UN General Assembly urges end to US embargo on Cuba

By Sebastian Smith:


UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The UN General Assembly called overwhelmingly Wednesday on US President Barack Obama's administration to end Washington's Cold War-era trade embargo against Cuba.

This was the 18th year running that the UN General Assembly condemned US trade restrictions on the communist-ruled island.

The non-binding vote was backed by 187 countries, ranging from Latin American neighbors of Cuba to members of the European Union and other close US allies.

Only Israel and tiny Palau supported the United States, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.

The margin of opposition to the US embargo has grown steadily since 1992, when 59 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The figure was 179 in 2004, 182 in 2005, 184 in 2007, and 185 last year.

The embargo was imposed nearly five decades ago at the height of the Cold War when Cuba was a Soviet client state.

Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, called the embargo "an absurd policy that causes scarcities and sufferings. It is a crass, flagrant and systematic violation of human rights."

He told the General Assembly that despite signs of a US-Cuban thaw since Obama's election last year "there has not been any change in the implementation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade."

Voting for the UN resolution would be "an act against aggression and the use of force. It would be an act in favor of peace," he said.

However, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, dismissed the "painfully familiar rhetoric."

"The hostile language we have just heard from the foreign minister of Cuba seems straight out of the Cold War era and is not conducive to constructive progress," she said.

Rice said Washington was offering Havana "a new chapter" in their relations but had as yet received no answer.

She rejected assertions that the US embargo was responsible for Cuba's crushing poverty, blaming the near permanent economic crisis in the country on government control over the economy and society.

"There are many things the government of Cuba could do," she said. "Positive measures could include liberating the hundreds of prisoners of conscience in Cuban jails (and)... demonstrating greater respect for freedom of speech."

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly reinforced Rice's statement saying the US would consider lifting the embargo "when the government of Cuba starts to make some positive steps toward -- toward loosening up its repression of its own people."

Kelly said in Washington that the yearly UN vote "obscures the facts that the United States is a leading source of food and humanitarian relief to Cuba" that last year totaled 717 million dollars.

The US economic, trade and financial sanctions were imposed 47 years ago following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of the Caribbean island nation by US-backed Cuban exiles.

Since taking office in January, Obama has moved to ease tensions with small steps such as relaxing rules on visits and money transfers to the island.

But so far, the US administration has not taken major strides in its approach to the Americas' last remaining communist regime.

In July, the two countries officially restarted a dialogue on migration issues which had been suspended since 2003, and talks are also under way aimed at restarting bilateral mail service which was cut off in 1963.

October 29, 2009

caribbeannetnews

Caribbean sees drop in HIV, AIDS cases

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP) -- The number of people with HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean is on the decline, but more must be done to contain the disease, a senior official said Monday, on the eve of a regional meeting on the ailment.

The ninth annual general meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) is to be held on the island of Grenada from October 28 to 30.

The Guyana-based PANCAP unit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) headquarters said the region recorded 17,000 new infections last year compared to 20,000 the previous year.

PANCAP also said there were 11,000 deaths compared to 14,000 during the same period in 2008.

"The figures are still very high for such a small region," said PANCAP director Carl Browne, comparing the Caribbean on a per capita basis to sub-Saharan Africa.

Latest statistics show that 230,000 people in the Caribbean and 22 million in Africa live with HIV and AIDS. And the prevalence rate among adults in sub-Saharan Africa is five percent compared to 1.1 percent in the Caribbean.

Authorities say the decline in new infections is due to massive public education and increased condom-use, while the reduced number of deaths is a result of better access to care and treatment.

The estimated 150 participants at the PANCAP general meeting are to discuss the latest advancements in developing an HIV vaccine that has shown a 31 percent rate of success.

They will also examine the impact of HIV and AIDS on the Caribbean's finance and education sectors.

October 27, 2009

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Blog Bahamas

Central America most crime-ridden region in world, UN report finds

21 October 2009 – Central America has become the region with the highest levels of non-political crime worldwide, with an average murder rate of 33 per 100,000 inhabitants last year, three times greater than the global average, a new United Nations report warns, noting that crime threatens the region’s development.

Some 79,000 people have been murdered in the region over the past six years, but despite these heightened levels of violence, solving the problem of insecurity is possible within the framework of democracy, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Report on Human Development in Central America 2009-2010.

