Caribbean nations reiterated calls for the United States to lift its embargo on Cuba on Tuesday, describing it as a relic of the Cold War. “The long standing economic embargo on Cuba continues to be of serious concern to Barbados,” Barbados' minister for foreign affairs Maxine McClean told the United Nations. McClean said Cuba “has always demonstrated a willingness to assist the Caribbean, and indeed the developed world, in our quest for development.” “We join the overwhelming majority of U.N. member states in opposing this unilateral action and look forward to a time soon when it will be relegated to the pages of history,” she stated. Barbados' call of an end to the decades old embargo was accompanied by similar demands from Belize and Saint Lucia. The latter nation's external affairs minister Alva Baptiste slammed the embargo as a “residual effect” of the Cold War. The statements were made during the U.N.'s annual General Assembly debate in New York. Island nations also issued calls for international cooperation to fight climate change, which they argue will devastate coastal regions all over the world. Papua New Guinea's foreign minister Rimbink Pato warned some Pacific island countries have already reached a “tipping point,” and are struggling more than ever to hold their ground against the impact of climate change, according to the U.N. News Center. "The international community must conclude a legally binding agreement in order to collectively address the adverse impacts of climate change,” Pato stated. Source URL |
