Next month Cuba will call on the United Nations to condemn the United States' embargo. More than likely, the motion will pass and we're even more certain that will be the end of it. Why? Well for the past 14 years Cuba has been submitting the very motion and 14 years straight Uncle Sam has ignored it. The difference this year is that Cuba is launching a public relations offensive. In Belize the media was summoned to the Cuban Embassy for a press conference where Ambassador Eugenio Martinez made the case for the U.S. to lift the embargo on Cuba. Ambassador Martinez says the world is their battleground.
Eugenio Martinez, Cuban Ambassador
"We're not going to rest until the day that the U.S. policy towards Cuba changes. I think that multilateral support for the Cuban's claim to change the U.S. policy is one of the ways to go, not the only one. Because every year, and particularly this one, the U.S. administration strengthens the policy towards Cuba. New measures have been implemented in the last year and its affecting and hurting the Cuban people a lot."
Keith Swift,
So if I understand what you are saying, you're basically trying to shame the U.s. into changing?
Eugenio Martinez,
"We are trying to call on the U.S. administration to make a change, make sense of their policy towards Cuba and have normal relations. We have no animosity towards the United States."
Jules Vasquez,
Ambassador would you say why you all are going on a public relations offensive on this in Belize, and I imagine your embassies worldwide are doing the same?
Eugenio Martinez,
"Yes. The United States policy is a worldwide policy, its not just restricted to the U.S., and so our battleground is the world."
Last year 179 nations including Belize voted in favor of Cuba and only three voted against.
