UN Again Urges End to US Embargo on Cuba

The United Nations General Assembly has voted again to condemn the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

With 187 votes in favor, two against and three abstentions, the assembly approved the non-binding resolution for the 19th year in a row.

The United States and Israel were the only two countries voting against the measure, which calls on the U.S. to repeal its embargo of communist Cuba, in place since the early 1960s.

U.S. Ambassador Ronald Godard defended the decision to vote against the resolution. He said said “a new era” in relations with Cuba can not be fully realized until the Cuban people enjoy economic and political freedoms.

U.S. President Barack Obama has taken steps to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba, and financial transactions by Cuban Americans to relatives still living on the island. He has not indicated any intention to lift the embargo.