The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted its 27th annual resolution calling for an end to the U.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 U.N. vote can carry political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the more than 50-year-old embargo. The United States and Israel voted against the resolution, 189 countries voted in favor and Ukraine and Moldova did not vote.
U.S. 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 U.N. 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 President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, returning to Cold War characterizations of Cuba and tightening trade and travel restrictions that had been eased by Obama.
The United States voted against the U.N. resolution last year along with its ally Israel. The General Assembly’s remaining 191 members voted in favor.
This year, the United States proposed eight amendments to the resolution, including calling on Cuba to “fully grant its citizens…
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