassador, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla walks to podium
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ambassador, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cuba:
“As it has happened with other issues, two years after President Obama pledged to seek “a new beginning with Cuba” facts confirm that nothing has changed, nor has the President resorted to his ample prerogatives to relax the blockade. The sanctions against Cuba remain intact and are fully implemented.”
12. Cutaway, United States delegation
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ambassador, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cuba:
“The blockade, given its own essence and scope, qualifies as an act of genocide under Article II of the Geneva convention on the Prevention and punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948, and also as an act of economic warfare according to the Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War adopted in 1909. It is a hostile and unilateral act that should be ceased unilaterally.”
14. Cutaway, Cuban delegation
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Ronald D. Godard, Senior Area Advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States:
“My delegation regrets that the delegation from Cuba continues, year after year, to inappropriately and incorrectly label U.S. trade restrictions on Cuba as an act of genocide. Such an egregious misuse of the term diminishes the real suffering of victims of genocide elsewhere in the world. Additionally, those who charge the United States sanctions as being the cause of deprivation among the Cuban people should be reminded that the United States holds no restriction on humanitarian aid to Cuba and remains Cuba’s largest provider of food.”
16. Cutaway, Cuban delegation
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Ronald D. Godard, Senior Area Advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States:
“It is the view of the United States that a new era in U.S.-Cuban relations cannot be fully realized until the Cuban people enjoy the internationally-recognized political and economic freedoms that this body has done so much to defend in other countries around the world.”
18. Close up, voting board showing results
19. Zoom out, from Cuba delegation applauding to whole GA Hall applauding
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York today (26 October) adopted a resolution calling for the lifting of the decades-old economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States (US) against Cuba in the aftermath of the Cold War.
The 192-member United Nations body voiced concern about the “adverse effects” of such measures on the Cuban people and on Cuban nationals living in other countries in the non-binding resolution.
Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Bahamas Ambassador Paulette Bethel said the Caribbean Community considered the embargo on Cuba “an anachronism that has succeeded only in contributing the suffering of generations of ordinary Cubans.”
Bether added that the embargo served “no justifiable legal, political or moral purpose in the 21st Century.”
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his country believed that maintaining the commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba “was counterproductive, anachronistic and not in keeping with current realities.”
Drawing a parallels between US President Ronald Reagan’s General Assembly statement in 12 June 1987 asking Russian President Mikail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” in a clear reference to the Berlin Wall, Zambian Ambassador Lazarous Kapambwe asked President Barack Obama to “please do the right thing: lift the US embargo against Cuba! It is time to be on the right side of history.”
Following that, Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla told delegates that two years after President Obama had pledged to seek better relationship with Cuba the “facts confirm that nothing has changed, nor has the President resorted to his ample prerogatives to relax the blockade.”
Parrilla also said that the embargo qualified as an act of genocide under Article II of the Geneva Convention on the Prevention and punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948. “It is a hostile and unilateral act that should be ceased unilaterally,” Parrilla added.
The US Senior Area Advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Ambassador Ronald D. Godard said he regretted Cuba’s continued, inappropriate and incorrect labelling of the US trade restrictions on Cuba as an act of genocide. He said that “such an egregious misuse of the term diminishes the real suffering of victims of genocide elsewhere in the world.”
Godard noted that the Cuban people should be reminded that the US held no restriction on humanitarian aid to Cuba and remained Cuba’s largest provider of food.
Godard said that a new era in the US-Cuban relations could not be fully realized “until the Cuban people enjoy the internationally-recognized political and economic freedoms that this body has done so much to defend in other countries around the world.”
The text received 187 votes in favour to 2 against (United States and Israel), with 3 abstentions (Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau).
It reiterated previous calls on countries “to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures” that do not conform to their obligations to reaffirm freedom of trade and navigation.
In addition, the resolution urged States to repeal or invalidate any such laws as soon as possible.
