US blasted for sustaining embargo on Cuba

The Obama administration, which has vowed to improve relations with sanctions-hit Cuba, refused to break away from the traditional stand taken by successive U.S. governments and voted against a U.N. resolution calling for an end to the 47-year-old U.S. economic, commercial and financial embargo against the Caribbean island nation. Of the 192 member states, an overwhelming 187 voted Wednesday in favor of the resolution (as against 185 last year), with only three against (the United States, Israel and Palau), and two abstentions (Marshall Islands and Micronesia). This was the 18th consecutive year the United States remained largely isolated in a General Assembly vote on one of "the most enduring trade embargoes in history" imposed on Cuba back in 1962. The annual vote is routinely viewed as a political and moral victory for Cuba because diplomatic support for the United States has progressively declined over the last 18 years. The widespread reaction, both inside and outside the United Nations, was directed against the United States - and this year, specifically against the Obama administration.