Castro is due to address the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday for the first time as president.
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The resolution could put the U.S.in a tricky position as it aims for a rapprochement with Cuba.
The USA and Cuba restored diplomatic relations this year, and leaders of the two countries want to improve commercial ties. White House spokesman Josh Earnest also declined to weigh in because he said the proposed resolution wasn’t final.
Politically, US lawmakers have been emboldened by Cuban exiles in Florida, a key swing state, to take a hard stance against Havana. The United States and Israel have always voted against the declaration. Kirby declined to say what position the USA would take on the resolution. Because so many global firms have significant U.S.-based assets, they fear retaliation over doing business in Cuba.
Castro defined the thaw in relations between Cuba and the United States after more than a century of ideological confrontation as “an important step forward”, but stressed that the embargo in place since the 60’s remains in place.
Both de Blasio and Castro were joined by members of their families, as well as officials from their administrations. Cuba’s government wouldn’t comment Monday on the new US consideration.
Kadushin said the two men had a “productive exchange of ideas”.
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It’s unclear what changes would be necessary to prompt a USA abstention. In 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton signed the Republican-sponsored Helms-Burton Act, which strengthened the embargo. That 1996 law made foreign firms subject to the same restrictions US companies face for investing in Cuba, and authorized penalties for non-U.S. companies operating and dealing with property once owned by USA citizens but confiscated after Fidel Castro’s revolution.
