Last Updated on Saturday, 24 October 2026, 12:08 by Written By Denis Chabrol
Former President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar and eight other former Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders urged countries around the world not to cave into the United States (US) pressure and instead vote for next week’s resolution to end the American embargo on Cuba.
“It is imperative that the blandishments and pressures currently being deployed by the USA to derail and defeat the proposed UNGA Resolution must be resisted,” they said in a joint statement.
The vote comes up next Wednesday, October 28.
Others backing the call are former Barbados Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart; former – Former Prime Minister of Barbados; former Prime Minister of Belize, Saed Musa; former Prime Ministers of Grenada Dr Keith Mitchell and Tillman Thomas; former Prime Minister of Jamaica’s, Bruce Golding and P.J. Patterson and former former Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves.
Mr Ramotar backed the call even as his own former Marxist-Leninist People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-led administration has virtually frozen Guyana’s decades-old relations with Cuba while at the same time deepening unprecedented military, security and economic and political cooperation with the US. President Irfaan Ali has publicly called for a gradual shift towards rule of law, democracy and freedom in Cuba.
Ahead of the UNGA annual debate on the resolution on the necessity and desirability of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the US, the former CARICOM leaders said its imposition violates international law and “every civilised precept of life and living.”
The former regional leaders, a number of whom are regarded as either left or centre-left, said this year’s resolution comes at a time when the Donald Trump administration has been tightening trade with that communist-ruled island. “The vote on this UNGA Resolution this year is more urgent and important than
ever before. In recent months, the US government has further ramped up its illegal embargo against Cuba in an attempt to starve the Cuban people into submission through the imposition of third-party sanctions against any government or entity which grants, sells or transports energy products, including gasoline and diesel, to Cuba,” they said.
The former CARICOM leaders said they “strongly and unequivocally” urge all nations to to vote in favour of the resolution next Wednesday, although the US has been ignoring the clear voice of the international community, the requisites of international law, and the most elemental of civilising principles.
They said the US’ conduct was inhumane, and the embargo continues to be a threat to hemispheric and international peace and security; a brazen violation of Cuba’s right to sovereignty and independence; the embargo and derogates from the most elemental human rights of a people established and declared by international law. “The unilateral, coercive actions of the USA against Cuba represent the law of the jungle, and can in no way be justified by the Charter of the United Nations or any other source of international law and justice,” they said.
They said Cuba is not a threat to any nation or any person on planet Earth and nations around the world should l contribute to the healing of the hemispheric fracture between the US and Cuba by supporting the UNGA Resolution on October 28, 2026. “Let us all stand with Cuba and humanity on this matter!”.
