Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 2 November 2017
Trump to visit military base instead of DMZ US votes against UN resolution

By JILL COLVIN provide details ahead of Army Garrison-Humphreys, condemning US-Cuba embargo
MATTHEW PENNINGTON the trip, noted that several at the invitation of South By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Trump administration of- Korean President Moon Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — ficials, including Defense Jae-in, serves as a fitting UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States voted against
It has become something Secretary Jim Mattis, Sec- symbol of the countries’ a U.N. resolution condemning America’s economic em-
of a ritual for U.S. presidents retary of State Rex Tillerson ties and South Korea’s bargo against Cuba on Wednesday, reversing last year’s
trying to demonstrate their and Vice President Mike commitment to contribut- abstention by the Obama administration and reflecting
resolve against North Ko- Pence, had already made ing to its own defense — a worsening U.S.-Cuban relations.
rea’s ever-escalating ag- the trip to the border that theme the president often Israel joined the United States in opposing the embargo
gression. has separated the North pressed during his cam- resolution, which was overwhelmingly approved in the
Beginning with Dwight and South for 64 years. paign. 193-member General Assembly by a vote of 191-2. That
was the same vote as in 2015.
Last October, then-President Barack Obama’s adminis-
tration abstained for the first time in 25 years on the em-
bargo resolution as the U.S. leader and Cuban President
Raul Castro moved forward with the historic warming of
relations between the two countries.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and
Cuba were broken in 1961 after Fidel Castro took power
and installed a communist government. Raul Castro, his
brother, and Obama officially restored relations in July
2016.
Before Wednesday’s vote, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley
told the assembly: “Today, the crime is the Cuban gov-
ernment’s continued repression of its people and failure
to meet even the minimum requirements of a free and
just society.”
The United States will continue to oppose the embargo
resolution “as long as the Cuban people continue to be
deprived of their human rights and fundamental free-
doms,” she said.
Haley said no doubt some people won’t understand why
President Donald Trump’s administration is “energetical-
ly” opposing Obama’s position.
North Korean soldiers pose for a photo in the North side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the She said the American people chose a new president,
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border between North and South Korea Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
(Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP) and the United States will vote against any resolution
calling for the lifting of the embargo “as long as the pro-
Eisenhower’s visit to the Trump’s trip comes amid Some experts on the region ceeds from trade with Cuba go to prop up the dictatorial
front lines of wartime Ko- escalating tensions and also breathed a sigh of re- regime responsible for denying those (human) rights.”
rea, U.S. leaders have trav- rhetoric with North Korea, lief, arguing the trip could “The United States does not fear isolation in this chamber
eled to the barbed and which has continued to have further inflamed ten- or anywhere else. Our principles are not up for a vote,”
mined demilitarized zone pursue its missile and nucle- sions between Trump and she said. “We will stand for respect for human rights
dividing the Korean Pen- ar programs and ramped Kim. and fundamental freedoms that the member states of
insula, peering across the up its missile testing. “I would probably be beg- this body have pledged to protect, even if we have to
barren north through bin- In a recent speech at the ging him not to (go). stand alone.”Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez
oculars, hearing broadcast United Nations, Trump said No Secret Service likes condemned the “disrespectful sense of interfering state-
propaganda, and reaf- he would “totally destroy” to,” said Dean Cheng, a ments,” by Haley, saying “she is reflecting the tenor of
firming their commitment the nation, if necessary. China expert with the Heri- U.S. politics today.”“She speaks on behalf of the leader
to standing with the South. He has also derided North tage Foundation. He said and empire — an imperialist power behind the majority of
After leaving the possibil- Korean leader Kim Jong that, given the recent ex- those wars being waged today on our globe, which take
ity of the visit dangling, the Un as “little Rocket Man.” change of words between the lives of innocent people,” he said.
White House announced Kim has returned the favor, Kim and Trump, a visit was During the last few weeks, Rodriguez said, Trump on four
definitively this week that calling Trump a “mentally “probably more fraught occasions has reiterated that his administration will not
President Donald Trump deranged U.S. dotard.” with risk than your average lift economic sanctions on Cuba unless Cuba introduces
would not be following in The White House has presidential visit.”Others changes “in its domestic order.”
their footsteps and will be played down the notion pointed to the symbolism “Today, I say that Cuba will never agree to conditions or
forgoing a visit to the DMZ that its hesitation to send of the president’s visit to anything being imposed on this order,” Rodriguez said.
as he sets out on his maid- Trump to the DMZ stemmed the base.“To me it was a “We remind the president and his ambassador that this
en Asia trip.A senior admin- from security concerns. no-brainer that he should focus ... has never worked and neither will it ever work in
istration official told report- But two people familiar go to Humphreys, this new the future. He will be one more president implementing a
ers during a White House with the administration’s base that they’ve poured policy that means a return to the past.”
briefing that Trump will thinking said that security all this money into,” said The vote came during an ongoing crisis over U.S. govern-
instead be visiting Camp issues had been discussed. Jim Schoff, a former Pen- ment workers in Havana harmed by invisible “health at-
Humphreys, a military base The Secret Service, which tagon adviser on East Asia tacks” which has created a new rift between the U.S. and
about 40 miles south of advises on the president’s policy and now senior fel- Cuba and put the restoration of ties in jeopardy.
Seoul, to highlight the U.S.- itinerary, did not imme- low in the Asia program at Last Friday, Cuba presented its most detailed defense to
South Korean partnership diately respond to a re- the Carnegie Endowment date against U.S. accusations that American diplomats in
and South Korea’s burden- quest for comment on its for International Peace. Havana were subjected to mysterious sonic attacks that
sharing. His tight schedule, recommendations.U.S. Schoff said the base was left them with a variety of ailments including headaches,
officials said, wouldn’t ac- and South Korean officials “perfect” for Trump: “It’s hearing problems and concussions.
commodate both stops. also argued that a visit to a big, massive real estate The U.S. has not accused Cuba of carrying out the at-
The official, who spoke on Camp Humphreys, also project and it’s South Kore- tacks, but says that Cuba has not met its obligation to
condition of anonymity to known as United States an-funded. q protect diplomats on its territory. q