First imposed on October 19, 1960, in response to Havana’s nationalization of US-owned oil refineries, and extended in 1962, the embargo is an enduring legacy of the Cold War hostilities between the two countries.
It was denounced as “anachronistic” and “inhumane” during two days of debate by the General Assembly.
In 2016, the US abstained for the first time in the annual UN vote amid a historic US rapprochement with Cuba under former President Barack Obama.
But diplomatic relations between the two countries have turned cold since Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez charged there has been “an escalation in aggression against Cuba” under Trump, whose government, he said, “does not hide its intention to economically asphyxiate Cuba and increase the damage, shortages, and suffering of its people.”
Havana claims the embargo has caused $138 billion in damage to the island’s economy, in today’s dollars.
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The US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, blamed the Cuban regime, accusing it of abuses against its own people, and of sowing regional instability.
Brazil, now led by the ultra-conservative Jair Bolsonaro, voted for the first time with the United States. Last year, only Israel joined the US in voting against the resolution.
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