'Troika of Tyranny': Trump White House announces tough new policies against Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua

The confrontational remarks from John Bolton come same day as United Nations calls on US to lift Cuban embargo

Donald Trump‘s White House has announced an aggressive new policy to confront the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, labelling the three nations the “troika of tyranny”.

“Many of you in the audience today have personally suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the regimes in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, only to survive, fight back, conquer, and overcome,” John Bolton, Mr Trump’s national security advisor said during a speech in Miami, Florida. “The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – has finally met its match,” he said.

The remarks came the same day the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted its 27th annual resolution calling for an end to the nation’s economic embargo on Cuba, after a failed bid by Washington to amend the text to push Cuba to improve its human rights record.

The UN vote can carry political weight, but only the US Congress can lift the more than 50-year-old embargo. The United States and Israel voted against the resolution, 189 countries voted in favour and Ukraine and Moldova did not vote.

Mr Bolton promised a tough stance by the Trump administration towards “dictators and despots near our shores” in a speech in Miami, which is home to large numbers of migrants from Cuba and Venezuela.

He also said the president had signed an executive order to ban US persons from dealing with entities and individuals involved with “corrupt or deceptive” gold sales from Venezuela.

The speech was expected to be well received by Cuban-Americans and other Hispanics in Florida who favour stronger pressure on Cuba’s Communist government and other leftist governments in Latin America. However, it appeared unlikely the new policy would be welcomed by international governments.

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the General Assembly that the resolution was an opportunity for countries “to feel they can poke the United States in the eye”.

“But you’re not hurting the United States when you do this. You are literally hurting the Cuban people by telling the regime that their treatment of their people is acceptable,” she said ahead of the vote.

The United States consistently voted against the UN resolutions for 24 years but abstained for the first time in 2016 under former president Barack Obama, as Washington and Havana forged a closer relationship.

But relations have deteriorated sharply since Donald Trump took office in January 2017, returning to Cold War characterisations of Cuba and tightening trade and travel restrictions that had been eased by Barack Obama.

The United States voted against the UN resolution last year along with its ally Israel. The General Assembly’s remaining 191 members voted in favour.

This year, the United States proposed eight amendments to the resolution, including calling on Cuba to “fully grant its citizens internationally recognised civil, political and economic rights and freedoms, including freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and free access to information”.

But all of the amendments failed after more than 113 countries voted against them. Only the United States, Israel and Ukraine voted in favour of all eight amendments. More than 65 countries abstained.

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Thursday the UN government lacked the “moral authority” to criticise Cuba and others on human rights.

“The embargo is a violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law,” he said before the vote. “It is an act of aggression and an act of economic war, which disrupts international peace and order.”

Last month, the United States launched a campaign at the United Nations that it said was designed to highlight the plight of Cuban political prisoners.

Protesting Cuban and Bolivian diplomats drowned out the launch by shouting, chanting and banging their hands on desks.

Mr Bolton spoke at Freedom Tower – a building where Cuban refugees were welcomed in the 1960s following Fidel Castro’s revolution – a day after Mr Trump campaigned in Florida for Republican candidates in tight Senate and gubernatorial races.

Additional reporting by Reuters