U.N. Overwhelmingly Opposes U.S. Embargo On Cuba

New York, NY (AHN)--The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba Tuesday.

Of 188 nations voting, only four (Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau and the U.S.) opposed the resolution. It was the sixteenth consecutive year that the U.N. has voted to lift the 45-year-old trade embargo. This year's resolution, however, also called for all "states that have and continue to apply such laws and measures to take the necessary steps to repeal or invalidate them as soon as possible in accordance with their legal regime."

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, speaking to the assembly just prior to the vote, said that the blockade has taken a devastating economic toll on the country, amounting to "losses of no less than $222 billion." The result, he added, has been "a systematic, blatant and massive violation of rights."

However, Ronald Godard, the US State Department's senior advisor for Latin American affairs, told the assembly, "it is long past time that the Cuban people enjoy the blessings of economic and political freedom," and that the embargo was in place to try to pressure the Cuban government to ensure such rights.

He added that the decision to trade with other countries was a bilateral issue and therefore not an appropriate matter for the Assembly to address.

The resolution came less than one week after U.S. President George Bush vowed to continue the sanctions. "As long as the regime maintains its monopoly over the political and economic life of the Cuban people, the United States will keep the embargo in place," Bush said.