IT’S like a tune from a vinyl record being played all over again but for Cuba, the lyrics that call for an end to the over-60-year blockade by the United States must continue to be heard.

The United Nations General Assembly, in session since late September, will consider and vote on the resolution on November 2 and 3, while a nation of 11.3 million waits, with bated breath, to see if the US will agree to voting for an end to the blockade that it instituted in 1960, soon after Fidel Castro Ruz and his forces seized power from right wing dictator Fulgencio Batista in the north Caribbean island the year before.

US president at the time, Dwight D Eisenhower imposed the first trade embargo, following an earlier gun embargo, when the Castro Administration nationalised three American oil refineries without compensating them after the companies, among other things, refused to refine oil from the Soviet Union. Sanctions have increased since.

During the UN session, for the 30th time the General Assembly will consider the resolution titled: ‘Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade by the United States against Cuba’.

One man who would be delighted if the US changes its stance is Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Fermin Quinones Sanchez.

“It is very sad. The blockade has been painful, especially over the COVID period. It is particularly painful too that the Biden Administration — the Democrats in power who are not known to be hardline as the Republicans, especially under Donald Trump — are in charge. You would expect that things would be better.

“Everybody has been trying to recover from COVID; the war in Europe has affected things, but the most important obstacle to Cuban growth is the blockade. Last year Cuba was included by the US on a list of states that sponsor terrorism, which has affected our financial system. Banking systems of dozens of Cuban diplomatic missions and embassies have been affected, and they cannot open accounts.

“During COVID it was impossible to manufacture medicines, spare parts and components needed for factories. We produced five vaccines, athough the US Government was persecuting countries that bought any from Cuba. By July 2021 we had a big problem with our oxygen plant, and the US tried to stop countries that supplied us.

“The tourism season is upon us, starting in November and going into March for the high season, and there is an important group of airlines — 56 at the moment — landing in Cuba. The most important source of tourists is from Europe, but US citizens cannot travel to Cuba as tourists as there are regulations to limit travel,” Quinones Sanchez bemoaned.

The ambassador said that for two years Cuba’s tourism sector has been developing, though not with the intensity that island officials have been expecting. Up to the end of September, Cuba had recorded 1,553,461 million visitors, which, though representing an increase of 500 per cent over the same period in 2021, was lower than the three million which the Administration had bargained for.

“Can you imagine how many people would travel to Cuba if Americans were allowed to go there,” Quinones Sanchez questioned. “US citizens can travel to other countries but not to Cuba — one of the safest countries in the world. The blackouts we have in the country are even caused by the blockade. We can’t buy spare parts from other countries because they can’t trade with Cuba.

“The Cuban people have the right to live without the blockade, and to live in peace. We are a peaceful people, peaceful country. Even trade between Cuba and Jamaica is affected because many Jamaican companies cannot make deals with Cuba, for if they trade with Cuba, relations with the US would be affected.

“Jamaica has a market there for exports, and after almost a year in Jamaica I have been approached by a lot of friends who want to do business in Cuba, but they can’t,” the career diplomat continued.

The Cuban Government has said that between August 2021 and February 2022 losses caused by the blockade amounted to US$3.8 billion, which officials said could have led to 4.5 per cent growth if sanctions were not in place. It also said that during the first 14 months of the Biden Administration the blockade led to US$6.3 billion (broken down to US$454 million per month and US$15 million a day) in lost potential earnings by the Cuban economy.

One of the few matters that both sides of the Jamaican Parliament have agreed on over the years is the lifting the blockade, for which Jamaica has voted consistently on over the last 30 years, arguing that it had not achieved anything over its lifetime. The US is usually joined by Israel in opposing the resolution.