UN member states voted in record numbers on Wednesday to urge the United States to lift its 46-year-old economic embargo against Cuba, in a non-binding measure adopted for the 17th straight year.
The General Assembly passed a resolution entitled "necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" with 185 votes in favour, three against and two abstentions. The resolution will have no impact on the outgoing administration of US President George W. Bush, who in an October 10 speech called Cuba a "dungeon" and vowed not to lift the embargo until Havana released political prisoners.
"We will change our policy when the people running Cuba free people of conscience from the prisons. But until then, we won't change," he said in Florida, home to many Cuban exiles who oppose the island's communist government. Neither of the candidates standing in next Tuesday's US presidential election is expected to abolish the embargo. However, while Republican John McCain supports keeping it, Democrat Barack Obama has backed loosening some parts of it. Voting with the United States against the UN resolution were Israel and the Pacific island state of Palau. Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.