“Apart from its economic costs, which are concrete and indisputable, one of the main reasons why this is a crucial issue is that violence and crime are affecting the day-to-day decisions of the population, making insecurity a clear hindrance to human development,” UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Rebeca Grynspan said.

“One of the most difficult costs to quantify is that of lost freedoms,” she added. “No aspect of human security is as basic as keeping the population from being victimized by fear and physical violence.”

Security involves intelligent diagnosis, a real political will and an integrated system for adopting and executing short- and long-term actions, the report says.

“Security is everyone’s right, and the State has the duty to provide it,” said Hernando Gómez Buendía, the general coordinator of the report. “Without security, there is no investment. Without investment, there is no employment, and without employment, there is no human development. Security is an essential part of the development strategy of nations and cities.”

Security requires a very hands-on management of the problem, and an intelligent citizen security strategy for human development would not be complete without the participation of local governments, according to the report. This assumes direct knowledge of the problem, proximity, decentralization and flexibility on the part of national and local authorities.

Both the strong-arm and the soft touch approaches have failed and must evolve toward a “smart” strategy of citizen security for human development with a new comprehensive strategy that includes preventive and coercive actions, congruence with the justice system and respect for the values of civility, it adds. Real political will, clear leadership, and continuity from one government to the next are crucial.

U.N. News

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International

Barbados opens region's first HIV/AIDS Food Bank

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, October 23, 2009 - Barbados has become the first country in the region to have a dedicated HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre.

Health Minister Donville Inniss, in officially opening the Vashti Inniss Empowerment Centre this week, said the new facility signalled government's commitment to meet the 2006 United Nations' General Assembly goal of Universal Access to comprehensive HIV prevention, programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010.

"The results of the scaling up of efforts have been promising, with statistics showing that persons are now learning to live with HIV instead of waiting to die from it," he said.

"In scaling up towards universal access, countries must ensure that nobody is left behind and our efforts must therefore be equitable, accessible and affordable. The opening of the HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre is one of the ways in which this Government cements its commitment to universal access."

He explained that universal access signified a concrete commitment and a renewed resolve among people around the globe to reverse the course of the epidemic: "It is not a new initiative, but rather it builds on past processes and infuses existing initiatives with new momentum."

The Health Minister further observed that "AIDS is an exceptional crisis requiring an exceptional response" and reflected that other commitments had been made in response to the pandemic. Among them was the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS in 2001, where the disease increasingly received the political and financial attention it deserved.

Inniss said the facility would improve accessibility to essential prevention and care services, noting that government recognised that cost should not be a barrier to accessing essentials such as medicines, diagnostics and services and meaningful information.

"Services must be available when and where people need them, and they should be able to access them, without fear of prejudice and discrimination," he stressed. "Our programmes must also be sustainable, knowing that HIV is a lifelong challenge requiring sustained action for preventing new infections and saving and improving the quality of the lives of those with HIV. Services must, therefore, be available throughout people's lives rather than as one-off interventions."

The facility houses the food bank and a personal development centre - named after an early pioneer in empowering persons infected and living with HIV, retired health educator Vashti Inniss - that provides comprehensive HIV prevention and psychosocial support and care services to those in need.

Minister Inniss said the combined facility would ensure that prevention, treatment, care and impact mitigation services are delivered with the full inclusion of people living with HIV, civil society, faith-based organisations, private sector, international partners and government.

The HIV/AIDS Food Bank is managed by a Community Nutrition Officer, with specialist training in HIV nutrition, assisted by a cadre of dedicated volunteers. Psychology services will be provided by a clinical psychologist; while HIV testing and counseling, and community health education will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Health.

The unit also houses the Sex Worker's Project and three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that cater to the needs of persons living with HIV (PLHIV).

Inniss said that housing these NGOs in this state-owned and operated facility represents the Ministry's strengthening of strategic alliances with key partners who comprise the National AIDS Programme.

The HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre is also located next door to a specialty clinic responsible for the management of PLHIV in Barbados and is also neighbour to the private sector AIDS Foundation Inc of Barbados.

caribbean360

The ALBA and Copenhagen

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from CubaDebate)

THE festivities at the 7th ALBA Summit, held in the historic Bolivian region of Cochabamba, demonstrated the rich culture of the Latin American peoples and the joy elicited in children, young people and adults of all ages through the singing, dancing, costumes and expressive faces of the individuals representing all ethnic groups, colors and shades: indigenous, black, white and mixed race people. Thousands of years of human history and treasured culture were on display there, which explains the decision of the leaders of several Caribbean, Central and South America peoples to convene that summit.

The meeting was a great success. It was held in Bolivia. A few days ago, I wrote about the excellent prospects of that country, the heir to the Aymara-Quechua culture. A small group of peoples from that area are striving to show that a better world is possible. The ALBA – created by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Cuba, inspired by the ideas of Bolívar and Martí, as an unprecedented example of revolutionary solidarity – has demonstrated what can be done in just five years of peaceful cooperation. This began shortly after the political and democratic triumph of Hugo Chávez. Imperialism underestimated him; it blatantly attempted to oust him and eliminate him. The fact that for a good part of the 20th century Venezuela had been the world’s largest oil-producer, practically owned by the yanki multinationals, meant that the course they embarked on was particularly difficult.

The powerful adversary had neoliberalism and the FTAA, two instruments of domination with which it crushed any form of resistance in the hemisphere after the triumph of the Revolution in Cuba.

It is outrageous to think of the shameless and disrespectful way in which the US administration imposed the government of millionaire Pedro Carmona and tried to have the elected President Hugo Chavez removed, at a time when the USSR had disappeared and the People’s Republic of China was a few years away from becoming the economic and commercial power it is today, after two decades of growth over 10%. The Venezuelan people, like that of Cuba, resisted the brutal onslaught. The Sandinistas recovered, and the struggle for sovereignty, independence and socialism gained ground in Bolivia and Ecuador. Honduras, which had joined the ALBA, was the victim of a brutal coup d’état inspired by the yanki ambassador and boosted by the US military base in Palmerola.

Today, there are four Latin American countries that have completely eradicated illiteracy: Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. The fifth country, Ecuador, is rapidly advancing towards that goal. Comprehensive healthcare programs are underway in the five countries at an unprecedented pace for the peoples of the Third World. Economic development plans combined with social justice have become real programs in the five different states, which already enjoy great prestige throughout the world for their courageous position in the face of the economic, military and media power of the empire. Three English-speaking Caribbean countries have also joined the ALBA, in a determined fight for their development.

This alone would be a great political merit if, in today’s world, that were the only major problem in the history of humankind.

The economic and political system that in a short historical period has led to the existence of more than one billion hungry people, and many more hundreds of millions whose lives are barely longer than half the average of those in the wealthy and privileged countries, was until now the main problem for humanity.

But, a new and extremely serious problem was extensively discussed at the ALBA Summit: climate change. At no other point in history, has a danger of such magnitude arisen.

As Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega bade farewell to the people in the streets of Cochabamba yesterday, Sunday, that same day, according to a report by BBC World, Gordon Brown was chairing a session of the Major Economies Forum in London, mostly made up of the most-developed capitalist countries, the main culprits for carbon dioxide emissions, that is, the gas causing the greenhouse effect.

The significance of Brown’s words is that they were not uttered by a representative of the ALBA or one of the 150 emerging or underdeveloped countries on the planet, but Britain, the country where industrial development began and one of those that has released the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The British prime minister warned that if an agreement is not reached at the UN Summit in Copenhagen, the consequences will be "disastrous".

Floods, droughts, and killer heat waves are just some of the "catastrophic" consequences, according to the World Wildlife Fund ecological group, referring to Brown’s statement. "Climate change will spiral out of control over the next five to ten years if CO2 emissions are not drastically cut. There will be no Plan B if Copenhagen fails."

The same news source claims that: "BBC expert James Landale has explained that not everything is turning out as expected."

Newsweek reported that every day it seems more unlikely that states will commit to something in Copenhagen.

According to reports from a major American news outlet, the chairman of the session, Gordon Brown, said that ""If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice. He continued by listing conflicts such as "climate-induced migration" and "an extra 1.8 billion people living and dying without enough water."

In reality, as the Cuban delegation in Bangkok reported, the United States led the industrialized nations most opposed to the necessary reduction in emissions.

