Embargo Continues

UN Renews Near-Unanimous Call to End US Embargo on Cuba

The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the sixteenth consecutive year. Tuesday’s vote was one-hundred-eighty-four to four. The U.S., Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands were the lone countries opposed. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque called the vote a repudiation of longstanding U.S. policy.

Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque: "The United States has ignored with both arrogance and political blindness the fifteen resolutions adopted by this General Assembly calling for the lifting of the blockade against Cuba. The blockade is today the main obstacle to the development and well-being of the Cubans and a blatant, massive and systematic violation to the rights of our people."

The vote comes just days after President Bush vowed to maintain the embargo on Cuba through the end of his presidency.