Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, announced the campaign Tuesday, shortly before the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the eighth straight year to demand that the U.S. embargo be lifted immediately.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Peter Burleigh had urged U.N. member states to oppose the resolution, saying it might encourage Cuban authorities to persist in their denial of human rights and democracy for the Cuban people.
Alarcon used the General Assembly debate to announce that Cuba will be suing the United States "on account of the enormous damages caused to the people of Cuba by the blockade."
The full-fledged embargo began in early 1961, two years after Fidel Castro came to power.
The lawsuit, he stressed, is just one part of the Cuban government's new legal campaign "to fight the blockade and defend the rights of its people."
Asked afterward for details on where and when the suit would be filed and what other legal actions were planned, Alarcon said he didn't want to give the United States advance notice of Cuba's plans.
"No venue, no place should be excluded. All are available to us, and very soon we will learn what will be the very next step," he said. "We will use all legal avenues."
Burleigh had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. U.S. officials said privately they would wait to see where the suit was filed before saying whether they will take it seriously or not.
Last week, a Cuban court found the U.S. government liable for deaths and damage to the island nation during 40 years of "aggressive policies" and ordered the United States to pay about $181 billion in reparations.
The U.S. government did not respond to a summons, and it was unlikely any damages would be paid because there are no American funds in Cuba that can be frozen and seized.
The United States has consistently ignored the General Assembly's nonbinding resolutions condemning the embargo against Cuba. Alarcon said he was "very satisfied" that intense lobbying by the State Department had no impact on Tuesday's vote.
A total of 155 of the assembly's 188 members voted for the resolution calling for the United States to repeal the embargo as soon as possible.
Only two countries voted against – the United States and Israel – and there were eight abstentions.
Last year, 157 countries voted in favor, 12 abstained and the United States and Israel opposed the resolution. Cuba would have gotten 157 votes this year, but for technical reasons the votes of St. Vincent and Cameroon were not counted.
The resolution was supported by almost all of Washington's closest allies – the European Union, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Japan, which urged the United States and Cuba to begin dialogue to resolve their differences.
Speaker after speaker echoed Alarcon's dismay that the United States not only ignored the resolutions but had extended and strengthened provisions of the embargo.
Burleigh stressed that the American people have been "extremely generous" in providing humanitarian assistance to Cuba. Alarcon countered that Cuba is now the only country to which the United States still bans the sale of food and medicine – after Washington's recent lifting of similar bans on Iran, Libya, Sudan and North Korea.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press