UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — The United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Wednesday has, for the 33rd consecutive year, adopted a resolution calling for an end to the decades-long United States (US) embargo against Cuba.

All 14 Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries voted in support of the resolution as an overwhelming majority of the UN’s 193 member states urged Washington to lift the measures, despite a noticeable shift in countries choosing to either abstain or side with Washington.

The resolution, titled Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba, was adopted by 165 votes in favour, seven against and 12 abstentions.

Last year, the measure was passed by 187 votes with two against (US and Israel) and just one abstention (Moldova).

Those voting against this year’s resolution were the US, Israel, Argentina, Hungary, Paraguay, North Macedonia, and Ukraine.

“The United States Government is satisfied to see so many countries send the regime a message that the international community will no longer tolerate its activities,” the US Ambassador Jeff Bartos said.

The 12 abstentions came from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Czechia, Ecuador, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Moldova and Romania.

The text reiterates the assembly’s long-standing appeal for all states to reject punitive US legislation such as the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which Cuba and other countries argue violates international law and the UN Charter.

The assembly also highlighted measures adopted by former US President Barack Obama in 2015 and 2016 to modify some aspects of the embargo, “which contrast with the measures applied since 2017 [under the first Donald Trump administration] to reinforce its implementation”.

Through the resolution, the General Assembly also decided once again to include the embargo text in the provisional agenda of next year’s session.

The United States first imposed an embargo on the sale of weapons to Cuba on March 14, 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. By October 19, 1960, almost two years after the Cuban Revolution led to Batista’s overthrow, the United States imposed an embargo on exports, with the exception of food and medicines, after Cuba nationalised American oil refineries without compensation. Within two years the embargo was expanded, so it covered almost all exports.

Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has annually adopted a resolution demanding an end to the Cuban economic embargo, with the United States and Israel being the only countries that consistently vote against these resolutions.