Cuba slams 'crueller siege' as UN adopts resolution to condemn US embargo

The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn the US economic embargo of Cuba for the 30th year, with the Biden administration continuing former president Donald Trump's opposition and refusing to return to the Obama administration's 2016 abstention.

The non-binding resolution was approved on Thursday by 185 countries and opposed only by the United States and Israel, with Brazil and Ukraine abstaining.

Biden has eased some sanctions on communist-run Cuba implemented by his predecessor, Donald Trump, loosening tough US restrictions around remittances, flights, tourism, and migration.

But US political coordinator John Kelley told the UN General Assembly that the United States would hold the Cuban government accountable for alleged human rights violations following widespread protests on the island in July of 2021.

"The United States opposes this resolution, but we stand with the Cuban people and will continue to seek ways to provide meaningful support to them," Kelley said.

"We join international partners in urging the Cuban government to release political prisoners immediately and unconditionally and to protect the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly of all individuals in Cuba."

READ MORE: US lifts restrictions on air links to Cuba

'Cuba does not need democracy lessons'

Cuba's representative at the United Nations, Yuri Gala, lashed back during the UN session in New York, calling US allegations of rights violations false.

"Cuba does not need lessons on democracy and human rights, much less from the United States," Gala said.

"If the United States government was really interested in the welfare, human rights and self-determination of Cubans, it could lift the blockade."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said before the vote that since 2019, the US government "has escalated the siege around our country, taking it to an even crueller and more humane dimension, with the purpose of deliberately inflicting the biggest possible damage on Cuban families."

During the first 14 months of the Biden administration, the damage to the Cuban economy was estimated at $6.35 billion, equivalent to more than $15 million a day, Rodriguez said.

The trade embargo was put in place following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and has remained largely unchanged, though some elements were stiffened by Trump.

The web of US laws and regulations complicates financial transactions and the acquisition of goods and services by the Cuban government.

The long-running dispute between the two countries shows little sign of detente, despite some modest gestures of goodwill in recent months.

The Biden administration in October offered $2 million to Cuba for emergency relief efforts following Hurricane Ian. It also donated firefighting equipment after a blaze destroyed an oil tank farm on the island in August.

READ MORE: US imposes restrictions on dozens of Cuban officials