At UN, Record Number of Countries Condemn US Embargo Against Cuba

For the 22nd year in a row, the UN General Assembly resoundingly denounced the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

At the symbolic vote on Tuesday for the resolution called "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba," 188 members of the 193-member body voted for the resolution.

The U.S. was joined only by Israel in voting against the resolution. There were three abstentions--Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

"The US policy against Cuba is suffering from an absolute international isolation and discredit and lacks every ethical or legal ground," said Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.

"Our small island poses no threat to the national security of the superpower," he said. "The human damages caused by the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba are incalculable."

"Seventy-six percent of Cubans have lived under its devastating effects since the day they are born," he added.

Ambassador Ronald Godard, U.S. Senior Area Advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs, defendend the embargo, saying, "Our sanctions policy toward Cuba is just one of the tools in our overall effort to encourage respect for the civil and human rights consistent with the Universal Declaration, to which the United Nations itself is committed."

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