MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Overwhelming UN vote calling an end to US embargo on Cuba

US ambassador Susan Rice said the resolution does not reflect “current realities” in Cuba

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to call for an end to the US embargo on Cuba. The vote was cast at the 192-member General Assembly with 187 in favour, three against and two abstentions. This is the 18th year that the General Assembly voted to urge an end to the U.S. embargo.

Only the United States, Israel and Palau voted against the non-binding resolution, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained. Over 17 consecutive years since 1992, a majority in the United Nations General Assembly have supported lifting the unilateral US embargo. The US imposed the trade embargo on Cuba in early 1960s when both countries severed diplomatic ties.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, while taking the floor at the General Assembly, said that US embargo was “an absurd policy that causes scarcities and sufferings”. He added the measure was “a crass, flagrant and systematic violation

US President Barak Obama’s administration has taken some steps to ease hostility with Cuba, although it has not moved to lift the trade embargo. Obama has said he wants to “recast” ties that have been hostile since soon after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution steered Cuba toward communism.

Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, said the UN resolution did not reflect the “current realities” in Cuba. She said it was wrong to blame the US sanctions for deprivation among the Cuban people.

“It is high time for this body to move beyond the rhetorical posturing of the past, to recognize the situation in Cuba for what it is today and to encourage progress toward genuine change” Rice told the General Assembly.