At the Cochabamba meeting, a new ALBA Summit was convened. The timetable will be: December 6, elections in Bolivia; December 13, ALBA summit in Havana; December 16, participation in the UN Copenhagen Summit. The small group of ALBA nations will be there. The issue is no longer "Homeland or Death"; it is truly and without exaggeration a matter of "Life or Death" for the human race.

The capitalist system is not only oppressing and pillaging our nations. The wealthiest industrialized countries wish to impose on the rest of the world the major responsibility in the fight against climate change. Who are they trying to fool? In Copenhagen, the ALBA and the countries of the Third World will be fighting for the survival of the species.


Fidel Castro Ruz
October 19, 2009
6:05 PM

granma.cu

Bahamas Blog Bahamas

Cuba's declining trade betrays depth of its crisis

By Marc Frank:

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Business between Cuba and four of its top five trading partners has declined sharply this year in a reflection of the communist-led Caribbean island's deep economic crisis, trade reports from the countries said.

Reductions in exports to and imports from Cuba ranged from 20 percent to as high as 50 percent, according to the reports from China, Spain, Canada and the United States. In descending order, they are the top traders with Cuba after Venezuela.

Numbers were not available for Venezuela, which is the leading economic and political ally of Cuba's government and supplies the island with oil.

China, Cuba's second trading partner, reported that imports from the island fell 48.2percent to $368 million through August, while Chinese exports to Cuba dropped 12.7 percent to $641.9 million.

Spain, tied with Canada as the island's third biggest trading partner, said its exports to Cuba declined 43 percent to $394 million through July, while imports were down 24 percent to $91 million.

Canada, which did $1.4 billion in trade with Cuba last year, said exports plummeted 52.4 percent to $242 million through August and imports fell 55.7 percent to $283 million.

The United States, which is Cuba's fifth trading partner despite its 47-year-old trade embargo against the island, said sales to Cuba totaled $383.8 million through August, down 23 percent.

Most US exports to Cuba are agricultural products, which are permitted under an exemption to the embargo.

While no information was available from Venezuela, Cuba's close socialist ally, it is likely the value of its exports to the island -- mostly oil -- will fall dramatically from 2008's $5.3 billion due to lower oil prices.

Cuba's economy has been spiraling downward since last year when three damaging hurricanes raked the country, followed by the onset of the global financial crisis.

The combination of rising prices for its imports and declining value of its key exports also depleted cash reserves to the point that the government froze the local accounts of hundreds of foreign businesses and stopped or slowed payments to many foreign creditors.

Cuba's government has forecast a decline of $500 million in export revenues this year and slashed imports by 22.5 percent.

The island's trade deficit soared to $11.4 billion in 2008, up 65 percent, according to the National Statistics Office.

October 21, 2009

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International

Region´s lowest paid: Afro-descendents, indigenous and women

Latin America´s steady economic growth over the past nine years has not been enough to end income disparities for women, indigenous groups and Afro-descendants, according to a new study by the Inter-American Development Bank.

In the paper, “New Century, Old Disparities: Gender and Ethnic Wage Gaps in Latin America,” economists evaluated household data from 18 Latin American countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela – and found “women and ethnic minorities are clearly at a disadvantage.”

“Females in the region earn less than their male counterparts even though they are more educated,” the study said. “A simple comparison of average wages indicates that men earn 10 percent more than women. But once economists compare males and females with the same age and level of education, the wage gap between men and women is 17 percent.”.

In the seven countries that had data based on ethnicity — Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Peru — research showed that the indigenous and Afro-descendant population earned on average, 28 percent less than the white population.

“Polices aimed at reducing these inequalities are still lacking. This is more than just a moral necessity. It is an essential strategy to reduce poverty in the region,” said economist Hugo Ñopo, the lead author of the study.

In the seminar “Afro-descendant women and Latin American Culture: Identity and Development” held in Montevideo, Uruguay in late September, found that extreme poverty in indigenous and Afro-descendent populations in the region is double that of the rest of the population.

Rebeca Grynspan, Latin America director for the United Nations Development Program said that statistics on the Afro-descendant population “hide more than they show” because they are pure averages. She said inequality is also the result of present-day discrimination, not only past discrimination.

Latinamerica Press

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International