By DPA
New York : The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to once again oppose Washington’s economic embargo on Cuba – an annual, symbolic act, since votes on the issue in past years have failed to have any effect on the US.
The 192-nation assembly voted 184 against four (the US, Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau), with a sole country abstaining, Micronesia. Last year, Micronesia opposed the vote.
The resolution adopted by the assembly called on governments to “refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures” that were decreed by US Congress in 1996 known as the Helms-Burton Act.
The UN resolution said the US measures violate the sovereignty of states, “the legitimate interests of entities or persons under their jurisdiction and the freedom of trade and navigation”.
The resolution called on states to repeal and invalidate any laws on their books, which support the US measures.
The Helms-Burton Act threatened countries that violate the US embargo on Cuba with retaliatory punishment. But many countries have ignored the act.
The US first ordered the blockade in the late 1950s after victorious forces under Fidel Castro took over US possessions in Cuba.
The government in Havana charges that the Bush administration has tightened the blockade in recent years to force a regime change in